LABORS OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE. 169 



The last question is of great moment, and the committee 

 beg of those gentlemen to whom this circular may be ad- 

 dressed, and who live beyond the boundaries of the storm, 

 to favor them with a reply, jf it be only to communicate 

 the single fact of their residing beyond its limits. 



Should the committee receive such answers to the ques- 

 tions proposed above as may enable them to ascertain the 

 chief phases of the storm, it is their intention to publish a 

 report of the same which they will have much pleasure in 

 transmitting to you. 



ROBLEY DUNGLISON, Chairman of the Joint Com. 



Philadelphia, March 20, 1838. 



PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10, 1838. 

 To the Friends of Science in the United States. 



133. GENTLEMEN : Many of you, no doubt, have already 

 learned that a committee has been appointed by the Frank- 

 lin Institute for the especial purpose of advancing the sci- 

 ence of meteorology. The success of this committee de- 

 pends on their having very many journals of the weather 

 placed at their disposal, kept at different places in these 

 United States. The sole object which I have in view in 

 addressing to you the following remarks, is to satisfy you 

 that the committee are engaged in a great undertaking, and 

 that your aid is essential to their success. 



The labors of the committee, from the beginning, have 

 been principally to investigate the cause of storms, and to 

 find out the means of predicting their occurrence, in time to 

 be practically useful to mankind. 



Now it appears from the Third Report of the committee, 

 (113), that the cause of storms has already been discovered, 

 and that from this discovery, and the facts connected with 

 it, the direction in which a great storm is raging at any 

 time, may be known when it comes within a disturbing 

 influence ; and from some facts detailed in the " First Re- 



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