674 The Smithsonian Institution 



not the Commissioner of Agriculture, in view of their value 

 to his department, decided to advance to some of the observ- 

 ers the necessary postage stamps to affix to their registers." 1 



This condition of affairs was not long continued, and the 

 law was changed so that the meteorological registers could 

 be sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture without pay- 

 ment of postage. With the organizing of the Department 

 of Agriculture and the appointment of a commissioner inter- 

 ested in the collection of meteorological statistics, it was de- 

 cided to begin the publication of " a monthly bulletin giving 

 the state of the crops, the conditions of the weather and vari- 

 ous other items of importance which are daily received from 

 observers, and which would lose a considerable portion of 

 their value were they suffered to remain unpublished until 

 the end of the year." For this bulletin the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution supplied " the meteorological materials, consisting 

 of the mean, maximum, and minimum temperature and 

 amount of rain for .each month in different States, and also, 

 for the purpose of comparison, the mean temperature and 

 amount of rain for a series of five years, grouped by States ; 

 together with tables of important atmospheric changes, and 

 notices of auroras, meteors, and other periodical phenomena." 2 



Step by step the history of the meteorological work of the 

 Smithsonian Institution has been traced in these pages from 

 its inception down to the beginning of 1866. In the Report 

 for 1865 Henry summarizes the work accomplished in the 

 following succinct manner : 



"The Smithsonian meteorological system was commenced 

 in 1849, an d> w i tn occasional aid in defraying the expenses, has 

 continued in operation until the present period. It was, how- 



1 "Smithsonian Report," 1863, page 32. discontinued in 1871, by order of Commis- 



2 Ibidem, 1863, page 33. This Monthly sioner Watts. See " Smithsonian Report," 

 Bulletin of the Agricultural Department was 1871, page 105. 



