Meteorology 677 



Weather Bureau. He suggests that " a still larger appropri- 

 ation be made by Congress to the War Department for estab- 

 lishing, besides the reports for weather signals, a series of 

 intermediate stations, also furnished with compared instru- 

 ments, to record daily observations to be transmitted to Wash- 

 ington weekly or monthly, and also that provision be made 

 for the support of a number of competent persons to carry on 

 the reductions and prepare the results for publication." * 

 And in conclusion he says : " It has been the policy of this 

 Institution from the first to do nothing which can be done as 

 well or better by other means, and in accordance with this 

 policy the Institution would willingly relinquish the field of 

 meteorology, which it has so long endeavored, though im- 

 perfectly, to cultivate, turning over to the Signal Office all the 

 material which it has accumulated up to a given epoch." 2 

 The transfer of the meteorological work of the Smithsonian 

 Institution alluded to in the foregoing paragraph was accom- 

 plished in 1873, and in the Report for that year Henry refers 

 to it as follows: "This transfer, which has just been made, we 

 trust will meet the approbation of the observers generally, and 

 we hope they will continue their voluntary cooperation, not 

 with the expectation of being fully repaid for their unremitted 

 labor, in many cases for a long series of years, but from the 

 gratification which must result from the consciousness of hav- 

 ing contributed to increase the sum of human knowledge." 3 

 The work of publishing the results obtained by the reduc- 

 tion of meteorological observations continued, and for the 

 most part these have been specifically mentioned elsewhere 

 in this chapter. As a contribution to the physical part of the 

 science, Doctor Langley's " Internal Work of the Wind " 

 may be cited as "the last word" on this important subject. 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1870, page 44. 3 On page 31 of the Report for 1873, the 



2 Ibidem. details of the transfer are given. 



