X TABLES AND RESULTS OF 'I'HE PRECIPITATION 



SPECIAL REFERENCES TO RECORDS. 



Tlic earliest observations of the rain-fall, known to have been made within the 

 present limits of the United States, do not go back further than the year 1738 ; in 

 the eighteenth century we have but nine stations, which, with the exception of 

 Charleston, S. C, afforded no results till after 1772. Records of the rain-fall do 

 not become continuous at any one station till after the commencement of the present 

 century, but the continuity may be maintained for one station or another within the 

 United States, fi'om about 1791 to the present time. After 1825, when the New York 

 University system of meteorological observations was inaugurated, the records become 

 more numerous. In 1836 was commenced the system of observations of the rain-fall 

 under the direction of the Medical Department of the United States Army, which 

 system, like the former, is continued to the present time, and constitutes a most 

 important contribution to our knowledge in this branch of meteorology. In 1839 

 observations of the rain -fall were made under the auspices of the Franklin Institute, 

 Pennsylvania, and maintained for a few years. In 1847 it was projDosed by the Sec- 

 retary of the Smithsonian Institution to establish a system of extended meteorologi- 

 cal observations, which went into operation in 1849. In connection with the United 

 States Patent Office, the Smithsonian Institution published in extenso, the meteorolo- 

 gical observations for the years 1854 to 1859 inclusive, and the records of the large 

 and still increasing corps of observers co-operating with the Institution constitute 

 now the most bulky part of our meteorological collections. A valuable series of 

 observations was commenced in 1859 under the direction of the superintendents ot 

 the survey of the North and Northwest Lakes, which under the direction of the 

 United States Engineer Corps is still continued. The following references to sources 

 from which material has been drawn, and which relate to the various principal sys- 

 tems enumerated above, deserve to be specially mentioned : — 



The annual reports of the Regents of the University of the State of New York 

 (Albany, see specially volume for 1855 ; the twentieth report appeared in 1868) ; 

 the Army Meteorological Register for twelve years, fi'om 1831 to 1842 inclusive', 

 compiled fi'om observations made by the officers of the Medical Department, at the 

 military posts of the United States, prepared by Surgeon-General T. Lawson (Wash- 

 ington, 1851) ; the Army Meteorological Register for twelve years, from 1843 to 

 1854 inclusive, compiled and prepared as the preceding volume, and containing an 

 appendix of a report on the distribution of rain, illustrated by five rain-charts, bas6d 

 upon the reports furnished by the military posts (Washington, 1855) ; the Statistical 

 Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States, from 1855 

 to 1860, compiled and pi-epared under the direction of Surgeon-General T. Lawson, 

 by R. H. Coolidge, M. D., U, S. A., (Washington, 1860) ; Results of Meteorological 



