TABLES AND RESULTS OP THE PRECIPITATION, 



SPECIAL REFERENCES TO RECORDS. 



The 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 from 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 obser- 

 vations 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 1817 it was proposed by the present Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 

 to establish a system of extended meteorological observations, which went into 

 operation in 1819. In connection with the United States Patent Office, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution published, in extenso, the meteorological 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 com- 

 menced in 1859 under the direction of the superintendents of the survey of the 

 North and Northwest Lakes, which under the direction of the United States Engi- 

 neer Corps is still continued. The following references to sources from which 

 material has been drawn, and which relate to the various principal systems enume- 

 rated above, deserve to be specially mentioned : — 



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

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

 the Army Meteorological Register for twelve years, from 1831 to 1842 inclusive, 

 compiled fiom observations made by the officers of the Medical Department, at 

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

 (Washington, 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, based 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 prepared under the direction of 

 Surgeon-General T. Lawson, by R. H. Coolidge, M.D., U. S. A. (Washington, 

 1860) ; Results of Meteorological Observations made under the direction of the 

 U. S. Patent Office and the Smithsonian Institution, for the years 1854 to 1859 

 inclusive, Vol. I. (Washington, 1861) ; and the Annual Report on the Survey of 

 the North and Northwest Lakes, for the year ending June 30, 1867, by Bvt. Brig.- 

 Gen. W. F. Raynolds. Among manuscripts of large extent, those kindly furnished 



