1855.] 



ON A SYSTEM OP PROVINCIAL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



407 



other ; but also by the harmonious action manifested in behalf 

 of the same great object by not only various Literary 'Jocieties 

 and governments in the United States, as well as by tl:-' friends 

 of Science in almost every Kingdom and State in Europe; 

 added to the acknowledged valuable results of the extensive 

 chaiu of Meteorological Researches so long liberally carried on 

 in Asia, under the auspices of the East India Company's 

 Government. But, in short, it appears to me that all that 

 shoiikl be wanting to ensure an immediate efiectual appeal to 

 our own Government in behalf of s\ich an object is to point 

 out in few words what has been so creditably accomplished by 

 our American neighbors alone ; and that, I conceive, cannot 

 perhaps be done better than in the language of Professor 

 Henry's 6th Report to the Smithsonian Institution, being that 

 for 1852, (though many improvements and additions have 

 since taken place,) in the hope that the Canadian Institute 

 will be permitted to have the honor of standing in the same re- 

 lation to the British American Provinces as the Smithsonian 

 Institution does to the great American Union. 



According to the document alluded to, the general system 

 of Observations relating to the Meteorology of the Continent 

 of North America, described in previous Reports, had been 

 continued and extended, and then (in 1852) consisted of the 

 following classes : 



" 1st. TJie SmitJisoyiian Si/siemprojjcr, made up of voluntary 

 Observers in different parts of the United States, who report 

 immediately to the Institution. 



" 2d. The Si/stem of Observation of the University of the 

 State of New Yurie, re-established under the direction of this 

 Institution, and supported by the State of New York. 



" 3d. The Si/stem of Observations established under the di- 

 rection of this Institution, by the State of Massachusetts. 



"4th. The extended System of Observation made at the 

 several Military Posts of the United States, under the direc- 

 tion of the Surgeon General of the Army. 



" 5th. Separate Series of Report-- of Observations by ex- 

 ploring and surveying parties, in some cases directed, and in 

 part furnished with Instruments by this Institution. 



" 6th. Meteorological Records from British America, con- 

 sisting of Observ.itions made at the various posts of the Hud- 

 son Bay Company, and at the residence oi' private individuals 

 in Canf.la. 



" In the "first three of these classes there are ab it 200 

 (since increased to up\s'ards of 300) Observers, distributed 

 over th'- entire Continent. In the older States they are very 

 thickly distributed, and they are entirely wanting in iione. — 

 Texas, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, (Indiana) Missouri, 

 Iowa and Minnesota, have each competent and reliable Ob- 

 servers, reporting directly to the S'uithsonian Institution, in 

 addition to those at the Military posts in the same region. 



" Further Westward, and more widely separated, the Ob- 

 servers at the jNIilitary posts, and th'ie of surveying and ex- 

 ploring parties continue the connection of the Sj'steni to the 

 Pacific Coast, whore the number of Military posts is greater, 

 and private Observations are again found. 



"The New York State System emb.-ices 25 (now 38) Acad- 

 emies or Stations, all furni....ed with new and reliable Instru- 

 ments, at the cxp-'^se of the State. 



" In Massachusetts twelve Stations are furnished with In- 

 struments in like manner, of which eight have reported. 



" In 1S52 niiioty-seven Military posts reported Met' 'ologi- 

 cal Observations ; and for 1853 the number will be greater 

 rather than less. 



" The whole number o^ Stations and Observft;—' available 

 for 1852 were 350 ; and this number, either reporting directly 

 to the Institution or furnishing their Observations for its use, 

 may be relied upon for the current, year i. c., 1853. 



" Besides the ObseiTations derived from this general System, 

 a large collection has been procured from individuals in differ- 

 ent parts of the country who have kept records of the weather, 

 in some cases for many years. This was obtained by issuing 

 a Circular frovi the Institution requesting cojnes of any records 

 which might have been Iccpt relative to the Climate of the 

 Country. The amount of information received in answer to 

 this Circular was far greater than was expected; and much 

 more valuable matter xvas thus called forth than was j;rc- 

 viously known to exist." 



To the foregoing interesting sketch it is proper to add that 

 I glean from other sources that the first appropriations devoted 

 by the Smithsonian Institution to the advanceuic-iir. of Meteoro- 

 logical Research amounted to 81,000, and took place in 1848, 

 the year after its foundation, and that it has ever since con- 

 tinued to allot from §2,000 to §3,000 annually to the same 

 purpose ; but that the State of New Y'ork led the way in so 

 meritorious a work no less than thirty years ago, by an annual 

 public grant, enabling the Regents of the State University to 

 make an appropriation for supplying each Academy with the 

 necessary Instruments, and that about five years ago it was 

 enlarged, and the System re-organized, and committed to the 

 regulation of the Smithsonian Institution ; and further, that 

 the State of Massachusetts had of late years made a similar 

 appropriation and adopted a similar arrangement, as regards 

 the Smithsonian Institution; and that several other States were 

 following the same laudable examples. In contrast to which I 

 regret to say that though Professor Henry had, in correspon- 

 dence with Colonel Sabine, the eminent corresponding Secre- 

 tary of the Royal Society of Britain, been assured, so long ago 

 as 1847, that as soon as a System of Meteorological Observa- 

 tions should be organized in the United States there would be 

 no diflSculty in establishing corresponding Observations in the 

 British American Provinces, and he had been encouraged in 

 the same hope by Captain Lefroy. The only regular contribu- 

 tions of importance that appear to have been received from 

 those Provinces, until veiy latel}', have been the Jleteorologi- 

 cal and Magnetic Observations at the Toronto Observatory, 

 and those by Doctor Smallwood at St. Martin's and Dr. Hall 

 and L. A. L. Latour of Montreal, and Henry Poole, Esq., of 

 Picton, and T. S. Stewart, Esq., of Acadia College, Nova 

 Scotia. Whereas the ftllowing abstract Table, framed by me 

 from authentic returns, will show the great number of Ob- 

 servers rep':rting to the Smithsonian Institution from the dif- 

 ferent States in the Union in the year 1854 : 



Abstract number of Moceorological Observers in the different 

 States of the i aiou, reporting to the Smithsonioii Institution in 

 1854. 



Maine, 8 



New Hauipshire, 7 



Massachu- -tts, 21 



Vermont, 7 



Rhodelslnnd, 4 



Connecticut, 6 



New York, (beside Univ'ty) 31 



New Jeracy, 5 



Pennsylvania, 24 



Delaware 2 



MarvIanJ, G 



Virgiu.a, 13 



North Carolina 4 



South Carolina, 4 



Jlississippi, 5 



Louisiana, 2 



Texas 3 



Tennessee S 



Kentuckj-, 8 



Ohio, 24 



Michigan, 13 



Indianii 10 



Illinois. .., 7 



Missouri, 3 



Iowa 8 



AVisconsin 13 



Minnesota, C 



Oregon, 1 



