REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 



In the early part of the year he prepared for publication some notes 

 on the geology of the country immediately about the White Sulphur 

 Springs, of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, with figures and 

 descriptions of a few new fossils. He has likewise superintended the 

 engraving of the quarto-plates of fossils from the Upper Missouri coun- 

 try, illustrating a report on the region, to be published by the Government 

 in connection with the results of the United States Geological Survey 

 of the Territories, in charge of Dr. Hayden. 



On account of failing health he was induced to avail himself of an 

 opportunity to spend the summer in the Eocky Mountains and along 

 the Union Pacific Eailroad through to the Pacific, during which jour- 

 ney he collected specimens and made observations at the expense of 

 the Government survey. Since his return he has prepared descriptions 

 of some forty or fifty new species of fossils collected during his journey, 

 to be published in Dr. Hayden's report. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Among the first acts of the Institution was the establishment of a 

 system of meteorology, intended especially to gather trustworthy infor- 

 mation as to the character of American storms and the general clima- 

 tology of the United States. To assist in this enterprise, Mr. James P. 

 Espy was for several years previous to his death associated with the 

 Institution. Lieutenant Maury, then in charge of the Observatory, had 

 previously established a system of meteorology for the sea, and for sev- 

 eral years another system had been carried on by the War Department 

 at the various military posts of the United States, besides subordinate 

 systems in the States of New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. 



It was the intention of the Institution to harmonize these different sys- 

 tems, and, as far as possible, to reduce and discuss the results on one 

 general plan. For this purpose it had prepared at its expense, by Pro- 

 fessor Guyot, a volume of meteorological tables, also a series of instruc- 

 tions, and introduced a set of trustworthy instruments, constructed by 

 Mr. James Green, of New York. 



The Institution was the, first to employ the telegraph in the prediction 

 of the weather; but as its income was not sufficient to carry on this oper- 

 ation to its full extent, and owing to the interference of the war, the 

 project was for a while abandoned. The proposition was, however, 

 afterward brought before Congress by other parties, and a system of 

 weather-forecasts established under the direction of the War Depart- 

 ment, in the especial charge of Chief Signal-Officer General A. J. Myer. 



The placing of this system of forecasts under the War Department gave 

 it special advantages not otherwise to be secured by it. The observers 

 are all enlisted in the Army and paid out of the Army appropriations. 

 The whole being under military discipline gives the system a regularity 

 and efficiency which leaves nothing in this respect to be desired. The 



