THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 4 23 



its labors to other objects. The Institution has, however, already ex- 

 pended a large amount of money in collecting meteorological data, and 

 it is due to the memory of the founder that full credit shall be given to 

 his name for all the results which may be produced by the expendi- 

 ture of the income of his bequest. This is one of the conditions on 

 which the trust was accepted, and in case of any transfer of this kind 

 it should be borne in mind. I may also remark, in the same connexion, 

 that while full credit should be given to the officers and assistants for 

 the faithfulness and efficiency with which they discharge their duties, 

 they should not be allowed to publish, under their own names, results 

 which have been collected and elaborated at the expense and under the 

 direction of the Institution. The establishment of definite rules on this 

 point, though a delicate matter, is one which requires attention. 



According to the estimate of Mr. Blodget, who is still employed in 

 reducing and discussing the observations, the whole number of mete- 

 orological observers now on the books as regular contributors, or as en- 

 titled to exchange for valuable series of observations sent, or for reports 

 regularly made in previous years is (520) five hundred and twenty. 

 The number added during the year 1853 to the list of previous ob- 

 servers, and who have returned observations for some portions of the 

 year, is (119) one hundred and nineteen. The number of manuscript 

 series of observations in detail, or in full summaries of means and ex- 

 tremes of the observed conditions for each month of the whole period 

 observed, received during the year, is (75) seventy -five, covering an 

 aggregate period of temperature observation of eight hundred and fifty 

 years. About half these series also include observations of amount of 

 rain. Of printed and published series a large number have been sent. 



Exchanges. — The system of exchanges mentioned in the last and 

 preceding Reports has been continued during the past year with una- 

 bated vigor and corresponding useful results. The records for 1853, as 

 will be seen by a reference to Prof. Baird's report, show a large in- 

 crease, both in transmission and receipts, over 1S52. This part of the 

 system of Smithsonian operations has everywhere received tl c com- 

 mendation of those who have given it their attention or have partici- 

 pated in its benefits. The Institution is now the principal agent of 

 scientific and literary communication between the old world and the 

 new. Its system of exchange is established on a reliable basis, namely : 

 that of the publications of the Institution itself. So long as the present 

 plan of operations is continued, the Institution will annually distribute 

 its contributions, and will continue to receive in return the publications 

 of all the literary and scientific societies of the world. The importance 

 of such a system, with reference to the scientific character of our coun- 

 try, could scarcely be appreciated by those who are not familiar with 

 the results which flow from an easy and certain intercommunication of 

 this kind. Many of the most important contributions to science made 

 in America have been unheard of in Europe, or have been so little 

 known, or received so little attention, that they have been republished 

 as new discoveries, or claimed as the product of European research. 

 By means of the Smithsonian system of exchange, the American author 

 is enabled to place officially, as it were, a copy of his work in the 



