REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. • 35 



Patents did not see fit to continue the appropriation which had been 

 made by his predecessors. The system was fully organized and the 

 investigation was considered of too much importance to be abandoned, 

 particularly after so much labor had been bestowed upon it, and there- 

 fore it has since been maintained at the sole expense of the Institution. 

 We are sorry, however, that we were obliged to stop the reductions, 

 but hope they will be resumed again before the observations have 

 accumulated to an unwieldy bulk. 



The whole system of meteorology is still in a prosperous condition ; 

 the number of observers reporting directly to the Institution is about 

 500 ; the number of stations reporting to the Surgeon General's office 

 of the War Department is 75. The returns of fourteen stations in 

 Canada are also accessible to the Institution. Observations have been 

 made for the year 1860 at 166 light-houses on the Atlantic and Lake 

 coasts, under the direction of the Light-House Board, copies of which 

 are sent through the Institution to the Board of Trade in England. 



The lake system, established under the direction of Captain Meade, 

 of the Topographical Engineers, is still continued. It consists of eigh- 

 teen stations on lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. 

 Each station is furnished with a full set of standard instruments con- 

 structed on the plan adopted by the Smithsonian Institution. The 

 observations are regularly taken four times a day at equal intervals of 

 three hours, besides occasional series at certain places at every hour of 

 the twenty-four. The latter are of much value in determining the 

 corrections to be applied to the mean derived from observations taken 

 at a few hours in the day. This system in its extent, the precision of 

 its instruments, and the character of its observers, is one of the most 

 perfect which has ever been established, and if continued for a few 

 years, will give the local climate of the district, with an accuracy which 

 has never been attained in any other part of the continent. 



The observations of Lieutenant Williamson, in California, on the 

 hourly fluctuations of the barometer at the level of the ocean and at 

 points on mountain stations, were continued until the end of the last 

 fiscal year, when they were stopped for the want of further appropria- 

 tions. It is to be hoped the Secretary of War will make provision for 

 renewing these important investigations, since they are not only of 

 great scientific interest, but also of much practical value in correcting 

 the observations for heights by the barometer. Indeed, with the 

 advance of science, a revision of the deductions from all the observa- 

 tions which have been made by the various exploring parties, will be 



