36 ' REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



required, in view of the greater accuracy attainable by the application 

 of corrections derived from observations of this kind. 



The Institution has received during the past year a number of valu- 

 able meteorological records from officers of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 in different parts of the territory. Among these is a series from Fort 

 Simpson, McKenzie's river, for twelve years, transmitted by B. K. 

 Ross, Esq., chief trader ; and another series, for three years, by J. Mc- 

 Kenzie, Esq., from Moose Factory, both of which will be continued 

 hereafter. In this connection we may mention that a number of spirit 

 thermometers for marking the extremes of cold have been distributed, 

 through the agency of Mr. Kennicott, to some of the most distant posts 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company. 



The daily telegraphic dispatches of the weather from different parts 

 of the country have been kept up with considerable regularity from the 

 South as far as New Orleans ; but we regret that frequent intermissions 

 take place in the receipt of the telegrams from places directly west of 

 the city of Washington, especially as we are more immediately inter- 

 ested in these, since they afford the means of predicting with consider- 

 able certainty the character of the weather sometimes a day or more 

 in advance. 



Besides the sources we have mentioned from which meteorological 

 records have been obtained, an account of others from which commu- 

 nications on the same subject have been received, is given in the special 

 appendix to the Secretary's report. The amount of climatic materials 

 relative to different parts of the continent of North America which has 

 been collected by the Institution is of great value ; but it cannot be 

 rendered fully available for general use without a larger expenditure of 

 money than can be devoted to this object by the Smithsonian income. 



All the accounts collected by the Institution of the remarkable 

 auroras of August and September, 1859, were placed in the hands of 

 Professor Loomis, and by him discussed and published in the " Amer- 

 ican Journal of Science." 



During the past year, meteorological instruments have been furnished 

 to two expeditions under the direction of the Coast Survey to observe 

 the great solar eclipse of the 18th of July, 1860. One of these was 

 sent to Labrador under the charge of Professor S. Alexander, of the 

 College of New Jersey, and the other to Washington Territory under 

 Lieutenant Grilliss. The instruments, in both cases, have been returned 

 in good condition. 



A full set of meteorological instruments and other apparatus has 



