REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 



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can only be defrayed by the general government, or some organiza- 

 tion in possession of more ample means than can be applied by the 

 Smithsonian Institution to such a purpose. This will be evident from 

 the fact which we have mentioned of the cost of the establishment 

 of a similar system in India, and from a report of a committee of the 

 two houses of Parliament appointed to consider certain questions 

 relating to the meteorological department of the Board of Trade. 

 From this it appears that the amount expended during the eleven 

 years ending with 1865 was 45,000 pounds sterling, or an average 

 of about $20,000' a year. The same committee recommend that 

 meteorological observations at sea be continued under the direc- 

 tion of the hydrographic office of the admiralty, and an appropria- 

 tion of XI, 500 annually be made for instruments, and for discussion 

 and publication of results, £1,700; making a total of £3, 200. 

 For weather statistics on land, the annual sum of £4, 2 50 , includ- 

 ing instruments, discussion, and publications, is recommended, and 

 for telegram storm warnings, £3,000; making a total annual ex- 

 penditure of £7,450 for the land, and a grand annual total for land 

 and sea of £10,450, or $52,250. 



The present would appear to be a favorable time to urge upon 

 Congress the importance of making provision for reorganizing all the 

 meteorological observations of the United States under one combined 

 plan, in which the records should be sent to a central depot for dis- 

 cussion and final publication. An appropriation of $50,000 annually 

 for this purpose would tend not only to advance the material interest 

 of the country, but also to increase its reputation. It would show 

 that although the administration of our government is the expression 

 of the popular volition, it is not limited in its operation merely to 

 objects of instant or immediate utility, but that, with a wise prevision 

 of the future, it withholds its assistance from no enterprise, however 

 remote the results, which has for its end to advance the well-being of 

 humanity. 



It is scarcely necessary at this day to dwell on the advantages which 

 result from such systems of combined observations as those which the 

 principal governments of Europe have established and are now con- 

 stantly extending. I may, however, in passing, briefly allude to some 

 facts which may not at once occur to the mind of the general reader. 

 They enable the mariner to shorten the time and diminish the danger 

 of the passage from one port to another by indicating to him the 

 route along which prevail, at a particular season of the year, the 

 most favorable winds for his purpose. They also furnish the means 



