REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERN MENT METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS. THE Special Committee on Government Meteorological Reports, respectfully submit the following statement of facts and suggestions: The earliest connection of the government of the United States with meteorology, is to be found in the adoption by the Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, of a system of regulations for the medical department of the army, submitted to him for approval by Surgeon-General Joseph Lovell, in the year 1818. In obedience to those regulations, the medical officers commenced taking and recording meteorological observations in January, 1819, and have continued to do so uninterruptedly up to the present time. The original system has been from time to time altered, enlarged, and improved, and the area covered by the observations has increased with the extension of our territory. Some of the principal results of those observations have been published at the expense of the war department, and now form a series of four volumes, three octavo and one quarto. The original monthly registers for the whole period, comprise sixty-two large folio volumes, and have been and are now frequently consulted by meteorologists in the prosecution of various scientific inquiries, which no published general results afford the means of elucidating. The Smithsonian Institution, at a very early period of its existence, turned its attention to meteorology, and, under the auspices of Professor Henry, its able and scientific secretary, has labored patiently and assiduously in this most difficult field of research, difficult because the data for correct deductions can only be obtained by a host of intelligent observers, and because the labor of reduction and collation is truly Herculean. That institution has imported a number of standard instruments compared with those of London and Paris, and has had a large number of copies of these made, which are now widely distributed over different parts of the country. The system which it organized has been in operation since 1850. The reductions since 1854 are ready for the press, and will be given to the world as rapidly as the means of the institution will permit. It has also collected a large amount of material relative to the meteorology of this country, a quarto volume of which is now in the press. It has had the observations made by Dr. Kane reduced and discussed, and the results are now in the hands of the printer. A large number of records have been collected in regard to the mean temperature of places in this country, and from these a map of isothermal lines has been projected, a reduction of which has been published in the Agricultural Report of the Patent Office for 1856. Also a considerable amount of labor has been expended in preparing a map of the distribution of arable land within the boundaries of the United States. The institution has, however, as yet published comparatively but little in the way of the reductions, because the funds necessary for this purpose could not be well spared from more pressing demands, and because the value of observations increase in a higher ratio than the time during which they are continued. It has, however, published and assisted in the preparation of the valuable paper of Professor Coffin, on the winds of North America, the interesting researches of Mr. Meech on the intensity of the heat and light of the sun; as well as a large volume of meteorological tables by Prof. Guyot. In the year 1855 the Smithsonian Institution united with the Patent Office, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, in a plan for co-operating in the collection of meteorological observations, which plan is now in full and successful operation. The primary object of the Smithsonian Institution is the advancement of the science of meteorology, and the elucidation of the laws of atmospheric phenomena; that of the Patent Office, to collect facts, and deduce therefrom laws which have immediate reference to agriculture; while the system of the medical department is intended to be primarily subservient to the health of the troops and the advancement of medical science. These three institutions are now in harmonious co-operation, and it is believed that it is no exaggeration to say that under their auspices more is now being done to advance meteorology than has ever before been attempted under any government. The Committee, through its members resident in Washington, have conferred with Professor Henry as to the mode and manner in which this Association could co-operate in this field of labor with the greatest benefit to the interests of the medical profession, and to the advancement of science; and while we report with regret that the multitudinous demands upon the time and attention of Professor Henry have left him no leisure to communicate his views on this subject in writing, we are gratified to be able to state that the plan and suggestions now submitted to the Association are in part the result of conferences with him, and that they have his approval and sanction. In order to co-operate systematically with the Smithsonian Institution, Army Medical Department, and Patent Office, and yet not to enter into a too extended and laborious series of observations, the Committee recommend That each county medical society create the office of registrar, and appoint thereto a physician or medical student resident in the county town, whose duties shall be to keep a meteorological and medical register in the form and manner hereinafter described, and to correspond with the members of the society respecting all those agencies which may have an influence upon sickness and mortality in the county; such as its climatology, medical topography, prevalent diseases, water, diet, clothing, homes, occupations, and habits of the inhabitants. That the hours of observing be 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M. Those hours, first adopted by the medical department of the army in 1819, having been found to give for the United States, a very close approximation to the true daily mean temperature, as shown by the hourly observations. That at each of those hours the following observations be made, and immediately and correctly recorded: 1st. Of the temperature of the open air in the shade, as shown by the thermometer; 2d. Of the relative degree of humidity, as indicated by the hygrometer; 3d. Of the winds, as pointed by a wind-vane, noting both the direction and estimated force; 4th. Of the sky, whether clear, cloudy, or overcast; 5th. Of rain and snow, stating in each case when it began, when it ended, and measuring the amount with the ombrometer and snow-gauge, and recording the result in inches and decimals of an inch. At the end of each month, the observer should prepare an abstract or summary of his observations, noting: 1st. The mean temperature at 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M., and for the month, its maximum, minimum and range; 2d. The mean results of the hygrometrical observations; 3d. The differences between the observations on the thermometer and hygrometer; 4th. The number of observations and sum of force of the winds; 5th. The number of days, fair, cloudy, or overcast, and days of rain and snow; 6th. The total amount of rain and melted snow recorded in inches and decimals of an inch. A form for registering these observations and summaries is herewith submitted. Its examination will show that provision is made for recording the results with the least possible amount of labor to the observer. Two or three minutes each day will suffice for computing and recording the daily means; and in one or two hours, at the end of each month, the summaries can be correctly made out. The importance of having those summaries correctly computed by the individual observers cannot be too strongly urged; without them the registers are not only incomplete, but, to a certain extent, unfit for scientific purposes; for though the labor of preparing them is very small when shared by a hundred or a thousand individuals, it is beyond the power of the Smithsonian Institution or any government bureau to make the necessary computations for the whole corps of observers. It will be seen that brief directions for registering observations. and for calculating the mean results are given on the form; also that spaces are provided for describing casual meteorological phenomena and for noting medical observations, with memoranda suggestive of the phenomena to be observed and the kind of medical facts to be recorded. Although aware of the importance of the barometer in any system of meteorological observations, the committee have been deterred from including that instrument in the plan proposed, because it is expensive; is easily broken, particularly in transportation, and requires great care to preserve from injury. Barometric observations are much desired, and the necessary forms and instructions will be cheerfully furnished by the Smithsonian Institution, upon application to that effect. The instruments required for carrying into effect the plan proposed, are a thermometer, hygrometer, wind-vane, ombrometer, and snow-gauge. Wind-vanes are to be found in every town; the other instruments will cost not to exceed ten dollars, and if a form of ombrometer now being experimented with by the Smithsonian Institution be adopted, the whole cost will be reduced to six or seven dollars. The Committee are authorized to say that if the American Medical Association enter upon this plan of co-operation, the Smithsonian Institution will, upon due notice, furnish to each observer, free of cost, printed instructions relative to the specific kind of instruments to be used, and the mode in which they are to be procured; also directions in detail for placing the instruments and taking observations, and a double series of blank forms, one for recording the observations when taken, to be retained by the observer; the other for a copy to be carefully collated from the original and transmitted monthly to the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.," for the Smithsonian Institution. The Committee recommend that each County Medical Society cause a number of copies of the register of meteorological observations to be printed and bound in a book, and that the original observations be recorded therein for preservation and facility of reference. The cost of a volume, which would last five years, would, probably, be eight or ten dollars. If arrangements were made for printing the entire register, monthly, in the local newspaper, copies could be secured for file and for exchange. The Committee further suggest that each County Medical Society examine the register of observations at their regular meetings, and that they make, at least once a year, a report to the "State Medical Society," embracing the meteorological summaries and an abstract of the medical observations; also, that each State Medical Society make an annual report to the American Medical Association, setting forth the medical facts of general interest and importance obtained from the reports of the County Medical Societies, with so much of the meteorological data as may have a bearing thereon. Finally, that the American Medical Association make the reports from the State Medical Societies the basis of an annual report on the prevalent diseases, epidemic constitutions, and meteorological conditions which obtained throughout the United States during the different seasons and year. Z. PITCHER, M. D., RICHARD H. COOLRIDGE, M. D., PAUL F. EVE, M. D. NOTE. The members of the Committee having had no personal conference with each other, wish to reserve to themselves, so long |