New York Hospital's 19th Century Meteorological Reports

From the polar vortex, to Arctic blasts, to thundersnow, New York City weather has given most of us some meteorological firsts in the last few years. Though the study of such phenomena dates back to ancient India (circa 500 AD), the formation of weather observation networks that systematically collected weather data was not established until 1654 in Italy. In the late 1840s, the newly formed Smithsonian Institution (1846) established a meteorology program led by New York-born (Albany, that is) Joseph Henry. By 1860, the program had over 600 volunteer weather observers in North America, South America, and the Caribbean and the program led to the (eventual) formation of the National Weather Service. Turns out that the Medical Center Archives has a weather-related collection of its own--two volumes of 19th century meteorological reports. The reports include readings of barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction and a section for "remarks." The data was fastidiously recorded three times daily (9am, 3pm, 9pm) by the Apothecary of New York Hospital (now NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital) from January 1, 1848 to February 17, 1870.

Why, you ask? Another collection, the New York Hospital, Board of Governors minutes, dating from the founding of the Hospital in 1771 to 1978, sheds light on why, or at least on how and by whom. This entry from the Board of Governors minutes on December 3, 1844 explains: 

"Resolved. that the requisite instruments for Meteorological observations, be purchased for this institution, as a price not exceeding $50. That it be made the duty of the Apothecary of this establishment to keep a record of such observations."

In a letter written in 1988 from the then Assistant Archivist at the Medical Center Archives to another archivist at MIT who had inquired about the meteorological collection, a possible/plausible explanation is given as to why this collection exists.
"19th century physicians believed (at least through the 1870s) that an accurate meteorological record of a locality was vital in determining how that locality's weather affected its inhabitant's health."

Whether this is the motivation for the decision to start collecting meteorological data or it was just another instance of the rapidly growing interest in the study of meteorology in the 19th century, is not known. But it is interesting to imagine that this collection, and the many similar collections that must exist all over the world, could provide data for current research today.