162 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. JANUARY, 1913
under Japanese auspices. It is understood that China intends to est)ablish a national weat8her service, with
headquarters a t Peking, but no details of this plan are
yet known. P. C. D.
TO OBSERVERS OF METEORS.
Shooting stars, niet,eors, bolides, and nerolites are but different names for large and siiiall bits of matter that
enter the earth’s atinosphere and are frequently burned
up in it, but, occnsionrtlly they pass through it,, going nn-
ward in spare, while u t other h i e s the? burst in piews
and fall to the earth. The largest aerolite known is the great mass of iron weighing 36 or 37 tons that was brought
from Greenland to New Torlr City by Pesry, and is iiow
deposit>ed a t the entrance to the Anierican hluseum of
Natural History in that city. Obscrvation of tlipsts
bodies has some iiit’erest tn astmnoiners, but a n especial interest to iiieteorolngkts. The combination of several
acrurnte observations of positions as seen froin as many
different stations enables an expert to calciilate the pre- cise path of the aerolite through t8he atmosphere. From
this we deteiiiine a t once the alt8itude above the earth’s surface a t which there is sufficient, air to heat the meteor
to visibility. We can also calculate the resistance of the
atmosphere a t that, elevation whence there results some
knowledge of its density. There are nuinerous other important yuestions to be answered, and such observa-
tions map give us 2% c,lue tis to the condition of the highest portion of our atinosphere. Doubt,less the time will come
when observations of bright shooting stars will be ex-
pected of C V P I ’ ~ meteorological observer, hut a t )resent
search in untrodrleii fields.
We are therefore pleased to know that Prof. Charles P. Olivier, of Agnes Scott, College, Decatur, Gn., has taken
~iy this class of work, in which Prof. H. A. Newton of
\ d e College won such distinction and aroused both astronomers and inet,tvrologists to realize t8heir great im- portance. Prof. Olivier has in fact organized . The
Ainerican Meteor Society, ” “having become convinced
that the time had coine for further cooperat#ion. ” Within a few ii~ont~hs 15 fait81hl observers were enrolled, and
over 1,400 nirteors reported froin California, Virginia,
Tennessee, and Georgia. He desires to estend a hearty invitation to all who are interestNed in this subject, either
because of its astronomical or its nieteorological iin or-
business takes t, ieni out of cloors during the nicThttime
can be especially useful.
they are recc,rdecl by the few enthusiasts devote ci to re-
tance, and we ho )e that inany will respond. ‘l’hose w K ose
8. A. 1