secular change we know nothing at all. We can, however,
perceive that the snowfall of winter results from water that
was evaporated long before from tropical and equatorial
regions, and that any excess of the glaciers of the Antarctic
Continent over those of the Arctic must be due largely to the
more abundant supply brought by moist ocean winds.
When the African Continent was 10,000 feet above ocean
level with its great gorges of the Nile, the Congo, and the
Zambesi, and when the submarine gorges off the mouths of the
Congo and the Hudson were being eroded, both the African and
the American continents m y have had a larger snowfall and
rainfall and a much larger outflow than now; but the existence
of these gorges does not prove this since we see similar gorges
now being cut down slowly by a comparatively small outflow in the Valley of the Colorado. Duration and quantity are
equally important.
We think it is safe to say that no great changes in continents,
oceans, or plateaus, arctic or antarctic, are likely to have made
any correspondingly great change in the rainfall of the globe
as a whole, and that therefore the globe is not now slowly drying
up. The maximum annual rainfall that can occur on this globe as a whole is determined by the maximum total annual
evaporation that can be caused by the sun's heat acting on the
ocean, taken in connection with the maximum vertical inter-
change of air currents, since it is the cooling due to the latter
that produces clouds and rain.-C. A.
413 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. DECEXBHI, 1908
TASMANIA AND THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE.
The meteorologist of Tasmania, W. H. C. Kingsmill, has
called attention to the fact that the total solar eclipse of May
9, 1910, will be visible from that locality, and as this is one of
the few places where observers can be located on land he
anticipates that many government expeditions will be sent to
that region. As these expeditions generally include not only
technical astronomers but those representing other branches
of science, such as meteorology, botany, and geology, it is
likely that this event will be made the occasion of a very con-
siderable eddition to our knowledge of that region. American
scientists are especially invited, and it is hoped that our
meteorologists and botanists will improve the opportunity.
An extensive scientific expedition analogous to that sent by
the United States Uovernment to the west coast of Africa in
1889 would be quite in order and probably yield as important
results as those attained by the members of that expedition.-
C. A. -
DRIEST YEaR AT PORTLAND, ME.
By E. B. J o ~a s , Local Forecaster. Dated Portland, Me., January 1, 1909.
I n connection with the gcAnnual Index of Meteorological
Notes," I will state that the year 1908 was the driest in the
history of this station. Every month in the twelve was drier
than normal, with three exceptions. The nearest approach to
this record was in 1883, but this year had 1.25 inches of rain
more than 1908.
During the year just ended there were only 30.74 inches of
precipitation. The normal precipitation for the year in Port-
land is 42.51 inches, making a deficiency of 11.77 inches, or
practically 1 foot.
June was the driest, for this month, on record and Sep-
tember was one of the driest, for the month, in the history of
the local office. May was the only month which had any
noticeable excess of precipitation.
As a result of the extreme dry westher, Maine suffered one
of the greatest droughts in her history, forest fires destroyed
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of timber and other
property, and crops were seriously injured and in many cases
completely cut off.
At the present time the dry weather is being severely felt
by mill owners and by farmers, who in many cases are hauling
water from long distances. Many large industries have been
obliged to shut down.
ADDRESS TO THE MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSIUU SEUTION OF THE BRITISH ASSOUIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SUIENUE, DUBLIN, SEPTEMBER, 1908.
By W. N. S H .A ~, Sc.D., LL D., F. R S., President of the Bection.1
It is with much misgiving that I endeavour to discharge the
traditional duty of the president of a section of the British
Association. So many other duties seem to find a natural
resting place with anyone who has to reckon at the same time
with the immediate requirements of the public, the claims of
scientific opinion, and the interests of posterity, that, unless
you are content with such contribution towards the advance-
ment of the sciences of mathematics and physics as my daily
experience enables me to offer you, I shall find the task im-
possible.
With a leaning towards periodicity perhaps slightly unortho-
dox I have looked back to see what they were doing in Section
A fifty years ago. Richard Owen was President of the Asso-
ciation, William Whewell was President of Section A for the
fifth time.
At the meeting of 1858 they must have spent some time over
nineteen very substantial reports on researches in science,
which included a large section of Mallett's facts and theory of
earthquake phenomena, magnetic surveys of Great Britian and
of Ireland, and, oddly enough, an account of the self-record-
ing anemometer by Beckley; perhaps a longer time was re-
quired for fifty-seven papers contributed to the section, but
very little was spent over the presidential address, for it only
occupies two pages of print. My inclination towards perio-
dicities and another consideration leads me to regard the pre-
cedent as a good one. That other consideration is that kc-
tion A has always more subjects for discussion than .it can
properly dispose of; and, in this case, discipline, like charity,
might begin at home.
Since the section met last year it has lost its most illustrious
member and its most faithful friend. Lord Kelvin made his
first contribution to Section A at Cambridge in 1815, on the
elementary laws of statical electricity; he was president of
the section in 1852 at Belfast for the first of five times. I
have looked to see what suggestion I could derive from his
first essay in that capacity. I can find no reference to any
address in. the published volume. I wish I had the courage
to follow that great example.
Lord Kelvin's association with Section A was so constant
and so intimate that it requires more than a passing word of
reference. There is probably no .student of mathematics or
physics grown into a position of responsibility in this country
but keeps among his treasured reminiscences some words of
inspiration 'and of encouragement from Kelvin, spoken in the
surroundings which we are once more met to inaugurate. I
On the occasion of the recent meeting of the British Association at Dublin the Senate of Dublin University conferred honorary degrees on many dlstinguished men including the followlng well-known meteorolo-
Dr. W. N. Shaw, Director of the Meteorological Omce, London; a p t . H. G. Lyons, Director-General of the Survey Department in Egypt. Also the following, who have contributed more or less directly to our science: Sir David Gill, late Director of the Royd Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa; Dr. Horace Lamb, Professor of Mathematics, Univoreity of Manchester, England; Dr. E. Rutherford, Professor of Physios, Uni- versity of Manchester. England, formerly of McGill University, Montreal,
---
glsts:
,- -.
Canada. The elegant address of Dr. W. N. Shew, as President of the Mathe- matical and Physical Section (Section A) of the Brttiih Association, will, we believe, be instructive to every reader of the Monthly Weather Review, and we therefore reprint it in full.
DECEMBER, 1908. 413
refer to those unrecorded acts of kindness and help because
they were really a striking characteristic of Section A. Their
value for the amenity as well as for the advancement of science
it would be difficult to overestimate. I could not, even if time
permitted, hope to set before you an adequate appreciation of
Kelvin’s contributions to science as illustrated by his com-
munications to this section, and in this place it is not neces-
sary. But I can not pass over that feature of his character
without notice..
Closely following on the loss of Kelvin came the death of
Sir Richard Strachey, a personal loss to which it is difficult to
give expression. I am not aware that he had much to do with
Section A. I wish, indeed, that the section had seen its way
to bring. him more closely into touch with its proceedings.
He was president of Section E in 1876, and, by appointment
of the Royal Society, he was for twenty-two years chairman
of the Meteorological Council. I had the good fortune to be
very closely rtssociated with him during the last ten years of
his life, and to realise the ideas which lay behind his official
actions and to appreciate the reality of his services to science
in the past and for the future. These losses unfortunately do not stand alone. Only last
year Sir John Eliot received the congratulations of all his
fellow workers upon the publioation of his Climatological Atlas
of India as representing the most conspicuous achievement of
orderly, deliberate, purposeful compilation of meteorological facts for a special area that has yet been seen. He was f u l l
of projects for a handbook to accompany the atlas, and of
ideas for the prosecution of meteorological remarch over wide
areas by collecting information from all the world and enlist-
ing the active cooperation of the constituent parts of the
British Empire in using those observations for the advance-
ment of science and the benefit of mankind. He died quite
suddenly on March 18, not young as years go, but quite youth-
ful in the deliberate purpose of manifold scientific activities
and in his irrepressible faith in the future of the science which
he has adorned.
The section will, I hope, forgive me if I put before them
some considerations which the careers of these three men sug-
gest. Kelvin, a mathematician, a natural philosopher, a uni-
versify professor, some part of whose scientific work is known
to each one of us. He was possessed with the notion that
mathematics and natural philosophy are applicable in every
part of the work of daily life, and made good the contention
by presenting to the world, besides innumerable theoretical
papers, instruments of all degrees of complexity, from the harmonic analyser to an improved water-tap. It was he who
transfigured and transformed the mariner’s compass and the
lead-line into instruments which have been of the greatest
practical service. It was he who, when experimental science
was merely a collection of facts or generalisations, conceived
the idee of transfiguring every branch of it by the application
of the principles of natural philosophy, as Newton had trans-
figured astronomy. The ambition of Thomson and Tait’s
Natural Philosophy, of which only the first volume reached
the stage of publication, is a fair index of Kelvin’s genius.
Strachey, on the other hand, by profession a military engi-
neer, a great administrator, head of the Public Works Depart-
ment in India, deeply versed in finance and in all the other
constituent parts of administration, by his own natural instinct
demanded the assistance of science for every branch of ad-
ministration. I n promoting the development of botany, of
meteorology, of geodesy, and of mathematics, he was not ad-
ministering the patronage of a Macsnas, but claiming the
practical serviee of science in forestry, in agriculture, in famine
relief, in public works, and in finance. You can not gauge
Strachey’s services in science by the papers which he con-
tributed to scientific societies, if you leave out of account the
fact that they were really incidents in the opening of fresh
channels of communication between scientific work and the
public service.
And Eliot, as Meteorological Reporter to the Government
of India, an accomplished aathematician (for he was second
wrangler and first Smith’s prizeman in 1869), a capable and
devoted public servant, the medium by which Strachey’s ideas
as regards the use of meteorologyin administration found ex-
pression in the Government of India, who caught the true
perception of the place of science in the service of the State,
and made his office the indispensable handmaid of the Indian
administration. These three men together, who have all
passed away within a space of three months, are such repre-
sentative types of scientific workers, complementary and sup-
plementary that a similar combination is not likely to occur
again. All three indispensable, yet no two alike, except in their enthusiasm for the sciences for the advancement of which
Section A exists.
To these I might indeed add another type, the private con-
tributor to the physical exploration of the visible universe, of
which Ireland furnishes SO many noble examples; and in that
connection let me give erpression to the sense of grievous loss,
to this association and science, occasioned by the premature
death of W. E. Wilson, of Daramona, a splendid example of
that type.
I n the division of the work of advancing the sciences of
mathematics and physics and their application to the service of
mankind, I am reminded of Dryden’s somewhat lopsided com-
parison of the relative influence of music and song in his Ode
to St. Cecelia’s Day. I f I may be pardoned for comparing
small things with great, the power of Timotheus’ musio over
. Alexander’s moods was hardly less complete than Kelvin’s
power to touch every department of the working world with
his genius. But I may remind you that, after a prolonged
description of the tremendous influence of Timotheus upon
the victorious hero, the poet deals in one stanza with his
nominal subject:-
A t last divine Cecilia came, Inventress of the vocal frame: The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store, Enlarged the former narrow bounde
With nature’s mother-wit, and arte unknown beJore.
Let old Timotheus yield the prize, Or both divide the crown: He raised a mortal to the skies, She drew an angel down.
* * e I
I doubt if any of my hearers who knew Strachey by sight
would remgnise in him the scientific reincarnation of 8t. Cecilia,
but it is none the less true that he was preeminent among men
in inventing the means of drawing angels down and using their
service for the attuning of common life to a scientific standard.
It may be equally hard for those who knew him to look upon
Eliot as a vocal frame, for of all his physical capacitiee his
voice was the least impressive; and yet it is not untrue to say
that he was conspicuously a medium by which the celestial
harmonies of the physical sciences were brought into touch
with the practical life of India through his work, which is
represented by a considerable number of the twenty volumes
of Memoirs of the Indian Meteorological Service.
I do not indulge in this poetic extravagance without some
underlying reason. Speaking for the physics of the atmos-
phere, there is a real distinction between these three sides of scientific work. To Bome is given the power of the mathema-
tician or the physicist to raise the mortal.to the skies, to solve
some problem which, if not in itself a meteorological one, still
has a bearing, sooner or later to be discovered and developed, upon the working of atmospheric phenomena. It is easy
enough to cite illustrious examples: among notable instances
there recur to my mind Rayleigh’s work on the colour of the
d l 4 DECEMBER, 1908
that the business of the scientific departments of Government
is not to raise an occasional mortal to the skies, but to draw
down as many angels as are within reach. I was much
surprised, when Eliot wished to develop a large scheme for
meteorological work on a wider scale, that he made his appeal
to the British Association as Chairman of the Sub-section for
Cosmical Physics at Cambridge, and thereby to the Clovern-
menta of this country and the colonies. He felt that he could
only urge the Indian Government to join, and he did so suc-
cessfully, so far as India would be directly benefited thereby,
however important the results might be from a purely scien-
tific point of view. Strange as it may appear to some, it was
to this country that he looked for assistance, on the plea of
the increase of knoweledge for its own sake, or for the sake of
mankind at large.
I am disposed, therefore, to carry your thoughts a little fur-
ther, and rely on your patience while I consider another aspect
for the process of drawing down the angels from the mathe-
matical and physical sky, a process which is su5ciently indi-
cative of the functions of a state scientific department. View-
ing the world at large, and not merely that part of it with
which we are ourselves immediately mncerned, such depart-
ments deal with celestial physics in astronomy, with the physics
of the air in meteorology, and atmospherio electricity, with the
physics of land and water in physical geography and geology,
seismology and terrestrial magnatism, oceanography and hy-
drography. It is for the practical applications of these scien-
ces to the serpice of the navigator, the fisherman, the husband-
man, the miner, the medical man, the engineer, and the general
public that there is an obvious public want.
Let me carry you with me in regarding these departments,
primarily, as centers for establishing the growth of science by
bringing it to bear upon the practical business of life, by a
process of regular plantation, and not the occasional importa-
tion of an exotic scientific expert. I shall carry you with me
also if I say that the gravest danger to such scientific institu-
tions is the tendency to waste. I use the term “waste,” not
in its narrowest, but in its most liberal sense, to include waste
of money, waste of effort, waste of scientific opportunity. I
do not regard it as a waste that such a department should be
unable to emulate Timotheus’ efforts. Any aspiration in that
direction is, of course, worthy of every encouragement, but the
environment is not generally suitable for such achievements.
I do, however, regard it as waste if the divine Cecilia is not
properly honored, and if advantage is not taken of the fullest
and freest use of the newest and best scientific methods, and
their application in the widest manner possible.
I speak for the office with which I am connected when I say
its temptations to waste are very numerous and very serious.
It is wasteful to collect observations which will never be used;
it is equally wasteful to decline to collect observations which
in the future may prove to be of vital importance. It is waste-
ful to discuss observations that are made with inadequate ap-
pliances; it is equally wasteful to allow observations to accu-
mulate in useless heaps because you are not sure that the
instruments are good enough. It is wasteful to use antiquated
methods of computation or discussion; it is equally wasteful
to use all the time in making trial of new methods. It is
wasteful to make use of researches if they are inaccurate; it is
equally wasteful to neglect the results of researches because
you have not made up your mind whether they are accurate
or not. It is wasteful to work with an inadequate system in
such matters as synoptic meteorology; it is equally wasteful
to lose heart because you can not get all the facilities which
you feel the occasion demands.
It is the business of those responsible for the administration
of such an office to keep a nice balance of adjustment between
the different sides of activity, so that in the long run the waste
is reduced to a minimum. There must in any case be a good
sky and Pernter’s meteorological optics; papers by Ferrel and
others on the general circulation of the atmosphere; the papers
by Hagen, Helmholtz, Oberbeck, Margules, Hertz, and Von
Bezoldon the dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmos-
phere, collected and translated by Cleveland Abbe; the work
on atmospheric absorption by Langley and the theoretical
papers on radiation by Poynting; those on condensation nuclei
by Aitken and Wilson, and the recent work on atmospheric
electricity, including the remarkable paper by Wilson on the
transference of electricity from the air to the ground.
But these things are not of themselves applied to the meteor-
ology of every-day life. It is, in a way, R separate sense, given
to few, to realize the possibilities that may result from the
solution of new theoretical problems, from the invention of
new methodeto grasp, in fact, the idea of bringing the angels
down. And, in order that the regular workers in such matters
may be in a position constantly to reap the advantages which
men of genius provide, the vocal frame must have its perma-
nent embodiment. For the advancement of science in this
sense we require all three-the professor with academic free-
dom to illuminate with his genius any phenomenon which he
may be pleseed to investigate, the administrator, face to face
with the practical problems in which science can help, and the
living voice which can tune itself in harmony with the advances
of science andin sympathy with the needs of the people whom
it serves.
The true relations of these matters are not always apparent.
Eliot, bringing to the work of the Indian Meteorological Office
a mind trained in the mathematical school of which Kelvin was
a most conspicuous exponent, achieved a remarkable success,
with which perhaps my hearers are not familiar.
I n this country there is a widespread idea that meteorology
achieves its object if by its means the dailp papers can give
such trustworthy advice as will enable a cautious man to decide
whether to take out his walking-stick or his umbrella. Some
of us are accuetomed to look upon India as a place of unusual
scientific enlightenment, where governments have a worthy ap-
preciation of the claims of science for recognition and support.
But Eliot was never tired of telling me that it was the adminis-
tration of India, and not the advancement of science, that the
Indian administrators had in view; and among his achieve-
ments the one of which he was the most proud was that the
conduct of his ofice upon scientific lines during his tenure
had so commended itself to the administrators that his BUD-
cessor was to be allowed three assistants, with special scientific
training, in order that the State might have the benefit of their
knowledge.
It is, of course, easy to suggest in explanation of this success
that the Department of Public Works of India can not afford to
be unmindful of the distribution of rainfall, and that there
is an obvious connection between Indian finances and Indian
droughts; but it is a new fact in British history that the ap-
plication of scientific considerations to the phenomena of rain-
fall are of such direct practical importance that meteorological
information is a matter of consequence to all Government of-
ficials, and that meteorological prospects are a factor of finance.
Imagine his Majesty’s Chancellor of the Exchequer calling at
63 Victoria street to make inquiries with a view to framing
his next Budget, or taking his prospects of a realized surplus
from the Daily Weather Report. Yet in India meteorology is
to such an extent a public servant that such proceedings
would not excite remark.
To have placed a scientific service on’such a footing is, in-
deed, a notable sucbess. Again, I rely on Eliot when I say that that success is only to be achieved by being constantly on
the watch to render service wherever service can be rendered.
There is a difference between this attitude and that which has
for ita object the contribution of an effective paper to a soien-
tific publication; in other words, it must be frankly recognised
DECEMBEB, 1908.
deal of routine work which is drudgery; and if one is to look
at all beyond the public requirements and public appreciation
of the immediate present, there must be a certain amount of
enterprise and consequently a certain amount of speculation.
Let me remark by the way that there is a tendency among
some of my meteorological friends to consider that a meteoro-
logical establishment can be regarded as alive, and even in
good health, if it keeps up its regular output of observations
in proper order and up to date, and that initiative in discussing
the observations is exclusively the duty of a central office.
That is a view that I should like to see changed. I do not
wish to sacrifice my own privilege of initiative in meteorologi-
cal speculation, but I have no wish for a monopoly. To me, I
confess, the speculation which may be dignified by the name
of meteorological research is the part of the ‘office work which
makes the drudgery of routine work tolerable. For my part
I should like every worker in the office, no matter how humble
his position may be, somehow or other to have the opportunity
of realizing that he is taking part in the unraveling of the
mysteries of the weather; and I do not think that any estab-
lishment, or section of an establishment, that depends upon
science can be regarded as really alive unless it feels itself in
active touch with that speculation which results in the ad-
vancement of knowledge. I do not hesitate to apply to other
meteorological establishments, and indeed to all scientific
institutions that claim an interest in meteorology, the same
criterion of life that I apply to my own office. It is contained
in the answer to the question, How do you show your interest
in the advancement of our knowledge of the atmosphere? The
reply that such and such volumes of data and mean values
measure the contribution to the stock of knowledge leaves me
rather cold and unimpressed.
But to return to the endeavor after the delicate adjustment
between speculation and routine, whioh will reduce. the waste
of such an institution to a minimum; experience very soon
teaches certain rules.
I have said elsewhere that the peculiarity of meteorological
work is that an investigator is always dependent upon other
people’s observations; his own are only applicable in so far as
they are compared with those of others. Up to the present
time, I have never known anyone t o take up an investigation that
involved a reference to accumulated data, without his being
hampered and harassed by unoertainties that might have been
resolved if they had been taken in time. I shall give you an
example presently, but, in the meantime, experience of that
kind is so universal that it has now become with us a primary
rule that any data collected shall be forthwith critically ex-
amined and so far dealt with as to make sure that they are
available for scientific purposes-that is, for the purposes of
comparison. A second rule is that as public evidence of the
completion of this most important task there shall be at least
a line of summary in a published report, or a point on a pub-
lished map, as a primary representation of the results. Such
publication is not to be regarded as the ultimate application
of the observations, but it is evidence that the observations
are there, and are ready for use.
You will find, if you inquire, that at the Office we have been
gradually lining up these troops of meteorological data into
due order, with all their buttons on, until, from the com-
mencement of this year, anyone who wishes to do so can hold
a general review of the whole meteorological army, in printed
order-first order stations, second order stations, rainfall sta-
tions, sunshine and wind ‘stations, sea temperatures and other
marine observations-on his own study table, within six months
of the date of the observations, upon paying to His Majesty’s
Stationery Office the modest sum of four shillings and sixpence.
For all the publications except one the interval between ob-
servation and publication is only six weeks, and as that one
has overtaken four years of arrears within the last four years,
415
I trust that by the end.of this year six weeks will be the full
measure of the interval between observation and publication
in all departments. This satisfactory state of affairs you owe
to the indefatigable care and skill of Captain Hepworth, Mr.
Lempfert, and Mr. R. H. Curtis, and the members of the staff
of the Office who work under their superintendence. I need
say little about corresponding work in connection with the
Daily Weather Report, in which Mr. Brodie is my chief assis-
tant, although it has received and is receiving a great deal of
attention. , The promptitude with which the daily work is
dealt with hardly needs remark from me, though I know the
difficulties of it as well as anyone. I f I spend only one long
sentence in mentioning that on July 1,1908, the morning hour
of observation at twenty-seven out of the full number of
twenty-nine stations in the British Isles was changed from 8
a. m. to 7 a. m., and the corresponding post-offices, as well as
the Meteorological Office, opened at 7:15 a. m. in order to deal
with them, so that we may have a strictly synchronous inter-
national system for western and central Europe, and thus
realise the aspiration of many years, you will not misunder-
stand me to mean that I estimate the task as an easy one.
The third general rule is that the effectiveness of the data
of all kinds, thus collected and ordered, should be tested by
the prosecution of some inquiry which makes use of them in
summary or in detail. It is here that the stimulating force of
speculative inquiry comes in; and it is in the selection and
prosecution of these inquiries, which test not only the ade-
quacy and effectiveness of the data collected, but also the
e%iciency of the Office as contributing to the advance of knowl-
edge, that the most serious responsibility falls upon the ad-
ministrators of Parliamentary funds.
Scientific Shylocks are not the least exacting of the tribe,
and there have been times when I have thought I caught the
rumination:
Shv. Three thousand ducats? ’tis a good round sum !
Bas. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.
Shy. Antonio is a good man? Bus. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? #hy. Oh ! no, no, no, no. * * Yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand,
moreover, upon the Rialto, that he hath a third in Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath squandered abroad. But ships are. but boards, sailors but men. There is the peril of water, wfnds, and rocke. Three thousandducats.
We at the Meteorological Office are very mucli in Antonio’s
position. Our means of research are very much in supposi-
tion: four observatories and over four hundred stations ‘of
one sort or another in the British Isles; an elaborate installa-
tion of wind-measuring apparatus at Holy head; besides other
ventures squandered abroad; an anemometer at Gibraltar,
another at St. Helena; a sunshine recorder a t the Falkland
Isles, half a dozen sets of instruments in British New Guinea,
and a couple of hundred on the wide sea. The efforts seem
so disconnected that the rumination about the ducats is not
unnatural.
And you must remember that we lack an inestimable nd-
vantage that belongs to a physical laboratory or a school of
mathematics, where the question of the equivalent number of
ducats does not arise in quite the same way. The relative
disadvantage that I speak of is that in an office the allowance
for the use of time and material in practice and training dis-
appears. All the world seems to agree that time or money
spent on teaching or learning is well spent. In the course of
twenty years’ experience at a physical laboratory, and in
examinations not a few, I have seen M and H or the wave-
length of sodium light determined in ways that would earn
very few ducats on the principle of payment by results; but,
having regard to the psychological effect upon the culprit or
the examiner, the question of ducats never came in. Wisely
* * 8 * * *
416 DECEXBER. 1908
or unwisely public opinion has been educated to regard the
psychological effect as of infinite value compared with the
immediate result obtained. But in an office the marks
that an observer or computer gets for showing that he
knew how to do it,’ when he did not succeed in doing it, do
not count towards a first class,’ and we have to abide by
what we do; we can not rely on what we might have done.
Consequently our means in supposition, spread over sea and
land, are matters of real solicitude. I n such circumstances
there might be reason for despondency if one were depend-
ent merely upon one’s own ventures and the results achieved
thereby. But when one has the advantage of the gradual
development of investigations of long standing, it is possible
to maintain a show of cheerfulness. When Shylock demands
his pound of flesh in the form of an annual report, it is not
uncommon at all to find. that some argosy that started on its
voyage long ago <hath richly come to harbour suddenly.’
There have been quite a number of such happy arrivals with-
in the last few years. I will refer quite briefly to the interesting relations be-
tween the yield of barley and cool summers, or the yield of
wheat and dry autumns, and the antecedent yield of eleven
years before, which fell out of the body of statistics collected
in the Weekly Weather Report since 1878. The accomplished
statisticians of the Board of Agriculture have made this work
the starting point for a general investigation of the relation
between the weather and the crops, which can not fail to have
.important practical bearings. For more than a full gene-
ration meteorological work has been hampered by the want
of a definite understanding as to the real meaning in velocity,
or force, of the various points of the scale of wind estimates
laid down in 1805 by Admiral Beaufort for use at sea, and
still handed on as an oral tradition., The prolonged inquiry,
which goes back really to the report on the Beckley anemo-
graph already referred to, issued quite unexpectedly in the
simple result that the curve
(wherep is the force in pounds per square foot, and B the
arbitrary Beaufort number) runs practically through nine out
of the eleven pointa on a diagram representing the empirical
results of a very elaborate investigation. The empirical deter-
minations upon which it is based are certainly not of the
highest order of accuracy; they rely upon two separate in-
vestigations besides the statistical comparison, viz, the con-
stant of an anemometer and the relation of wind-velocity to wind-pressure, but no subsequent adjustment of these deter-
minations is at all likely to be outside the limits of an error
of an estimate of wind-force; and the equation can be used,
quite reasonably, as a substitute for the original specification
of the Beaufort scale, a specification that has vanished with
the passing of ships of the type by which it was defined.
This result, combined with the equation p = 0.003 P, which
has been used in the Office for many years, and has recently
been confirmed as su5ciently accurate for all practical pur-
poses by Dr. Stanton at the National Physical Laboratory
and Monsieur Eiffel at the Eiffel Tower, places us upon a new
plane with regard to the whole subject of wind measurement
and wind estimation.
Results equally remarkable appear in other lines of investi-
gation. Let me take the relation of observed wind velocity
to barometric gradient. You may be aware that in actual ex-
perience the observed direction of the wind is more or less
along the isobars, with the low pressure on the left of the
moving air in the Northern Hemisphere; and that crowded
isobars mean strong winds. Investigations upon this matter
go back to the earliest days of the Office.
There can be no doubt that the relation, vague as it some-
times appears to be upon s weather chart, is attributable to
Let me take another example.
p = 0.010SB’
the effect of the earth’s rotation. In order to bring the ob-
served wind velocity into numerical relation with the pressure
gradient, Guldberg and Mohl: assumed a coefficient of sur-
face ‘friction,’ interfering with the steady motion. The in-
troduction of this new quantity, not otherwise determipable,
left us in doubt as to how far the relation between wind and
pressure distribution, deducible from the assumption of
steady motion, could be regarded as a really effective hypoth-
esis for meteorological purposes.
Recent investigations in the Office of the kinematics of the
air in travelling storms, carried out with Mr. Lempfert’s
assistance, have shown that, so far ns one can speak of the
velocity of wind at all-that is to say, disregarding the tran-
sient variations of velocity of short period and dealing with
the average hourly velocity, the velocity of the wind in all
ordinary circumstances is effectively steady in regard to the
accelerating forces to which it is subject. This view is sup-
ported by two conclusions which Mr. Gold has formulated in
the course of considering the observations of wind velocity in
the upper air, obtained in recent investigations with kites.
The first conclusion is that the actual velocity of wind in the
upper air agrees with the velocity calculated from the pres-
sure distribution to a degree of accuracy which is remarka-
ble, considering the uncertainties of both measurements; and
the second conclusion affords a simple, and I believe practi-
cally new, explanation upon a dynamics1 basis of the marked
difference between the observed winds in the central portions
of cyclones and anticyclones, respectively, by showing that,
on the hypothesis of steady motion, the difference of sign of
the effective acceleration, due to curvature of path and to the
earth’s rotation respectively, leads to quite a small velocity
and small gradient as the limiting values of those quantities
near anticyclonic centers.
This conclusion is so obviously borne out by the facts that
we are now practically in a position to go forward with the
considerable simplification which results from regarding the
steady state of motion in which pressure gradient is balanced
by the effective acceleration due to the rotation of the earth
and the curvature of the path, as the normal or ordinary state
of the atmosphere.
I can not forbear to add one more instance of an argosy
which has richly come to harbour so lately as this summer.
You may be aware that Kelvin was of the opinion that the
method of harmonic analysis was likely to prove a very pow-
erful engine for dealing with the complexities of meteorolo-
gical phenomena, as it has, in fact, dealt with those of tides.
In this view Sir Richard Strachey and the Meteorological
Council concurred, and an harmonic analyser was installed in
the O5ce in 1879, but subsequently numerical calculation
was used instead. A considerable amount of labour has been
spent over the computation of Fourier coefficients. Not many
great generalisations have flowed from this method up to the
present time. I have no doubt that there is much to be done
in the way of classifying temperature conditions, for climatic
purposes, by the analysis of the seasonal variations. A be-
ginning was made in a paper which was brought to the no-
tice of the Association at Glrsgow. The most striking re-
sult of the Fourier analysis we owe to Hann, who has shown
that, if we confine our attention to the second Fourier coeffi-
cient of the diurnal variation of pressure-that is, to the com-
ponent of twelve-hour period-we get a variation very marked
in intertropical regions, and gradually diminishing poleward in
both hemispheres, but synchronous in phase throughout the
360 degrees of a meridian. The maximum occurs along all me-
ridians in turn about 10 a. m. and 10 p. m. local time. This
semidiurnal variation with its regular recurrence is well
known to mariners, and we have recently detected it, true
to its proper phase, in the observations at the winter quar-
ters of the Discovery; small in amplitude indeed-about a
DE-, 1908.
thousandth of an inch of mercury-but certainly indentifi-
able.
The reality of this variation of pressure, common to the
whole earth, can not be doubted, and so far as it goes, we may
represent it (if indeed we may represent pressure differences as
differences in vertical heights of atmosphere) as the deforma-
tion of a spherical atmosphere into an elipsoid, with its longest
axis in the equator pointing permanently 30° to the west of
the sun. Its shortest axis would also be in the equator, and
its middle axis would be along the polar axis of the earth.
Somehow or other this protuberance remains fised in direction
with regard to the sun, while the solid earth revolves beneath
it. Whatever may be the cause of this effect, obviously cosmi-
ca1, and attributable to the sun, at which it indirectly points,
its existence has long been recognised, and further investiga-
tion only confirms the generalisetion. It is now accepted as
one of the fundwmentel general facts of meteorology.
Professor Schuster, for whose absence from this meeting I
may venture to express a regret which will be unanimous, has
already contributed a paper to the Royal Society pointing out
the possible relations between the diurnal variations of pres-
sure and those of terrestial magnetic force. Going back again
to the ubiquity of the application of the relation of pressure
and wind, in accordance with the dynamical explanation of
Buys Ballot’s law, we should expect the effect of a pressure
variation that has its counterpart in that of terrestrial magnet-
ism to be traceable also in wind observations.
Mr. J. S. Dines has just given me particulars of the ais- covery of that effect in the great air current, the variations of
which I have called the pulse of the atmospheric circulation-
I mean the southeast trade wind, the most persistent atmos-
pheric current in the world. It is difficult as a rule to get
bbservers to pay much attention to that current, because it is
so steady; but in 1891 the Meteorological Council set up an
anemometer at St. Helena, in the very heart of the current,
and we have just got out the results of the hourly tabulations.
When the obsemations for the hours 1 to 24 are grouped seps-
rately for months, so as to give the vector resultants for each
hour and for each month, i t appears that there is a conspicu-
ous semidiurnal variation in the current, which shows itself
as a closed polygon of vector.variations from the mean of the
day. The month of April gives the most striking diagram of the
twelve. It displays the superposition of two practically com-
plete dodekagons, one a large one, completing its cycle from
6 a. m. to 6 p. m., the other a small one, for 6 p. m. to 6 a. m.
The resultant wind for the whole day is very nearly southeast,
and practically remains so for all the months of the year, the
monthly variation of resultant wind being confined to a change
of velocity from about 14 miles per hour in May to about 21
miles per hour in September.
If, instead of combining the south and east components to
form a vector diagram, we plot their variations separately, the
semidiurnal in each is plainly marked; and the calculation of
its constants shows that its amplitude is about three-quarters
of a mile per hour both in the south and rather less in the
east component. The easterly increment has its maxima at
10 a. m and 10 p. m., and at these hours the phase of the
variation of the southerly component is nearly opposite.
Thus, to correspond with the semidiurnal variation of pres-
sure, there is .a semidiurnal variation in the trade wind at St.
Helena, which is equivalent to the superposition upon the re-
sultant wind of a northeasterly component of about 1 mile per
hour amplitude, with maxima at 10 a. m. and 10 p. m., the
hours when the ellipsoidal deformation of the spherical atmos-
phere is passing over the locality.
I have only dealt with one month. 1.believe that when all
the results that flow from this simple statement can be put
before you, you will agree with me that the argosy which the
417
Meteorological Council sent out in 1891 has indeed richly
come to harbour.
Let me digress to say a word in illustration of the principle
I laid down that, if one would avoid waste in meteorological
work, the observationsmust be examined forthwith and so far
discussed that any ambiguities may be cleared up.
After some years of wear at St. Helena the persistent rub-
bing of the southeast part of the spiral metallic pencil upon
the metallic paper wore away the metal and left a flat place.
This got so bad that the instrument had to come home for
repairs, and when it was set up again, after a year’s absence,
the average direction of the trade wind diEered by two points
from the average of most, but not of all, of the previous years.
So far as we know, the orientation has been attended to, as
before, and yet it is hardly possible to resist the suggestion
that the anemometer has been set slightly differently. We
are now making very careful inquiries from the observer; but,
in the meantime, it seems to me that there is a great oppor-
tunity for a competent mathematical physicist to help us.
Dynamical explanations of the trade winds have been given
from the time of Halley. Let me offer as a simple question
in the mathematical physics of the atmosphere whether a varia-
tion of two points in the direction of the southeast trade wind
between the years 1903 and 1905 can be regarded ae real, and,
if not, which of the two recorded directions is the correct
one ?
It would be appropriate for me to add some words about
the results of last yearb work upon the upper air, in which
we had the valuable cooperation of the University of Man-
chester. These results have disclosed a number of points of
unusual interest. But we are to have an opportunity of con-
sidering that subject in a discussion before the section, and I
need not deal with it here. I must, however, pause to give
expression of the thanks of all meteorologists to Professor
Schuster for his support of the Manchester University station
at Glossop Moor. I may remind you that this generous oon-
tribution for the advancement of science on the part of Pro-
fessor Schuster is in addition to the foundation of a readership
in mathematical physics at Manchester and a readership in
dynamical meteorology, now held by Mr. Gold at Cambridge.
I have said enough to show that the speculative ventures of
official meteorologists are not all failures, and I will only add
that if any mathematician or physicist would like to take his
luck on a meteorological argosy he will be heartily welcomed.
Part of the work will be drudgery; he must be prepared to
face that; but the prospects of reaching port are reasonably
good, so much so, indeed, that such a voyage might fairly
lead to a claim for one of the higher academical degrees.
Up to now I have been dealing with the adjustment of offi-
cial scientific work to reduce waste to a minimum, in so far as
it lies within the control of those responsible for an office.
I turn now to an aspect of the matter in which we require the
assistance of others, particularly of the British Association.
The most serious danger of waste in a busy office is that it
should carry on its work without an adequate knowledge of what
is being done in advancing science and improving methods
elsewhere. I speak myself for the Meteorological Office alone,
but I believe, that the responsible officials of any scientific
government department will agree with what I say.
with his sounding flute and
tuneful lyre ” performs some miracle by the application of
reasoning to the phenomena of nature. Only last year you
heard Professor Love in his presidential address treat of the
mundane question of the shape of the earth and etherealize
the grim actualities with the magic of his spherical harmonica
Year by year, in every one of the subjects in which the practi-
cal world is immediately interested, active students, whether
public officials, academic officials, or private enthusiasts, not
only keep alight the sacred flame but occasionally add to its
Year by year some Timotheus
418 MONTHLY WEATHEB REVIEW. DECEB~EE, 1W8
brilliance; and all the new knowledge, from whencesoever it
comes, ought to be applied to the service of the State.
The actual volume of original contributions on these sub-
jects is by no means inconsiderable. You are all aware that,
some years ago, the Royal Society initiated a great interna-
tional enterprise for the compilation of a catalogue of scientific
literature. I have been looking at the fifth annual issue of
the volume on Meteorology, including Terrestrial Magnetism.
I may remark that the catalogue is quite incomprehensibly
eclectic as regards official literature, but let that pass. I find
that, in the year that closed with July, 1907, 1,042 authors
(not counting offices and institutions as such) presented to
the world 2,131 papers on Meteorology, 229 on Atmospheric
Electricity, and 180 on Terrestrial Magnetism. This will give
some idea of the annual growth in these subjects, and may
convince you that after all allowance is made for duplicate
titles, for papers of no importance, and for mere sheets of
figures published for purposes of reference, there remains a
bulk of literature too large for any single individual to cope
with if he has anything else to do.
If instead of confining ourselves to what can be included in
meteorology alone we extend our view over the other allied
sciences, it would be necessary to take in other volumes of
the International Catalogue, and there would be some over-
lapping. I have taken instead the volume of the Fortschritte
der Physik for 1906, which deals with Kosmische Physik. It
is edited by Professor Assmann, who adds’ to his distinction
as head of the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory of
Lindenberg that of an accomplished bibliographer. In this
volume are given abstracts or titles of the papers published
during the year which can be regarded as worthy of the atten-
tion of a physicist. An examination of the volume gives the
folloming numbers of the papers in the different sections:
Papem.
Astro-Physiw.. ............................... 292
Meteorology.. ................................ 1,129
Atmospheric Electricity. ...................... 135
Geoph jsica : Geodetiw. ........................... Seismology and Volcanic Phenomena.. Terrestrial Magnetism and Aurora.. .. Currents, Tides, and Waves.. ........ Inland Hydrography ................. Ice, Glaciers, and Ice Age.. .......... Other papers ........................
105
256
108
46
117
139
126 - A97 _..
Total ................................ 2,376
I need hardly say that these 2,376 papers are not all English;
in some of the sections few of them are in that language and
fewer still are British. If British students, official and unoffi-
cial, are to make the most of the operation of drawing the
angels down, they need help and cooperation in dealing with
this mass of literature, in winnowing the important from the
unimportant, and in assimilating that which makes for the
real progress of the practical application of science. This is
the more necessary for these subjects because there is no
organized system of academic teaching, with its attendant
system of text-books. I n a subject which has many university
teachers it might reasonably be supposed that any important
contribution would find its way into the text-books, which are
constantly revised for the use of students; and yet in his
presidential address to the Royal Society in the November of
last year, Lord Rayleigh felt constrained to point out that, for
the advance of science, although the main requirement is
original work of a high standard, that alone is not sufficient.
The advances made must be secured, and this can hardly be
unless they are appreciated by the scientific public.” He adds
that ccthe history of science shows that important original
work is liable to be overlooked and is, perhaps, the more
liable the higher the degree of originality. The names of
T. Young, Mayer, Carnot, Waterston, end B. Stewart, will
suggest themselves to the physicist, and in other branches,
doubtless, similar lists might be made of workers whose
labours remained neglected for a shorter or longer time.”
If this is true of physics, how deplorably true it is of mete-
orology. If I allow a liberal discount of over 50 per cent
from the numbers that I have given, and estimate the number
of effective contributions to meteorology as recognized by the
International Catalogue at a thousand, which agrees pretty
well with that given by the Fortschritte der Physik, and if
I were to ask round this room the number of these papers
read by anyone here present, I am afraid the result would be
disheartening. Many of us have views as to the way in which
the study of meteorology ought to be pursued, but the views
are not always bised on an exhaustive examination of the
writings of meteorologists. Few of us could give, I think,
any reasonable idea of the way in which it is being pursued
by the various institutions devoted to its application, and of
the progress which is being secured therein. Meteorological
papers are written by the hundred, and whether they are
important or unimportant they often disregard what has been
already written in the same or some other language, and are
themselves in turn disregarded. I do not think I should be
doing any injustice if I applied similar remarks to some of the
other subjects included in the table which I have quoted.
How many readers are there in this country for an author in
terrestrial magnetism, atmospheric electricity, limnology, or
physical oceanography? But if the papers are not read and assimilated, the advancement of science is not achieved, how-
ever original the researohes may be.
By way of remedy for the neglect of important papers in
physics, Lord Ryleigh suggests that teachers of authority,
who, from advancing years or from some other reason, find.
themselves unable to do much more work in the direction of
original contributions, should make a point of helping to
spread the knowledge of the work done by others. But what
of those subjects in which there are no recognized teachers?
and in this country this is practically the case with the sub-
jects which I have mentioned. It is true that many of them
are made the occasion of international assemblies, a t which
delegates or representatives meet. But such international
assemblies are of necessity devoted, for the most part, to the
elaboration of the details of international organisetion, and
not to the discussion of scientific achievements. The numbers
attending are, equally of necossity, very restricted.
The want of opportunity for the discussion of progress in
these sciences is specially lamentable, because in its absence
they lose the valuable assistance of amateur workers, who might
be an effective substitute for the students of an academic study.
I n no subject are there more volunteers, who take an active
part in observing, than in meteorology; but how few of them
carry their work beyond the stage of recording observations
and taking means. .The reason is not lightly to be assigned
to their want of capacity to carry on an investigation, but far
more, I believe, to the want of knowledge of the objects of
investigation and of the means of pursuing them.
Among the agencies which in the past have fostered the
knowledge of these subjects, and stimulated its pursuit, there
stand out prominently the annual meetings of this association.
It was the British Association which in 1843 re-founded the
Kew Observatorj for the study of the physics of the atmos-
phere, the earth, and the sun. It wag the British Association
which promoted the establishment of magnetic observations
in many parts of the earth, and in .the early sixties secured the
most brilliant achievements in the investigation of the atmos-
phere by means of balloons. I know of no other opportunity
of anything like the same potentialities for the writers of pa-
pers to meet with the readers, and to confer together about
the progress of the sciences in which they are interested.
DEUEXEEB, 1M8.
But ita potentialities am not realised. Those of us who are most anxious for the spread of the application of mathematics
and physics to the phenomena of astronomy, meteorology, and
geophysics have thought that this opportunity could not prop-
erly be utilized by crowding together all the papers that deal
with such subjects into one day, or possibly two days, so that
they can be polished off with the rapidity of an oriental eseou-
tion. In fact, the opportunity to be polished off is precisely
not the opportunity that is wanted. There are some of us who
think that a British Association week is not too long for the
consideration of the subjects of which a year’s abstracts occupy
a volume of six hundred pages, and that, if we could extend
the opportunity for the consideration of these questions from
one or two days to a week, and let those members who are
interested form a separate committee to develop and extend
these subjecte, the British hsociation, the country, and science
would all gain thereby. I venture from this place, in the name
of the advancement of science, to make an appeal for the favour-
able consideration of this suggestion. It is not based upon
the depreciation, but upon the highest appreciation of the
service which mathematics and physics have rendered, and can
still render, to the observational soiences, and upon the well-
tried principle that close family ties are strengthened, and not
weakened, by making allowance for natural development.
The plea seems to me so natural, and the alternatives so
detrimental to the advancement of science in this country, that
I can not believe the Association will turn to it a deaf ear.
419
RElUEINT ADDITIONS TO THH WBA- BUREAU LIBRBRY.
C FITZHUQH TALMAN, Librulcn.
The following have been selected from among the titles of
books recently received, as representing those most likely to
be useful to Weather Bureau officials in their meteorological
work and studies. Most of them oan be lent for a limited time
to officials and employees who make application for them.
Anonymous publications are indicated by a -.
Borghese, Oaetano. Meteorologia e climatologia di Novara di Sicilia: Messina. 1907. 61 p. 80.
Buitenzorg (Java). Botanical institute.
l a p . 10.
Curityba. Obeervatorio meteorologioo.
meteorologioae de reparti* geral dos telegraphos. 1908. lop. 80. 6sheets. SSx40cm.
Observations m6t6orologiques. Annee 1907. [Buitenzorg. 1908.1
Historico sobre os meteorographos Theorell ern servieo naa esfapoes
Curityba.
Denmark. Deneke meteorologieke Institut. Yeteorologisk Aarbog. 1907. Kjobenhavn. 1908. 144 p. P.
Finland. Fineke vetenskaDs-sooietetens meteorologiska con-
Observations m6t6orolodques. Helsindors. 1908. 126 D. io. tralanstalt. __ - Fisohli, Fritz. DM Verhalten der meteorologkchen Elemente und Ersaheinungen inderVertWen. Bern. 1908. 129p. 8O.
Krebs, WUheIm. Umsohwung der NiedersohlagverhLltisse zwlechen 1902 und 1908, mit beeonderer Bertioksichtigung Mitteleuropas. (Sondembdruck aus der Zeitaohrift fiir Gewgsserkunde. 9 Bd. 1 H. p. 6C81.)
. . . Die absoluten erdmagnetischen Beobachtungen der Kerguelen- Station. Berlin. 1908. p. 77-187. P. (Deutsche siidpolar-expedi- tion 1901-1903. VI. Erdmagnetismus 11.)
Ilbizusawa. International latitude observatory.
Luyken, K.
Annual report. 1907. 1908. 37 p. P. M6ller, Maxi Zur Theorie der Bewegungsvorghge. Leipzig. 1907. vii, 86 p. 90. fsonderabdruck aus der Zeitsohrlft Die Turbine.” Organ der Turbhenteohnieohen Geeellsoheit E. V. Jahrgang 190?.)
stimmung der Witterung. Hamburg. 1886. 90 p. 80.
[1899?] 104 p. 8O.
-
Wetter-Berather. Anleitung zum Versthdniss und zur Vorherbe-
Witterunga-Kalender. Theil 2-3. Erllluterungen. Brauneohwelg.
5 8 4
Mohn, H[enrik].
Monteseus de Ballore, Fernand de .
Daemringen in Norge. Christiania 1908. 76 p. 40. (VidensgSbs- Selskabets Skrifter. 1. Mathematisk.-Natur. Klaase. 1908. No. 5.)
Efectos del terremoto Le1 18 de abrd de 1906. . . Santiago de Chile. 1907. 34p. 80.
Loa progreeos de la sismolojla moderna. Santiago de Chile. 1907. a0 p. 80.
Travaux e6iamologIques du Uomte de Monteseus de Ballore. n. p. n. d. 4 p. 80.
Mylius, Ernst. Volka-Wetterkunde. Witterungstypen und Witterunga-Katechismus fur Nord- und Mitteldeutaohland. Berlin.. 1908. 40 p. 80.
National antarolio expedition. 1801-1804. Meteorology. Part 1. Observations at winter quarters and on sledge journeys, with disoussion by various authors. London. 1908. xiv, 548p. 10. Physioal observations, with discussion by various authors. London.
Ergebnisse der phaenologkhen Beo achtungen aus Mllhren und
Inhaltsverzeiohnis.. .1895-1904. Qotha. 1907. iv, 160 p. 4O.
Catalogue of soientifio papere 1800-1900. Subject index. v. 1. Pure mathematias. Cambridge. 1908. lviii, 666 p. 40. International catalogue of safentiflo literature. 6th annual h u e . F. Meteorology. London. 1908. viii, 257 p. 80.
Ueber die Meesung der WindesMrke. (33. SULdtlaohe Oberrealschule Freiburg, Sohl. 33 Jahreeberioht. Freiburg, Sohl. 1901. p. 1-
Sooibt6 ourdenne d’amateure des soienoes naturellea. Bulletin. Tome 27. Ekatherinbourg. 1908. xix, 122, lviii p. 80.
Tacubaya. ObservatOriO astronomioo naoional. Annuario. 1909. Mexico. 1908. 610p. lao.
Wall, W. J. The hygedonor humidifyer. Montreal. [1907?] 8 p. 24O.
im108. V, 192 p. P.
b
[Natwforsohender Verein in Brllnn.
Petermanns Mitteilungen.
Royal sooiety of London.
Sohlesien. ..1905. Brtinn. 1907. 16 p. 80.
Rummler, -.
ao. 40.)
R m PAPINRS B-a ON M~OROLOOY AND SmSMOLoGY.
G FITZIIUGH TALMAN. Idbruim.
The subjoined titlee have been eeleoted from the oontente of the periodids and seriels recently reoeived in the Library
of the Weather Bureau. The titlee seleoted am of papere or
other oommunioations bearing on meteorology or oognab
branohes of soienoe. Thin ia not a oomplete index of the
meteorologid oontents of all the journals from whioh it has
been oompiled; it shows only the d o l e s that appear to the
oompiler likely to be of partioular interest in oonneotion with
the work of the Weather Bureau. Unsigned d o l e s are indi-
cated by a -
Am.e,&ange.opaphimleo~. &Win. NewYork. v.40. DCe.,1908.
- The forest region of Mount Kenia. p. 745-746. [Includes notes
W[ard], R[obert] DeU ourey]. Plegue and climate. p. 750-751.
Moore, Edward. A cloudburst in the high Slerra. p. 24-17.
MoOCee, W J Bearing of the proposed Appalaohian forest on navi-
Po-, -. Divisch, a lightning-rod pioneer, 1764. p. 3&33.
- Effect of the recent drought upon water-power plants. p. 33-36.
mow, J. P. Forests and stream flow. (Deo. 3, 1908.) p. 619.
Winslow, A. A method for determining the number of dust par-
Kimball, H[erbert] H amey]. F’yrhe iometer and polarimeter
Jefpe‘reon, Mark. Some remarks about the meteorology to be
Reid, Harry Fielding. Mr. Maneon’e theory of geological cli-
on olimate.]
Cbl~vrnia ph@cdgeopaphg! ci ub. BulMn. Bu-. v, 2. lh., 1908.
obnamddon. Wclehington. v. I4. Dee., 1908.
E&&ieal New. N m Ywk. I). .lis. Jan. Z, 1909.
lhgintwhgnerccr. Nsra Pork. V. 60.
gation. p. 661-663.
tides in air. (Dec. 31, 1908.) p. 748. Mount W e obecraattny. &ruetin. W i n h b y h u. 1. pt. 4.
School scisnce and rrrcctlwnmth. t?hhgo. -v. 9. Ja?., I909.
taught in a high-aohool course in physiography. p. 41-44.
Scinrcc. New Ymk. v. 29. Jan., I909.
observations. p. 207-2 !I 1.
mates. p.37-29. S ~A r n s r i o c u n k m d . Nsra Pork. u.47. Jm.g,I909.
- An electrio=meter. p. 19.