JANUARY, 1916. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 23
and courteous in their treatment of applicants for data, whether made in person or through correspondence. In man instances they will render unespeoteclly valuable aid
perhapsnot comprehended in their officialroutine, yet none
the less accurate and satisfactory. From their training they are keen observem and their judgment on climzttu: matters is free from local prejudice.
Climate and health.
It was long since shown th& mere pressure changes, even of such amounts as 300 niillimetew mercury in 24
hours, do not have injurious effects nn sick people; daily experience shows that the range in pressure froiii clay to day is not in excess of that experienced wlicn riding from the ground floor to the top of high office buildings, or perhaps a tenth of an inch of mercury (8.5 niin.1 ia the baronietric column. ‘J!h weat81irr thnt accompanies changes in pressure is found to haw more importmlt effects upon the hunian organism.a Again, sunshine and ventilation (natural air movement or windiness) are found to he most important elements of climate in its relation to health, and the (lata for study- ing them are furnished by the Weather Bureau.
to tl e physician in giving him clear and concise data,
PROBLEMS FOX THE CLIMATOLOGIST.
Vwious problems in applying Weather Bureau skill and resources arise-. g., proper selection of sanatorium sites ; “sensible ” temperatures (now estimated by means of wet-bulb thermometer observations) as related to ill- fant mortality; acute infectious diseitses and sunlight
(as mapped on the bureau’s monthly suilshiiie charts). Here the Weather Bureau can only supply observational material. On the other hand, the bureau may and does properly take up on its own behalf very intensive studies of the climatic details of quite restricted arms-e. g., special stations established in southern Cdifornia: also the stuclv of the minute climate of 16,000 acres of the old Spimid ant Los Palos Verdes, between Redondo Bench and Sun Kdro near Los Angeles, Cal., b means of six com letr
conditions in the frost-kee belts (thermal belts) of North
meteorological stations - or the B etailcd studics into P oca1
Jiann (Ward Tr.) Handbook of CHmatologp. Ewuming, C. C., %hns. Amer. dim. mw., 19l3,3#.
Carolina hy means of a large number of recording instru- ments es ~osed in the orchards of the region.
niwt of the ways in w1iic.h B hysician may properly
I believe the field lias bcen but little explored. We physiciantns are guilty of niany things: nniong them is Cnesang. If the .U. S. Wmther Bureau will prove Ranie of this guesxlng true or false, it will dil one more good thing t.o it.s past fine record. I think that the time is near at hand when odr hcslth otkiccrs will be required to be specialiats. They r i l l then have the tinie. tlip specinl training, and other e uipment
to go into the subject in conjunction with vow bureau an1 ve UB
soiiie scientific findings. I thin!< the State should be plotted, gowing the rc‘al atmospheric conditions of all 1ocalit.iits and showing the influ- encc on the functions of the body. Whether the old enst wind of Boa- ton is accountable for all of the vile things charged to it or not, nobody rcnllp Icnnws, but it should be investipnted. That- altitude, tempera- t.iire. 1i1rinitlit.y. prevai1in.q and unusual winds have much effect on
iiiaiq- individunls. t,lier;. is no doubt. The nasal and pulmonarymucoue membranes aw ciJnst.antly affected by atmospheric conditions. Locally I hwe observed that. srniiclironic bronchial coughs that do not yield readily in t,he city will often clcnr up in a few hours in the mountains and foothills c:i.st of the city. A congested nrwd mucous membrane th:it. n-ill kick up a. ruiiipus much o l the tinie in the mountains will dis- :ippe:i.r primptly 3.1 a lower ctlevstion near the coast. Some patients w-it.li brrinchinl astli1ii;t t.1i:i.t. is inciirable in tho business section of the city -,dl 11.1 wry cnnif~~rt:~hl!? :L short &t:incc out of town and in a
lii::h.:r. driw locstion. Two hot. dry days last month have been charged up with soini? rntlicr se*riotis pulmonary conditions in aged people. 1.11esv are :L few instances of Iiuiidre!l~ coining 1.0 m y mind that I have ~Ilxwrvcd in my years of pra.cticc. The subject should be worked out
1-1:- il. union of effort nF the Weatlier Bureau and the medical profession.
A Cdi fl ornia physician has prepared the following state-
claim thc. assistmce of the Went P icr Bureau:
I .
ALTO-CUMULUS WITH VIRGULUS.
By C!. l?rrzirvr;H TALMAN, 1’rofeRsor of h~eteorology.
Ilibrsry, Westher Burrsuu, Washington. Feb. 28, ISIS.]
The tFpc of cloud described by Mi. George Reeder in tdics MoxTErLi- WEATHEB REVIEW for December, 1915, page
614, under the name “Aurelia alto-cumulus,” has fre-
q ucnt,ly lmm clesc.ribecl hcfore-e. g., by C. Ritter, “ Essai
rl ‘unc. thQorie proyisoirc dcs h;cdrom6t6ores ” (Ann. SOC. Wt. tlc Frunrc, 1.850, 28: 1171, am1 by J. Vincent, “Atlas
d~-.s iiunws,” 1907, 13. 17. Botrh authors present drawings of this c?oud, and Vinct.nt agroes with Ritter in callin it
tmrily formed from the Latin virga,, a wand or switch. Lastly. thero is it splendid pliotogra h of this form of cloud in Loiscl’s ”Atlas des nungrs,”Paris, 1911, figure
13.
“alt,o-c.umulus with virgulus,” the last word being ar % i-
Loiscl also uses Ritter’s nomenclature.