B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 69 



whether there is a general movement in regular cycles ; and, 

 from the observations of Mr. Meldrum and others, he is in- 

 clined to believe that there is such a cycle, and that it corre- 

 sponds very closely to the eleven-year sun-spot period. The 

 connection between these sun-spot periods and the most fa- 

 vorable vine-growing seasons has already been pointed out 

 by various writers ; and it is not improbable that by contin- 

 uing the inquiry, as suggested by Mr. Lockyer, important re- 

 sults will be obtained that may place the science of meteor- 

 ology on an entirely new basis. 



In a communication to a later number of Nature, referring 

 to the article in question, Mr. G. J. Symons, a very eminent 

 authority, corroborates the suggestions of Mr. Lockyer by 

 pointing out a very remarkable connection between the max- 

 imum sun-spot years and heavy rain-fall, as also between the 

 minimum sun-spot years and a small amount of rain-fall. 

 The results which Mr. Symons give extend in one instance 

 over a period of one hundred and forty years, and are very 

 striking, pointing to something more than a mere coinci- 

 dence. 12 A, December 26, 143. 



THE GREAT BAROMETRIC WAVE. 



Considerable interest has been excited by the announce- 

 ment that a great scientific discovery has been made b}' the 

 meteorologist of the weather bureau of the Army Signal-of- 

 fice. The paragraphs that are going the rounds of the daily 

 press are so evidently exaggerated that it may be well to 

 record what we suppose to be the exact nature of the so- 

 called discovery. 



It will be remembered that in successive reports of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, Mr. 

 Birt, of England, in the years 1844-50, developed the fact 

 that about the middle of November the barometer reads 

 quite high at the stations in Britain and on the neighboring 

 coasts, and he maintained also that this "November wave," 

 as he called it, is a feature of importance in the meteorology 

 of that portion of the world. The word " wave" should not 

 mislead the reader, for there is no evidence of the existence 

 of waves of air like those of water, the term being used for 

 convenience. 



But during the past ten years the weather map of the 



