PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 163 



seventh volume of the Verhandlungen of the Scientific As- 

 sociation at Carlsruhe. "Wiener develops only the purely 

 mathematical portion of the problem, and carries the inves- 

 tigation into some details that have been treated of only 

 in a general manner by Meech and others. His attention 

 is especially directed to the total radiation received in one 

 day in various latitudes and seasons. He finds, as others 

 have done, that during the hottest quarter of the year the 

 heat received at the poles exceeds that at any other portion 

 of the globe. The absorption by the atmosphere and the 

 radiation from the earth are not considered by our author. 

 Certain graphic methods of computation employed by him 

 are shown to agree sensibly with more refined processes of 

 calculation. 



The new scientific journal, Archiv fur Mathematik og Nat- 

 urvidenskab, published at Christiania, contains an article, by 

 H. Geelmuyden, on the influence of the eccentricity of the 

 orbits of heavenly bodies upon the quantity of heat they 

 receive from the sun. 



J. Violle communicates to the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 the results of actinometric observations made in the desert 

 of Sahara and in Algiers. He finds the constant of solar ra- 

 diation received by the earth to be 2.40 or 2.42, and less than 

 the 2.54 obtained from his observations on Mt. Blanc. Vi- 

 olle's work is reviewed in the lievae Scientifique, 1878, p. 944, 

 and in Harm's Zeitschrift. 



Crova has continued his investigations into the calorific 

 intensity of the solar rays. He states that his observations 

 during 1877 completely confirm those of 1875 and 1876. 

 The intensity measured at noon increased steadily up to the 

 15th of March, then diminished up to the 28th of June, and 

 again increased to the 16th of October. The observed ra- 

 diation was feeblest with south or southeast winds and high 

 temperatures, and strongest for north or northwest winds 

 and low temperatures. He has also observed the teluric 

 bands in the solar spectrum, and has established the fact that 

 their intensity is greater in proportion as the solar radiation 

 is feebler. He has also measured the radiations transmitted 

 through a layer of water. He concludes that the absorp- 

 tion produced by the vapor of atmospheric water has an in- 

 fluence upon the transmission of solar radiations, but that 



