xxxiv GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



be expected when the whole of that great work becomes 

 known. 



The equally interesting and thorough work done by the 

 United States steamer Tuscarora throws a flood of light 

 upon the condition, hitherto unknown, of the currents, tem- 

 perature, and depth of the northern half of the Pacific Ocean. 



The return of the North Polar exploring expeditions has 

 also contributed in the hands of Petermann to important cor- 

 rections and confirmations of our views of those regions, so 

 that it would seem that the general circulation of the ocean 

 is now fairly understood ; the theoretical views, however, as 

 advanced by Carpenter, Colding, Croll, Ferrel, and others, 

 are still somewhat at variance ; those of Schilling seem to 

 us wholly inadmissible. 



Of the systems of observation at fixed stations of ocean 

 temperatures, those of the Army Signal-office and the Scot- 

 tish Meteorological Society are apparently the most exten- 

 sive. The results of the latter are presented in very inter- 

 esting annual reports in connection with sea-fisheries. Some 

 of the results of the United States system are published in 

 the monthly weather review of the Army Signal-office, and 

 in the annual report of the United States Fish Commissioner. 



METEOROLOGY. 



In our review of the progress of meteorology, attention 

 must first be given to the steady growth of official or na- 

 tional weather bureaus throughout the world, as shown by 

 the completion of the organization of the Chinese office under 

 the Revenue Department, the reorganization of the French 

 meteorological establishments under the Ministry of Public 

 Instruction, the publication of the Bulletin du Nord at Co- 

 penhagen, the exhibition of storm-signals in Great Britain, 

 and the very general extension in the activities of all the 

 previously established offices, especially those of the United 

 States, France, Russia, Denmark, the Argentine Confederacy, 

 and India. 



The proposed publication by HofFmeyer of a daily atlas of 

 the weather over the North Atlantic, including Greenland 

 and Europe, and the promise by Le Verrier of the early pub- 

 lication of the delayed volumes of his atlas of the Atlantic, 

 will be welcome to all, and will afford a very important ex- 



