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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inevitable that he should refer to Huxley, of 

 whom he was in some sense a pupil. In 

 speaking of the rapid growth of the latter 

 during his four years on the Beagle, he said : 

 " How this was possible any one will readily 

 understand who knows from his own experi- 

 ence how great is the value of personal ob- 

 servation. . . . Freed from the formalism of 

 the schools, thrown upon his own intellect, 

 compelled to test each single object as re- 

 gards properties and history, we soon forget 

 the dogmas of the prevailing system, and 

 become first a skeptic and then an investi- 

 gator." This paragraph is especially worthy 

 of notice, because it points out one of the 

 invariable characteristics of the great man. 

 In whatever field his greatness may lie, he 

 will be found to have broken away from the 

 formalism and conservatism of the schools, 

 and that his great work is based on personal 

 observation and research. This was notably 

 the case with Professor Virchow's establish- 

 ment of the cellular pathology, as well as of 

 Huxley's researches in comparative anatomy. 

 Our present school system is lamentably 

 weak in this particular, tending to stifle 

 rather than stimulate originality and self- 

 dependence. Professor Virchow's address 

 was, of course, interesting and instructive, 

 but, as he said, much too short for anything 

 like an adequate treatment of the subject. 

 The chief interest of the occasion lay in its 

 associations. An address by Rudolph Vir- 

 chow, at a meeting presided over by Lord 

 Lister on an occasion commemorating Pro- 

 fessor Huxley, left only one thing to be de- 

 sired — the presence of the latter. For a 

 biologist, or in fact a modern scientist of any 

 description, one can not imagine a more de- 

 lightful occasion. 



The Climate of Cubil. — Systematic records 

 of weather appear to be wanting in Cuba. 

 The meteorological observations kept up for 

 several years by Andre Poey are not acces- 

 sible, no need of their being published hav- 

 ing been found. The chief source of infor- 

 mation on the subject is the observations 

 which have been kept up at Belen College, 

 Havana, since 1859. From these and a few 

 scattered observations of brief periods at 

 other towns, and by comparison with notes 

 taken at other West Indian stations, W. F. 

 B. Phillips, of the United States Department 



of Agriculture, has attempted to describe the 

 climate of Cuba. The average annual tem- 

 perature of the past ten years at Havana was 

 77° F., and the difference between the highest 

 and the lowest yearly means was only 1.1° F. 

 The warmest month is July, with an average 

 temperature of 82.7° F., and the coldest is 

 January, with an average temperature of 

 70.3° F. The highest temperature recorded 

 was 100.6° F., in July, 1891, and the lowest 

 49.6°. Brief intermittent records at Matan- 

 zas, more than sixty years old, give a mean 

 annual temperature of about 78°, with 93° 

 as the highest and 51° as the lowest. At 

 Santiago the annual mean appears to be 

 about 80°, and the difference between the 

 warmest and coldest months about 6° F. 

 Records of temperature in the interior, such 

 as they are, give annual means of from 73.6° 

 to 75°, apparently showing lower tempera- 

 tures than on the coast. The average daily 

 range of temperature is about 10°, the highest 

 occurring between noon and two o'clock p. m., 

 while sudden variations in the temperature of 

 the day are not unknown. The average yearly 

 rainfall at Havana is about fifty-two inches. 

 The season of heavy rainfall begins in the 

 latter part of May and first of June, and lasts 

 till October, and during this period about 

 sixty-three per cent of the year's rain is pre- 

 cipitated. Rain occurs on about one day in 

 three, in heavy downpours of short duration. 

 Notwithstanding the frequency of rain dur- 

 ing the summer months, these do not present 

 the greatest number of cloudy days. The 

 days on which rain does not fall are usually 

 perfectly cloudless, and, in general, no clouds 

 are seen in summer except while the showers 

 are falling; while in other months cloudy 

 days sometimes occur without rain. The 

 average velocity of the wind is about 7.5 

 miles an hour, with variations, according to 

 the season, from 8.5 miles in winter to 6.5 

 miles in summer. The diurnal variation in 

 wind velocity is much more pronounced than 

 the seasonal variation. 



The New Planet D Q.— The number of 

 minor planets discovered during the last few 

 years, and their lack of practical importance 

 in astronomy, has tended to distract astron- 

 omers' attention from the search for them, as 

 unprofitable, and the announcement of a new 

 \ one attracts little attention, as a rule. The 



