524 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



'clerical errors.' Of these two, the data for the first were taken from 

 the annual reports for five years of the chief of police of New York city. 

 It was not there stated that sickness was the cause of absence from 

 duty, but it is safe to assiune that it was the usual one. It is, however, 

 rather interesting to note that immediately following Christmas, New 

 Years, and other holidays, an unusual number was laid off, but we 

 may charitably suppose that the weather was excessively deadly in its 

 effects at those times. The tabulation shows that 105%, or 5% in ex- 

 cess of the normal number, were off duty on calm days. This would 

 hardly be more in accordance with our expectation than was the school 

 attendance under such conditions. If perfectly calm days were the 

 most agreeable of all kinds we might suppose that our stalwart guard- 

 ians of the peace had chosen them for picnics, but gentle breezes are 

 generally accepted as being more delectable than dead calms, and we 

 must look for some other causes for the absence of bluecoats under the 

 latter conditions. 



The last class of data given, that having to do with 'clerical errors,' 

 was studied as a make-shift. I wished to determine the influence of 

 different weather conditions upon the intellectual as well as educational 

 states of man, and to that end sought long and earnestly for school 

 records which showed a daily marking of class work, but without suc- 

 cess. If any teacher who may read this has such, I should be very 

 grateful to him if they could be placed in my hands. While wondering 

 what other records might be made to supply the lack, I came across the 

 statement that in the Bank of England certain sets of books, an error 

 in which would prove cumulative and produce disastrous results later 

 on, were never worked upon during some kinds of weather, especially 

 London fogs, as it had been proved that clerical errors were much more 

 frequent at such times. 



Following the clue here given I gained access to the books of some 

 of the largest banks in the Wall Street district, with the result that 

 in the records for two years, the number of errors stated were found 

 and tabulated with reference to their daily occurrence. The results 

 showed 104% of the normal, or an excess of 4% for the calm days. 



To state in a sentence the occurrence of data of all these classes 

 under the condition of calm: absence from school, death, policemen 

 off duty, and clerical errors were all above the normal, while misde- 

 meanors in school and penitentiary, arrests for assault and battery, 

 drunkenness and insanity, and suicide, were below. 



The facts so far given do not show whether the change with an 

 increase in wind was a gradual one or not. As a matter of fact it was 

 not. Had it been so, there would have been less excuse for this paper. 

 The most striking thing about the curves upon which it is based is the 

 sudden change which takes place in the occurrence of nearly all the 



