90 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



the study of this storm, Faye concludes that it is necessary 

 to take account of the trade-winds in enunciating the laws 

 of those storms which occur in the regions of those winds ; 

 and he proposes the following practical conclusions which he 

 would submit to navigators : 



" In order to determine the position of the centre of a 

 cyclone in the region of the trade-winds, if the observer finds 

 himself within its borders in the semicircle exposed to the 

 winds, he ought to apply the ordinary rules, not to the wind 

 tliat he experiences, but to that wind which, conjoined with 

 the known trade-wind of that region, would give as its re- 

 sultant the wdnd actually observed by him, both in direction 

 and force. If Ave obtain graphically two distinct determi- 

 nations of the centre, we can, if there is occasion to do so, 

 correct this first approximation by introducing therein the 

 velocity of translation of the centre of the cyclone or of the 

 vessel." 6 B, LXXXL, 64. 



DISTRIBUTION OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. 



One of the most important meteorological publications of 

 the year consists in that by Rikatchefi*on the distribution of 

 atmospheric pressure in European Russia. Having access to 

 all the original documents, and having himself visited many 

 Russian stations in order to secure perfect accuracy of instru- 

 ments, Rikatcheff has been in a favorable position to give us 

 the very valuable memoir which he has succeeded in com- 

 piling. The results of his work are given in the shape of a 

 series of tables and charts, showing the distribution of press- 

 ure throu2;hout Russia and the neiQ-hborinsr countries. In 

 concluding his work, he says that there are still wanting the 

 necessary data in order to use some half-dozen stations for 

 which observations are at hand. But, apart from these, the 

 charts of isobars which he gives represent very approxi- 

 mately the distribution of pressure for each month and for 

 the whole year. According to these, by simple interpolation, 

 the mean height of the barometer for any given point of 

 Eastern Russia can be obtained with an accuracy of about 

 one millimeter; and for Western Russia with an accuracy of 

 one fifth of a millimeter. There is no successful attempt at 

 an explanation of the low barometer in Northern Europe, and 

 the author appears to be quite in ignorance of the theoretical 



