80 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



surrounded by an atmosphere possessing the same desiccat- 

 ing properties, the coffee dries rapidly without becoming 

 mouldy. The Empire of Brazil^ p. 23. 



REPORT OF THE SIGNAL SERVICE OBSERVER ON PIKE'S PEAK. 



The Signal Service observer on the summit of Pike's Peak 



CD 



reports that the local storms there experienced originate 

 over the parks to the westward, on hot afternoons. On one 

 occasion he was favored with an excellent view of the in- 

 terior structure of the clouds of a tornado, when he observed 

 that while the cloud-bearing currents of air float toward the 

 centre they had a decided downward movement, but that 

 masses of smoke-like vapor rapidly ascended through the in- 

 terior funnel. 



THE FREQUENCY OP STORMS. 



Koppen has made an investigation of the frequency with 

 which barometric minima occur in Northwestern Russia. 

 He finds that during the years 1872 and 1873 107 cyclones 

 occurred, lasting altogether 393 days, the mean duration of 

 each one of these being about three and seven-tenths days. 

 According to a table given by him, if a barometric depression 

 is just leaving the observer, it is probable that within one or 

 two days a second cyclone will occur. If, on the other hand, 

 many days have elapsed since the passage of a depression, 

 and uniform and high pressure has prevailed, then the prob- 

 ability that a new depression will arrive within twenty-four 

 hours is diminished by one half. 19 (7, VIII., 86. 



THE PASSAGE OF STORMS TO EUROPE FROM AMERICA. 



The great storm that passed over the coast of Germany on 

 the 22d of November, 1873, has been investigated by Prestel, 

 who concludes that it was identical with the storm that left 

 the United States on the 18th day of the same month, w T hich 

 was at the time distinguished as a severe disturbance. In 

 his remarks upon this subject, Mr. Prestel possibly goes too 

 far in attempting to show that certain storms recur at cer- 

 tain epochs of the moon, but he is nevertheless probably 

 nearly correct in saying that many attempts to trace lunar 

 and other periods in the changes of the weather have, as yet, 

 had only a negative result, because we have considered only 



