B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. lOl 



of Celoria's studies is simply that there is no apparent con- 

 nection between the Milan observations and the tables of the 

 maxima and minima of the solar spots as given by Wolff. 

 This result is entirely in accordance with that published in 

 1869 by Abbe, who, having arrived at the same conclusion 

 for the city of Munich, then showed that if, on the other 

 hand, we ascend to the top of the high mountain near Munich, 

 namely, the Hohenpiessenberg, and make use of the long se- 

 ries of observations at that elevated height, we find that we 

 have risen above the local disturbances peculiar to the lower 

 strata of the atmosphere, and are able to perceive distinctly 

 the influence of the solar spots upon terrestrial temperatures. 

 Zeitschrift der Oest. GeseU.fur Met., 182. 



PRESTEL ox THE USE OF STOKil WARNINGS. 



The Leipsic Meteorological Congress having invited an ex- 

 pression of opinion from various meteorologists as to certain 

 questions which it proposed to bring before the general Vi- 

 enna Congress, Professor Dr. Prestel has responded to this 

 request in a pamphlet of eight pages, in which he fully nar- 

 rates his own experience in reference to some of the ques- 

 tions proposed for consideration. In regard to the question 

 whether the meteorologists of the various governments of Eu- 

 rope should interchange with each other details, not only of 

 wind, but also of the barometric condition of the atmosphere, 

 he expresses himself as very decidedly of the opinion that 

 the most useful datum consists in the difterence betw^een the 

 actual barometric pressure and the normal pressure, Avhich 

 latter is given by taking the average of many years' 

 observations, and he concludes that npon these deviations 

 must be based both the barometric gradient and all the 

 predictions of the weather. The magnitudes of the dis- 

 turbances in the atmosphere are only indirectly dependent 

 npon the barometric gradient between different places, and 

 he proposes, as the unit of distance for expressing the baro- 

 metric gradient, the nautical mile, which is in common use 

 among all nations, and sixty of which are equal to one degree 

 of longitude on the equator. With reference to the other at- 

 mospherical conditions, especially the temperature and moist- 

 ure, he decides that here also the deviations of these data 

 from their normal values are the only statistics that should 



