124 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



influence a supposition that derives some support from the 

 fact tliat oceanic surface predominates in that hemisj^here, 

 and that it is more directly exposed to the solar rays when 

 the earth is in perihelion. Zeitsch. fur Meteor olocjie^ March, 

 1873. 



METEOROLOGY AND BALLOONING. 



A short balloon voyage was recently made by the well- 

 known meteorologist Tissandier, who remarks that the most 

 noticeable feature of the ascension, which was made on the 

 4th of October, is the route followed by the balloon under 

 the influence of two superposed currents. At the moment 

 of the ascension, about noon, the lower current carried the 

 balloon in the direction east-southeast, while, at the altitude 

 of 2100 feet, the upper current carried it toward the north- 

 east. The actual curve described in space was, therefore, of 

 a complicated nature until the balloon had risen into the up- 

 per regions of the air. It then took a northeasterly course ; 

 but, on besrinnins: to descend, a2:ain came at once into the in- 

 fluence of the lower current, and, although it had traveled 

 about sixty miles in the course of two hours, yet it might 

 have been jjossible to have returned by means of the lower 

 current, directly to the place of starting. At the maximum 

 altitude reached during the ascension, which was about 8000 

 feet, the balloon was plunged into the midst of a bank of 

 heavy cumulus clouds. These clouds were overshadowed by 

 a still higher stratum of cumulo-nimbus, about 12,000 feet 

 above the earth's surface. Through the apertures in these 

 clouds, blue sky could be perceived beyond, and M. Henry, 

 who accompanied Tissandier, observed that the polarization 

 of the atmosphere in these blue regions was far feebler than 

 at the surface of the earth. As has been so frequently the 

 case in the French ascensions, they have not failed to perceive 

 the shadow of the balloon thrown upon the earth, and fre- 

 quently surrounded by an immense aureole, or halo, of a yel- 

 low color. 6 B, 1873, 839. 



