290 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LIBRARY. 



The additions to the library during the year nnmbered 1,204 books 

 and separate pamphlets, bringing the total collection up to about 

 32,000. All additions were catalogued under author and subject. 

 The cataloguing of the meteorological contents of scientific journals 

 was carried on as usual. 



The urgent need of more space for this branch of the office was 

 met at the end of the fiscal year by the acquisition of two more rooms 

 and the installation therein of modern steel shelving. There is thus 

 provided a long-desired opportunity to relocate the books throughout 

 the library; also to set aside space for a small reading room and a 

 workroom. When the changes now in progress are complete, the 

 Weather Bureau library will for the first time be installed in a 

 manner corresponding to its importance as the principal collection 

 of meteorological literature in this country. 



Noteworthy books added during the year fall into two classes, 

 viz, (1) old books, obtained chiefly in connection with sales of large 

 private libraries abroad; and (2) important publications of the cur- 

 rent fiscal year. 



Under (1) should be mentioned the extremely rare first edition 

 of Wells's "Essay on Dew" (1814) ; the first edition of Howard's 

 " Climate of London " (2 vols., 1818-1820) ; the first and second 

 editions of Daniell's "Meteorological Essaj^s and Observations" 

 (1823 and 1S27) ; Bravais's " Memoire sur Jes halos" (1847) ; Dove's 

 " Verbreitung der Wiirme" (1852) ; and Foucher's " Traite des hy- 

 grometres " (1686). 



Under (2) the following may be noted, not only as important addi- 

 tions to the librar}^, but as, on the whole, the most noteworthy pub- 

 lications in the field of meteorology that have appeared throughout 

 the world in the course of the fiscal vear: 



" Meteorology," by W. T. Milham (Ncav York, 1912), aims at com- 

 prehensive scope and adaptability to classroom purposes. A. Weg- 

 ener's " Thermodynamik der Atmosphare " (Leipzig, 1911) contains 

 many novel features, reflecting especially the recent discoveries and 

 hypotheses of aerolog}'; it is planned as the first of a series of books 

 in which the author proposes to cover the whole field of atmospheric 

 physics. " Dynamic Meteorology and Hydrography," volume 2. by 

 V. Bjerknes and others (Washing-ton, 1911), deals with kinematics, 

 applying the elaborate mathematical methods of the first volume. 

 " The Sun," by C. G. Abbot, director of the Astrophysical Observa- 

 tory of the Smithsonian Institution, devotes much attention to the 

 solar relations of the earth's atmosphere, and may be regarded as a 

 successor to Young's well-known work bearingthe same title. " Fore- 

 casting Weather," by W. N. Shaw, director of the British meteoro- 

 logical office, srmimarizes the progress, during the past decade, of 

 English meteorology in the subject treated; it is virtually a continu- 

 ation and revision Avith much enlarged scope of the classical work 

 by Abercromby on this subject. A second edition, in German, of the 

 International Meteorological Codex was published by the Royal 

 Prussian Meteorological Institute (Berlin, 1911). 



Aerology and aeronautical meteorology are increasingly prominent 

 in recent literature. A second and final volume of F. Linke's "Aero- 

 nautische Meteorologie " (Frankfurt a. M., 1911), has appeared, and 

 a companion work by the same writer on aeronautical climatology 



