FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



569 



est month is January, 31.4°, and the warmest 

 August, 54.9°. Every year it is either rainy 

 or snowy two hundred days on an average. 

 The annual rainfall is very great, being 

 eighty-one inches. Point Barrow, the ex- 

 treme northern point of Alaska, is in 71° 23' 

 north, 156° 40' west, and its climate is that 

 of the coast line of the whole timber or moor- 

 land region situated along the Arctic Ocean. 

 The winter is long, freezing weather lasting 

 from early September to early June. The 

 mean winter temperatures are December, 

 — 15.4°, January, —17.5°, and February, 

 — 18.6°, with occasional periods when the 

 cold is from 40" to 52° below zero. The 

 average heat of July is 38.1°, but the temper- 

 ature often rises above 50°, and has touched 

 65.5°. The snowfall is hght. The severity 

 of the cold is indicated by the fact that the 

 ground was found frozen as far as excava- 

 tions were made (thirty-eight feet). Temper- 

 ature observations at Dawson, in the Klon- 

 dike region, during the fifteen months from 

 August, 1895, to November, 1896, show the 

 following records : In July only the temper- 

 ature did not sink below freezing. During 

 June, July, and August, 1896, the temper- 

 ature rose on twenty-nine days above 70° and 

 thrice above 80°. The extreme severity of 

 the winter is indicated by the fact that from 

 December 1, 1895, to February 1, 1896, the 

 temperature fell below zero every day. On 

 twenty-eight days it fell lower than —40°, 

 on fourteen days lower than —50°, and on 

 nine days lower than —60°. The average 

 temperature for January, 1896, was —40.7°, 

 and for February —35.4°. Bright weather is 

 the rule. The Yukon River broke up on May 

 17th. It was frozen solid November 25th. 



The Uolophane Globe. — The results of 

 an inquiry by a committee of the Franklin 

 Institute into the efficiency of Blondel and 

 Psaroudaki's holophane globes are printed in 

 that body's journal for April. The object of 

 the holophane globe is "to secure diffusion 

 of the light, as well as such a form of dis- 

 tribution that the light usually lost by being 

 Bent off into space above the source of light 

 shall be distributed below that plane and 

 thus made useful." In the globes under 

 consideration the interior surface is made of 

 a continuous series of vertical flutings. The 

 function of these flutings is to secure a dis- 



tribution normal to the direction of the in- 

 cident light. The external surface of the 

 globe consists of a series of circular grooves 

 in a horizontal plane extending over the en- 

 tire surface of the globe. These grooves 

 are constructed with reference to the rela- 

 tive positions of the groove and the source 

 of light. The committee reported that when 

 the light from an arc lamp passed through 

 the globe, the effect upon a vertical screen 

 showed a distinct cutting down of the amount 

 of light passing in a straight line through 

 the upper part of the globe, and a definite 

 increase of the light on a horizontal plane 

 and at all angles below that plane, the space 

 vertically beneath the globe being well il- 

 luminated. The fact that the diffusion is 

 secured is shown by the character of the 

 shadows cast. When an opaque body is 

 held near the globe there is practically no 

 shadow on a screen a few feet away. This 

 property of the globe has the effect of en- 

 tirely doing away with distinct shadows of 

 bodies near it that is so objectionable in the 

 ordinary arc light. In appearance the holo- 

 phane globe is covered with bright points 

 over its entire surface. Recent tests by 

 Professor Lewes, of London, with a Wels- 

 bach mantle and one of these globes showed 

 that in the angle between the horizontal 

 plane and forty-five degrees below it the 

 holophane globe increased the light from 

 twelve to thirteen per cent, while the best 

 of a number of others examined, a clear 

 glass globe, gave a loss of 7.5 per cent. The 

 general conchisions by the committee re- 

 garding the globe were that " Messrs. Blondel 

 and Psaroudaki have invented a globe that 

 secures much better diffusion and more satis- 

 factory distribution than any other globe 

 known to its members ; that the conditions 

 of its manufacture are such that it can be 

 supplied to the trade in commercial quanti- 

 ties ; and that the invention has secured a 

 distinct improvement in the diffusion and 

 distribution of artificial light." The com- 

 mittee recommended that the John Scott 

 Legacy medal and premium be awarded to 

 the inventors. 



Epicurean Cats and Dogs. — While most 

 instances in which eccentricities of animal 

 tastes have come under observation are those 

 in which animals, like dogs and cats, are 



