1919] METEOROLOGY. 509 



" Complete operating cost data ai"e being tabulated covering the various de- 

 tails of manufacture. These, together with full specifications and designs, 

 will be made available for the use of the interested public. The results ob- 

 tained to date indicate that it will be possible to establish on kelp as the 

 basic raw material a new American chemical industry of considerable size and 

 of importance and usefulness to the nation." 



Charts are included illustrating the general operations and products of the 

 plant, the products of the dry distillation process, and the organization and 

 personnel of the staff. 



Hemlock bark as a source of tannin, V. P. Edwardes {Chem. Engin., 27 

 {1919), No. 8, pp. 178-182, fig. 1). — This paper gives the results of an investiga- 

 tion conducted at the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., of the value 

 of hemlock bark as a source of tannin. 



Analytical data on five runs of hemlock bark before and after drying indi- 

 cated that the tannin content of the bark is not appreciably lowered in the 

 drying process. The percentage of tannin (on the bone-dry basis) after drying 

 varied from 9.1 to 10.5 per cent. 



Statistics are given of the amount of hemlock bark available in different 

 States, from which it is estimated that if all the bark could be recovered by 

 improved barking processes there would be more than enough to supply the 

 needs of the tanning industry. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Climatological data for the United States by sections ( V. 8. Dept. Agr., 

 Weather Bur. CHmat. Data, 5 {IDIS), No. 13 pp. 388, pis. 6, figs. 48).— Sum- 

 maries and detailed tabulated statements of climatological data for the year 

 1918 are given for each State. 



Meteorological obsei'vations at the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, J. E. Ostrander and G. A. Smith {Massachusetts Sta. Met. Buls. 

 367-368 {1919), pp. 4 each). — Summaries of observations at Amherst, Mass., 

 on pressure, temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, sunshine, cloudiness, 

 and casual phenomena during July and August, 1919, are presented. The 

 data are briefly discussed in general notes on the weather of each month. 



Meteorology, J. B. Trivett {N. S. Wales Statis. Reg., 1917-18, pt. 4, pp. 223- 

 307). — Ta))les are given which summarize the results of observations at Sydney, 

 New South Wales, on atmospheric pressure, 1917 ; temperature, 1876-1917 ; 

 rainfall, 1840-1917; wind, humidity, dew, and fog, 1917; and heavy rainfalls 

 since 1891. Similar data are also summarized for various other stations, 

 1906-1917, and the general meteorological conditions of New South AVales for 

 each month of 1917 are briefly described. 



The mild winter of 1918-19, C. F. Brooks {Science, n. ser., 50 {1919), No. 

 1285, pp. 165, 166). — It is stated that "except in the South, the mean tempera- 

 tures of last December and January were generally 15° F. higher than during 

 the same period of a year before. The snowfall was practically negligible 

 as compared with the great accumulations of the previous ' old-fashioned ' 

 winter [E. S. R., 39, p. 114]. . . . The region west of the Rockies, which 

 was so warm in the winter of 1917-18, was generally unusually cold in 

 December, 1918, and in much of Utah, northern Arizona, and New Mexico, 

 where the depth of snow was great, in January, and much of February, 1919, 

 as well. Throughout the rest of the region, the past winter was not very 

 imusual." 



A table is given which shows the contrasts in temperature and snowfall in 

 u number of representative cities in the United States. 



