268 PROGRESS OF METEOROLOGY IN 1889. 



Under-ground inders. — The supervising eugiueers of the coal-mines iu 

 the lower Rhone basin have studied the relation of the flow of water in 

 the mines, to the rain-fall. In the copious rains of October and No- 

 vember the rain-water sinks into the strata, following fractures and 

 lines of erosion, and reaches the mine from twenty-four to thirty-six 

 honrs after the rain-fall. Areas of different geological structure show 

 different periods of infiltration. In the mines of Fuveau and Greasque 

 the water enters in two periods ; the first some hours after the end of 

 the rain, proceeding from quite local infiltration, whilst the second, 

 arriving some days later and continuing much longer, comes from more 

 distant regions. [Ihid. p. 80.) 



Commission metvorologique du Department des Vosges ; Observations 

 faites en 1887-1888. Epinal, 1889. — In addition to a full summary of 

 meteorological observations this report contains important phrenologi- 

 cal and hydrographic data. The rivers attain their flood heights in the 

 winter months. The Moselle carries off about 48 per cent, of the pre- 

 cipitation that falls within its catchment basin. The united discharge 

 of the Meuse and Mouson at ISTeufchateau is 47 per cent, of the rain- 

 fall ; that of the Vair at Soulouse 35 per cent. ; that of the Meuse at 

 Maxeysur-Meuse, 40 per cent. The Moselle rises on the average about 

 20 centimeters at Epinal, when the rain-fall in the upper part of the 

 water-shed amounts to 1 centimeter. Monthly averages of precipita- 

 tion at low level and mountain stations show the effect of elevation. 

 The mean annual rain-fall at 320 meters elevation is 840 millimeters ; at 

 450 meters is 1,347 millimeters, and at 750 meters elevation is 1,672 

 millimeters. 



The hydrograpMc department of Russia has devoted, since 1837, a 

 good deal of attention to the secular rising of the coasts of the Baltic 

 Sea, and a number of marks have been made on the rocky coasts of the 

 Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland in order to obtain trust- worthy data as to 

 the rate of the upheaval of the coasts. Since 1869 observations have 

 been carried on in a systematic way for measuring the changes in the 

 level of the Baltic at several of these marks, and the results of the 

 observations are now summed up by Colonel Mikhailoff", in the Izvestia 

 of the Buss. Geographical Soc. xxiv, 3. 



Taking only those stations at which the secular change could be de- 

 termined (from observations from 1830 to 1878), the rise of the coast in 

 a century would appear to be as follows: Aspo, 20.3 inches; Island 

 of Kotko, 26.7 ; Island of Skotland, 12.5 ; Hangoudd, 33.7 ; Island of 

 Jussair, 31.6 ; Lehto, 11.5. 



Forest and climate. — Dr. H. E. Hamberg has issued Part iii of his 

 investigations on the relation of forests to climate in Sweden. 



The following are his conclusions : 



The excess of water supplied to the atmosphere by the forest vege- 

 tation, above that which would be supplied by the same area of bare 

 soil, is certainly considerable, and if that amount of vapor remained 



