S56 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



prosecute further studies in the directions indicated by the most success- 

 ful European students. At first sight these original memoirs and even 

 the popular summaries may appear mathematical and repugnant to the 

 ordinary meteorological observer, but meteorology, like astronomy, em- 

 ploys a wide range of talent. If the observer and the computer are 

 needed in both, so also are the physicist and mathematician ; in both 

 cases we have to do not merely with the superficial phenomena of 

 nature, but also with the fundamental laws that underlie these and a 

 process of severe thought is needed in the discovery and the applica- 

 tion of these laws. It seems to have been conceded by all that meteoro- 

 logical phenomena, at least those which depend on the motions of the 

 atmosphere, are too diflBcultto be unraveled at present, but during the 

 past few years the application of thermodynamics has been so helpful, 

 and the study of fluid motions, whether discontinuous or steady, has 

 made such advances as to justify the belief that we may begin to build 

 a lasting superstructure of dynamic and rational deductive meteorology. 

 But such a work needs the co-operation of many minds. 



The fundamental factors in meteorology and climatology are the 

 forces of heat and gravity ; the figure, rotation, and inequalities of the 

 earth ; the circulation of vapor, and its latent heat; all this is summed 

 up in "the thermo dynamics and hydro dynamics of our atmosphere." 



For ages mankind has relegated to evil and good spirits, to chance, 

 to instinct or will, to the stars, the planets, the comets, and the moon, 

 to the fates, to sun-spots, to electricity, and to every other form of su- 

 perstition the explanation of our complex phenomena, because, in our 

 despair, we were not able to comprehend the j^ossibilities of the simple 

 laws of mechanics. The labors of hydraulic engineers in handling the 

 turbulent flow of rivers ; of astronomers in treating the motion of the 

 I)lanets ; of chemists in unraveling the mysteries of compound bodies; 

 of physicists in explaining the phenomena of light, heat, and electricity ; 

 of mathematicians in resolving the difficulties attending the treatment 

 of complex functions, were all needed as preparatory to successful 

 attacks upon the laws of the motions of the atmosphere. May the pres- 

 ent summary be the means of enlisting the co-operation of universities 

 and their patrons, professors and their students, in a work that prom- 

 ises results so important to human welfare. 



The few memoirs that I have summarized in the following pages as 

 having important bearings on our knowledge. of the atmosphere and its 

 storms are to be classified as follows : 



I. Laboratory experiments on fluid motion. 



1. Helmholtz and Kirchoff. 5. Colleclon and Weyher. 



2. Oberbeck. 6. Reynolds. 



3. Vettin. 7. Hagen. 



4. Bezold. 8. Kummer, 



II. Statistics of actual storms, 



9, Loomis, 



