METEOROLOGY. 263 



recommended the general acceptance of Greenwich meridian for the 

 reckoning of longitudes. 



16. The International Meridian and Time Conference, held at Wash- 

 ington October, 1884, has confirmed these and other recommendations, 

 and unanimously recommends an international system of longitude and 

 time based on the Greenwich meridian and mean midnight. 



17. [In conformity with the above, the Chief Signal Officer has adopted 

 for the use of the Signal Service the 75th meridian, or five hours west of 

 Greenwich, as the uniform standard for the United States and for use 

 in the Monthly Weather Eeview. For the International Bulletin the 

 observations are made at Greenwich noon. The International Polar 

 Conference has, we believe, not adopted any especial meridian for gen- 

 eral use in the publications of the worlv done by its polar parties.] 



18. Dr. Assmann has published the annual volumes of the meteorolog- 

 ical observations for the Wetterwarte or weather observatory of the 

 Magdeburg Times. It seems that he has been successful in inspiring 

 the owner of this newspaper, Mr. Faber, with something of his own en- 

 thusiasm, the result being to establish a very completely organized ob- 

 servatory to which a number of subsidiary stations make reports, rep- 

 resenting all of Saxony and its neighborhood. Everything is done in 

 accordance with the recommendations of the International Congress 

 and the best information of the present day. We note especially that 

 the records with the Sprung barograph show the great advantage of 

 continuous registers over those that record only every ten or fifteen 

 minutes, or possibly every hour. {Z. 0. G. M., xviii, p. 434.) 



19. Dr. Assmann, on behalf of the Meteorological Observatory at 

 Magdeburg, has undertaken the publication of a monthly journal for 

 practical meteorology. This journal — tbe Monatschrift — is intended for 

 local distribution among non-scientific readers; it treats of all matrers 

 in an elementary, popular manner, and is especially rich in everything 

 that pertains to agriculture and hygiene, such as the temperature of 

 the lowest air strata, excessive heat and frost, the distribution of rain. 

 In this latter field good work has been done by establishing numerous 

 rain-gauges throughout the neighboring countries, and an interesting 

 study is in process on the influence of the Brocken upon the rainfall. 

 [In this respect Dr. Assmann seems to be studying a problem similar to 

 that which the Signal Office has undertaken in reference to Mount 

 Washington.] {Z. 0. 0. M., xix, p. 201.) 



Dr. Assmann at the close of the second year of his monthly journal 

 for Practical Meteorology, has changed its title to Das Wetter, and car- 

 ries it on now as a popular German monthly" for world-wide distribu- 

 tion. Being also recognized as the popular organ of tbe German Mete- 

 orological Association, it has at once assumed a high importance. [The 

 rapid growth of interest in meteorology in Germany is best realized by 

 considering that within two years two new journals have thus been 

 started under flattering auspices, and that lectures on meteorology are 



