236 METEOROLOGY AND ALLIED SUBJECTS. 



the summit of Santas-Gipfel, at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. {Z. 

 0. G. ilf., Vol. XV, 1880, p. 329.) 



Tlie central committee of the Germano-Austrian Alpine Association, 

 animated by the desire to further the study of Ali)ine meteorology, has 

 established a self- registering aneroid barometer, as constructed by Gold- 

 schmidt (to whom Hottinger now succeeds), upon the summit of Schaff- 

 berg. This establishment was persoually attended to by Kostlivy; 

 and the observations are supervised by Grommer, the proprietor of the 

 Schaffberg hotel. The publication of the first two months' hourly 

 records at this point has given Hann occasion to collect together what 

 little is known upon the whole subject of barometric pressure at high 

 stations. The need of further observations in Europe and America is 

 strongly urged by him. He says there can be no doubt that the modi- 

 fications that we see entering into the diurnal variation of pressure, as 

 we ascend higher and higher on isolated mountain peaks, is produced, 

 in the first place, by the diurnal change of the mean temperature of the 

 column of air between the top of the mountain and the base; and, in 

 the second place, also, by the change from ascending day-winds to 

 descending night winds, such as we observe everywhere in mountain 

 regions. Both these causes have a tendency to raise the pressure at 

 high stations up to the moment of the maximum temperature, and to 

 lower it at the time of minimum temperature. Herein lies the reason for 

 the lateness of the morning maximum, the enfeebling of the afternoon 

 minimum, and the development of the morning minimum until it has 

 become the principal minimum of the day. But the magnitude of this 

 influence is, at least in our latitude, as variable as is the temperature 

 of the air and the prevailing wind. A formula for the diminution of 

 daily range with the altitude is therefore a somewhat fruitless labor. 

 (Z. 0. a. Jf., XIV, p. 177.) 



The organization of a special meteorological service for the Kingdom 

 of Bavaria has been accomplished by the establishment of a central 

 station, fifteen or more second-class, and nineteen or more third-class 

 stations, all of which are under the general supervision of Prof. W. 

 Von Bezold. The observers are generally the professors of mathe- 

 matics and sciences at the schools and universities of the kingdom. A 

 general commission of members of the Eoyal Academy of Sciences acts 

 as the adviser of the Bavarian Government in these matters. [Z. 0. 

 G. 3L, XrV, p. 173.) 



The first conference of the International Meteorological Committee, 

 as appointed at Eome, was held at Berne in August, 1880 ; the follow- 

 ing is an abstract of the results: It was recommended that a careful 

 comparison be made between the normal instruments of each land and 

 those to be used by other neighboring nations. The moment of inter- 

 national simultaneous observations was changed in accordance with the 

 request of the chief signal oflicer. The international polar observations 

 were emphatically approved of. C. Koppen's proposed improvement in 



