go SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



The collection of the data required for the development of air 

 services necessitates a high degree of organization, especially in 

 transmitting daily weather reports by wireless, and such organiza- 

 tion must be international. Uniformity such as will make com- 

 parison possible is of extreme importance and must be sought 

 through the collaboration of meteorological officers in the different 

 territories. A detailed statement from each territory describing 

 the present methods employed and suggesting the lines on which 

 uniformity could be achieved would contribute greatly towards 

 this end. Full data would be required for each territory on the 

 number of first order, second order, and rainfall stations compared 

 with the area and type of country; the type and accuracy of instru- 

 ments used and the method of exposing them, i.e. screening of 

 thermometers, height of rim of rain-gauges above the ground, etc.; 

 and the detail given in weather forecasts and warnings. It is worthy 

 of note that in 1936 there met for the first time at Lusaka, Regional 

 Commission No. i of the Office Meteorologique Internationale; 

 subsequent meetings of this and other similar commissions should 

 be of the greatest assistance in achieving uniformity and the rapid 

 exchange of data. 



Of meteorological literature, A. Knox's book on the climate of 

 Africa (191 1) is a landmark, but other authors must be consulted 

 for the results of more recent studies. Notable among recent works 

 are papers by Dr. C. E. P. Brooks on the British colonies, while 

 the report of the South African Drought Commission of 1923 is a 

 most important document in showing the relation of rainfall to 

 other subjects such as deforestation, soil erosion, and the subsidiary 

 changes which those processes involve (Kanthack 1930). Impor- 

 tant general works which have appeared since Knox's book are 

 given in the bibliography — notably Brooks and Mirrlees (1932), 

 Cox (1935), Eckardt (191 7), Geiger and Zierl (193 1), Sir Henry 

 Lyons (191 7), and Shantz and Marbut (1923). The standard 

 modern reference work is the volume on Africa in the Handbuch 

 der Klimatologie edited by W. Koppen and R. Geiger (1927). 



In view of the stimulus which meteorology has received in recent 

 years from the establishment of air transport, and the probability 

 that co-operation between adjacent services is likely to take 

 place along the lines of air routes, those which already exist and 



