INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE. 505 



Prussian Meteorological Institute, with Doctor Assmann at its head, 

 under the direction of Professor von Bezold, also made a number of 

 important contributions in the early stages of the work. Professor 

 Hergesell, of Strasburg, similarly made numerous experiments; and 

 chiefly through the eiforts of those whose names have been men- 

 tioned, and more especially Professor Hergesell, an international 

 agreement has been secured by means of wdiich kite and balloon 

 ascents are made in several countries on the first Thursday in each 

 month and on three consecutive days during two months of the year. 

 A large station for aeronautical work was recently established at 

 Lindenberg, near Berlin, w here kites or balloons are sent up daily for 

 the purpose of securing meteorological records. The greatest height 

 yet reached was during the ascent of the 25tli of November, 1905, 

 when by means of several kites sent one after another on the same 

 wire the upper one rose to an altitude of 6,430 meters, almost exactly 

 4 miles. Owing to want of funds this country could until recently 

 only i^articipate in this work through the individual efforts of Mr. 

 Dines, who received, however, some assistance from the British Asso- 

 ciation and the Royal Meteorological Society. 



The reconstruction of the meteorological office has made it possible 

 now for Mr. Dines's Avork to be continued as part of the rgular w^ork 

 of the office, and further stations are being established. ]\Ir. Cave 

 carries out regular ascents at his own expense at Ditcham Park, and 

 through the cooperation of the Royal Meteorological Society and the 

 University of Manchester, assisted by a contribution for apparatus 

 from the Royal Society government grant fund, a regular kite station 

 is being established on the Derbyshire moors. 



The international committee w-hich collates the observations is a 

 commission appointed by a union voluntarily formed between the 

 directors of meteorological observatories and institutes of countries 

 in which regular observations are taken. The meeting of directors 

 discusses schemes of observations and encourages uniformity. 



If I mention a few of the difficulties which stand in the way of a 

 homogeneous system extending over Europe, I do it in the hope that 

 it ma}^ perhaps ultimately assist in removing some of them. It is 

 obviously desirable that the charts, which are intended to show the 

 distribution of pressure and temperature, should be derived from 

 observations made at the same hour. Germany observes at 8 o'clock 

 of Central European time, and France observes simultaneously (or 

 nearly so) by choosing 7 o'clock Paris time for its readings. "We 

 observe at 8 o'clock Greenwich time, which is an hour later. It 

 is the great desire of continental meteorologists that our standard 

 hour should be 7 o'clock, and what prevents it from being so? 

 Chiefly and absolutely the additional cost which the post-office must 

 claim for the transmission of telegrams ; because messages transmitted 



