468 



METEOROLOGY. 



as a flux. Fragments of carbonized wood were also 

 discovered, and three tools a pointed hammer to 

 break the blocks of sandstone, a graver, and a 

 needle. The hammer is of copper, hardened with 

 arsenic, and the graver is of copper containing some 

 tin, but not bronze. The arsenic in the hammer 

 was obtained from the working of some other min- 

 eral, for there is none in the mineral of Sinai. 



While carbon is still the material chiefly used >f or 

 incandescent electrical conductors within lamps, 

 attempts are still made to substitute metallic fila- 

 ments of high melting points. Mr. J. W. Ayles- 

 worth, of Newark, N. J., employs for an incandes- 

 cent conductor such refractory metals as niobium, 

 tantalum, molybdenum, titanium, zirconium, and 

 other metals of the same group. The filament is 

 prepared by heating a base or support in the vapor 

 of a volatile halogen compound of the element 

 which it is desired to deposit, and simultaneously 

 mixing it with a reducing gas, such as hydrogen. 

 In practice, the author obtains the oxide of the 

 metal from the ore. converts it into a volatile halo- 

 gen compound, and heats as described. The result 

 is the deposition of the pure metal upon the sup- 

 port or carbon filament, which is continued till the 

 same is covered. 



An experiment is described by Thomas D. West 

 to prove that the blast exerts little or no power or 

 pressure in the center body of a cupola. It con- 

 sisted simply in getting inside of the cupola after 

 the bottom is put up and holding a handkerchief 

 at varying distances from the tuyere openings. 

 When the handkerchief was held a foot away from 

 the opening the blast had no perceptible effect 

 upon it. The conviction that the blast thus ex- 

 pends its power most largely at the entrance of a 

 tuyere led the author to try to utilize the "center 

 blast," with satisfactory results. He enumerates 

 several advantages which he has found in favor of 

 this as compared with other methods, as follow: 

 Reduction of fuel from 1 to 8 to 1 to 12 ; less wear 

 on the lining ; increased speed of melting ; less 

 wasting of chilled iron and shot : less absorption of 

 sulphur by the iron ; and absence of flame escaping 

 out of the stack at closing or other part of the 

 heat. 



The principle of a crucible melting furnace in- 

 vented by Mr. William Kirkham seems to consist 

 in the displacement of the usual ganister lining in 

 favor of a special silica brick, which is conserved 

 by a wrought-iron casing and an outer air space 

 communicating with the flue. The inventor claims 

 for this furnace a saving of half the coke; that it 

 requires renewal only once in fifty days; that it 

 conserves the heat better; and that it is not liable 

 to excessive need of repair. A trial of the furnace 

 is said to have resulted satisfactorily. 



METEOROLOGY. Temperature. With bal- 

 loons carrying automatically registering instru- 

 ments French meteorologists have explored the 

 air to the height of nine miles. At that distance 

 from the earth's surface the temperature was found 

 to be 60 C. or 70 F. The difficulties of ex- 

 ploration of course increase enormously with each 

 mile of ascent, but it may be assumed that refriger- 

 ation also goes on in an ascending ratio at these 

 great altitudes. The kites sent up from the Blue 

 Hill Observatory, Massachusetts, have furnished 

 records from a height of more than 9,000 feet. 

 The success which has thus far attended this and 

 other experiments in atmospheric exploration with 

 kites encourages the belief that they will be found 

 very complete and valuable instruments in the 

 study of meteorology. 



The kites used in the experiments at Blue Hill 

 Observatory are box-shaped, with their ends open 

 and their sides partly covered with cloth or silk, 



and when piano wire is employed instead of twine 

 are excellent flyers. Good results have been ob- 

 tained by. means of a self-recording instrument that 

 gives readings of temperature, pressure, humidity, 

 and wind velocity. Among important observations 

 made with it are those relating to the presence of 

 cold waves and warm waves at considerable eleva- 

 tions several hours before temperature changes are 

 noted at the surface of the earth. 



The calculation for each of the 145 stations of 

 the Scottish Meteorological Society has been com- 

 pleted of the averages of mean temperature and 

 mean barometrical pressure for the forty years 

 ending with December, 1895. The inquiry carried 

 on by Dr. Buchan and Mr. Osmond for several 

 years on the influence of fog. cloud, and clear 

 weather, respectively, on the diurnal fluctuations 

 of the thermometer and barometer has been ex- 

 tended into other regions, particularly the arctic 

 regions and Portugal, which furnish "data of the 

 utmost importance. Among the questions more 

 immediately related as the investigation proceeds 

 is the influence on the pressure at the two observa- 

 tories of the vertical distribution of temperature 

 and humidity through the intervening stratum of 

 air between the top and bottom of the mountains. 



The temperature records of Australia for Janu- 

 ary, 1896, seem to contradict the common opinion 

 that icebergs act as coolers to the weather, for, ac- 

 cording to the words of Mr. Russell, Government 

 Astronomer of Xew South Wales, the extreme hot 

 weather and the neighborhood of icebergs were 

 nearly coincident. The temperature of 108'5 was 

 recorded at Sydney, Jan. 13, and 108 at Mel- 

 bourne. 



Among the results of three years' continuous 

 observations by Prof. E. Wollny, of Munich, as 

 summarized by Prof. Cleveland A'bbe, are that the 

 quantity of moisture evaporated from the soil into 

 the atmosphere is considerably smaller than that 

 evaporated from a free surface of water ; that the 

 evaporation is smallest from naked sand, and 

 largest from naked clay, whereas naked turf and 

 Inimus or vegetable mold have a medium value; 

 and that the evaporation is increased to a consider- 

 able extent by covering the ground with living 

 plants. Dr. Wollny further finds that evapora- 

 tion as a process depends both on the meteorolog- 

 ical conditions and on the quantity of moisture 

 contained in the substratum of the soil ; that tem- 

 perature is the most important external circum- 

 stance affecting it, but its effect is modified accord- 

 ing as the other factors come into play, and in 

 proportion to the quantity of water supplied by 

 the substratum ; that the influence of higher tem- 

 peratures is diminished by higher relative humidity, 

 greater cloudiness, feebler motion of the wind, and 

 a diminished quantity of moisture in the soil, 

 whereas its influence increases under opposite con- 

 ditions. On the other hand, low temperature can 

 bring about greater effects than high temperature 

 if the air is dry, or the cloudiness small, or the 

 wind very strong, or a greater quantity of water is 

 present within the evaporating substance. For the 

 evaporation of a free surface of water, or for earth 

 that is completely saturated with water, the impor- 

 tant elements are, first, the temperature, next the 

 relative humidity of the air, and then the cloudi- 

 ness, direction, and velocity of the wind ; while the 

 quantity of rain on which the soil depends for its 

 moisture is an important additional consideration. 

 The evaporating power of the soil is in itself de- 

 pendent upon its own physical properties ; the less 

 its permeability for water or larger its capacity for 

 water and the easier it is able to restore by capil- 

 larity the moisture that has been lost, by so much 

 the "more intensive is the evaporation. Hence 



