METEOROLOGY. 



METHODISTS. 



493 



forecasts published in the morning newspapers 

 show a complete or partial success of 81 per cent., 

 the average for the past ten years being 81.3 per 

 cent., while the results of the special forecasts 

 made for the haymaking season show that 00 

 per cent, were useful. The success obtained for 

 the storm warnings issued to seaports reached 

 91.8 per cent. 



Miscellaneous. The observations taken by 

 the United States Weather Bureau in connection 

 with the work of the International Cloud Com- 

 mission began May 1, 1896, and ended June 30, 

 1897. One primary base station at Washington, 

 D. C., and 14 nephoscopic stations distributed 

 with an approach to uniformity throughout the 

 territory east of the Rocky mountains were em- 

 ployed. The computation of the resulting data 

 and the arrangement for the publication follow 

 closely the prescribed forms submitted in the cir- 

 culars of the commission. The possession of many 

 new data contained in the 6,000 single theodolite 

 observations and in the 25,000 nephoscopic ob- 

 servations afforded a favorable opportunity for 

 considering several of the fundamental problems 

 of meteorology, especially in view of the fact that 

 they develop in the most perfect manner on the 

 North American continent. There are still, in 

 spite of much good work on the part of able 

 investigators, serious gaps in the series of facts 

 needed to construct a sound theory of the his- 

 tory of cyclones and anticyclones, and, further- 

 more, the existing theories are not in agreement 

 either among themselves or with all the known 

 facts. It has therefore been considered impor- 

 tant by Prof. Frank H. Bigelow to develop the 

 facts regarding the circulation of the air with- 

 out bias at the beginning, and so far to correlate 

 the existing mathematical analyses that their true 

 meaning as to one another and as to the results 

 of the observations should appear. Meteorology 

 being sure to remain a difficult science, on ac- 

 count of the complications attending the physical 

 processes and the fluid motions in the complex 

 form presented by the atmosphere, Prof. Bigelow 

 has attempted in the American Journal of Sci- 

 ence to show how some of the apparent obstacles 

 can be overcome by employing the methods used 

 in the observations and reductions. 



The height of 12,507 feet was reached at Blue 

 Hill Meteorological Observatory on Feb. 28, 1899, 

 by means of the Hargreave kite as improved by 

 H. H. Clayton. The vertical height is computed 

 by means of the formula H = (sin h) I x, in which 

 H represents the height; li the angular altitude 

 above the horizon, obtained by observing the kite 

 with a surveyor's transit placed near the wind- 

 lass; I the length of the line, read from the dial 

 attached to the windlass; and a? is a constant 

 quantity, determined experimentally as a cor- 

 rection for the sag of the line, etc. This computa- 

 tion is made in about a minute, and the results 

 are accurate within 1 per cent. 



Waterspouts, according to a paper by Mr. H. 

 C. Russell in the Royal Society of New South 

 W T ales, are frequent on the coast of that coun- 

 try, often occurring in groups of three or four. 

 An unusual display was observed at Eden on 

 May 18, 1898. In the early forenoon, during a 

 light northwest wind, with fine weather and 

 smooth sea, a heavy bank of cloud rose above the 

 eastern horizon, and there was a flickering as of 

 electrical discharges going on between the cloud 

 and sea, but nothing to indicate what was to 

 follow. During the morning there were 14 clear 

 and distinct waterspouts, reaching from clouds 

 to sea. The process of formation was a rotary 

 motion of the waves, large quantities of broken 



water being raised gradually as a white, misty- 

 topped column, the misty part preceding the 

 denser part by from 100 to 150 feet. This went 

 on for three or four minutes, during which time 

 the clouds formed an inverted cone, which seemed 

 to be alternately dipping down and receding, with 

 an interval of about thirty seconds between the 

 dips, until the two cones met, and all the misty 

 matter was absorbed. The column then remained 

 unchanged for several minutes, while the over- 

 hanging cloud grew denser and moved slowly until 

 the spout got out of the perpendicular arid di- 

 vided in the middle, the top part rising and the 

 lower half sinking in the ocean. 



By special studies of self-registering tide gauges 

 and comparisons with the curves of self-register- 

 ing barographs at points along the Atlantic coast 

 of Canada and within the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 and the smaller bays Mr. F. Napier Denison finds 

 that the minute undulations of the water are due 

 to atmospheric waves or oscillations of baromet- 

 ric pressure passing over the harbors and bays. 

 Prof. Cleveland Abbe urges the importance" of 

 the study of these oscillations directly as a me- 

 teorological problem, and then of their effects on 

 the tides as an oceanic problem. 



A discussion of the mean atmospheric pressure 

 in Sweden for the years 1860 to 1895 by Dr. H. 

 E. Hamberg, forming a series of papers by the 

 Meteorological Office of Sweden in commemora- 

 tion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, includes 

 tables of monthly and yearly mean values for 

 34 stations and mean isobaric charts for the same 

 periods. An examination of the annual variation 

 shows that there are four maxima and four mini- 

 ma. The first maximum that of midwinter 

 occurs in January and February, and is most pro- 

 nounced in the south of Sweden. It is produced 

 by the deviation of the Asiatic high pressure, 

 which extends over parts of Europe. The second 

 maximum occurs in spring, and is most marked 

 in the south. It is apparently caused by the 

 polar anticyclone, in conjunction with the high 

 pressure over part of the north Atlantic. The 

 subsidiary maxima occur in September and No- 

 vember. The first minimum occurs in March, and 

 is very marked. It appears to be due to the low 

 pressure over the Atlantic and to the diminution 

 of the continental anticyclones. The second, or 

 summer minimum, occurs in July and August. 

 It is caused by cyclonic formations developed by 

 the high temperature over Europe and Asia. The 

 subsidiary minima occur in October and De- 

 cember. 



A quantitative sunshine recorder described by 

 Prof. Callendar differs from ordinary sunshine re- 

 corders in giving a strictly quantitative record of 

 the amount of heat received at the earth's sur- 

 face, and not merely the number of hours of 

 bright sunshine. The instrument registers the 

 component of sunshine in any desired direction, 

 and gives a full record of its character and in- 

 tensity. The passage of small clouds over the 

 sun is very clearly registered, and it is found 

 that even when the sun is obscured by clouds 

 of sufficient thickness to prevent any trace of 

 it burning on the ordinary cards a very consider- 

 able percentage of the sun's heat may still pene- 

 trate. The recording apparatus is identical with 

 that required for records of temperature, pres- 

 sure, voltage, etc., and may be placed in any 

 convenient situation and at any distance from 

 the bolometer. 



METHODISTS. Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. The Methodist Yearbook for 1900 gives 

 statistical returns from 148 conferences and other 

 annual organizations of this body, including the 



