i 12 



NATURE 



[March 



Lockyer shows that, e.g. the Isanakatabar of lo mm. 

 i.i Australia coincides with the average track of the 

 barometer maxima in that continent. 



The next question was : with what velocity do these 

 pressure waves progress from west to east. 



By superposing the air-pressure curves of stations 

 Oi different longitudes (first in Australia) and by shift- 

 ing the time scale until the crests and troughs of the 

 waves coincide, the difference of time of their occur- 

 rence at different places is indicated at once. In this 

 way Lockyer obtains for the continent of Australia 

 a daily velocity of progression of the barometric 

 maxima from west to east of ii'5° of longitude, for 

 South Africa, 12°, for South America, iii'', giving a 

 mean of about ii'5°. The velocity over the oceans is 

 naturally much more difficult to determine ; Port 

 Durban — Perth, gives for the South Indian Ocean 

 about 95° a day ; Adelaide — Rikitea, for the Pacific, 

 93°. Still more uncertain is the determination for 

 the South Atlantic, which gives about 9'2°. Over the 

 oceans therefore the barometric waves progress with 

 less velocity. Lockyer gives 92° a day as the mean 

 value (the .Antarctic Ocean comes out as 9° to 10°). 

 So we may adopt a general mean of 107°, whence it 

 would follow that anticyclones travel round the earth 

 in about 336 days. The author in no wise assumes 

 therefrom that the anticyclones remain constant in 

 form and intensit)' during their progression ; on the 

 contrary, they are subject to continual changes. He 

 estimates their length of life on the oceans to be about 

 six to seven days. 



The wind and temperature observations, also, of 

 all Antarctic expeditions, including the most recent 

 one by Shackleton, are discussed in detail with refer- 

 ence to the problems of atmospheric circulation at 

 present in question ; series of barometric minima pro- 

 gressing from west to east are also shown. In longi- 

 tude 30° to 90° W. the paths of the barometric minima 

 appear from these observations (Bclgica and Scotia) 

 to lie more to the south than in the easterly longi- 

 tudes. This seems to show that the centre"^ of the 

 .Antarctic anticyclone is not at the pole itself, but in 

 easterly longitudes, far therefrom, at the farthest, per- 

 haps, in 130° E. 



A coloured frontispiece, a chart of the southern 

 hemisphere on the polar projection, gives a good 

 schematic representation of the barometric minima 

 and maxima that encircle the pole, and of the warm 

 and cold air-currents proceeding from them. In the 

 rear of the minima the permanent Antarctic anti- 

 cyclone sends cold currents to lower latitudes, while, 

 in front of them, warm air spreads to the Antarctic 

 regions. These formations of the warm and cold 

 currents gear into each other like toothed wheels, 

 while they are constantly rotating round the pole. 



With reference to the' apparently permanent baro- 

 metric maxima over the subtropical oceans, which lie 

 nearer to the w^est than to the east coast of the con- 

 tinents in all oceans, Lockver develops entirely new- 

 ideas which are very interesting and wortTiy of further 

 examination. 



The subtropical barometric maxima lie in the belt 

 of anticyclones constantly travelling from west to east 

 between lat. 20° to 40°. They are not fixed forms, 

 and form no barriers to atmospheric circulation, but 

 indicate only the spaces where the anticyclones which 

 are actually travelling are mostly reinforced. Over 

 warm land-surfaces anticyclones are weakened and 

 partially effaced; over the cool sea-surfaces they are 

 strengthened.^ They therefore arrive on the west 



1 Perhaps I m.-iy here correct a slight error which has been taken from 

 Buchan s Meteorology." The specific heat of water is to that of firm land 

 not as 4 to I, but only 2 to 1. The question here is the ' ' volume capacity," 

 ine "specific heat for equal volumes. For dry ground this is 0-5 (for damp, 

 • bout 0-6), compared to water. The ratio of specific heat for equal weights 

 isonly as o'a to I'o. -is 



NO 



. 2160, VOL. 86] 



coasts of the continents with greater inli:n:,U\ 

 that with which they left the east coasts of the 



This very interesting view could only origin.^ 

 the study of the circulation of the air o\ti 

 southern hemisphere, for in the northern, the ' 

 tions are usually too complicated and disturb' 

 the land-surfaces. 



The author deals only with the air-currents at th< 

 earth's surface. Nor does he go into the questi'-.^ - 

 the nature and origin of anticyclones and cyci 

 He rightly confines himself to establishing i... 

 which must certainly precede theories. 



Dr. Lockyer's investigation, the contents of whld 

 I have briefly sketched, is a very valuable cotr 

 tion to our knowledge of atmospheric circul 

 Objections will probably be raised to many [>■ 

 but it is pure gain to the science if occasion is . 

 for further discussion. For the simple reason 

 the author does not follow the ordinary beaten i: 

 but presents entirely new views for examination, hi 

 work will have a very- stimulating and useful effect. 



J. Han 



THE INSTITUTE OF HUMA.\ 

 PALEONTOLOGY. 

 ATTENTION vias recently directed in N 

 ■^ (January 26, p. 412) to the establishment \r 

 Prince of Monaco of an institute of human pala*ontc 

 logy in Paris. The council of administration has noA 

 been appointed; it consists of his Highness the Princ 

 as president; MM. Disl^re and E. .Mayer, conseiller 

 d'etat; MM. Boule and \'erneau, professors ( 

 palaeontology and anthropology in the Museum d'hi; 

 toire natureile in Paris; M. Salomon Reinach, membe 

 of the Institut and Conservateur of the Mus^e dc 

 antiquit^s nationales ; and M. Louis Mayer, conseille 

 intime of the Prince. On account of his great sei 

 vices to archaeology and his administrative experienc< 

 Prof. M. Boule will be the director of the instituti 

 Two collaborators have been appointed: I'Abb^ h 

 Breuil, professor of prehistory and ethnography of th 

 University of Fribourg, who will occupy the chair < 

 prehistoric ethnography, and Dr. H. Obermaiei 

 privat-docent in prehistory at the University < 

 Vienna, who will be professor of geology in its rels 

 tion to prehistory. 



We have frequently directed attention to tk 

 numerous and excellent researches of Prof. H. Breu 

 upon the pictorial and glyptic art of Palaeolithic mat 

 Dr. H. Obermaier has been associated with HoeriM 

 and Penck in Germany, and Boule, Cartailhac, Breui 

 and Capitan in France; he has made a special stud 

 of glacial problems, and has investigated tl" 

 Pyrenean region from this point of view. He hi 

 also published important papers on the form an 

 stratigraphy of the older stone implements. 



The professors will direct the explorations and e: 

 cavations undertaken by the institute, personally < 

 with the aid of other specialists. The results will I 

 published as monographs, in addition to short* 

 articles. During the dead-season they will give assis 

 ance and instruction to students who desire to make 

 serious study of fossil man. Lectures on the wor 

 of the institute will be given to the general puW 

 from time to time. 



The institute will eventually possess an adequa' 

 library, specimens, and instruments ; and not on 

 will it bring to a focus all existing information on tf 

 subject of human palaeontology, but it will be tf 

 main centre of all future researches. The stimulalic 

 and direction which the institute will afford will soc 

 make itself felt, and in the near future we may loc 

 forward to a considerable increase in our knowledg 

 of the early history of mankind. 



