270 



NATURE 



\_yan. 23, 1879 



render cyclone prognostications for the Bay of Bengal 

 almost absolutely certain is a submarine cable to the 

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands, by which the meteoro- 

 logical stations on these islands, near the place of origin 

 of all the great cyclones of the Bay, would be brought 

 into telegraphic communication with the rest of the 

 empire. 



In his "Tenth Contribution to Meteorology," which 

 appears in the American Journal of Science and Arts for 

 the present month. Prof. Loomis gives the results of an 

 examination he has made as to the course of seventy- 

 seven storms after leaving the eastern coast of the United 

 States, these storms having occurred from March, 1874, 

 to November, 1875. Of these seventy-seven storms he 

 was able to follow thirty-six of them entirely across the 

 Atlantic Ocean, eight of them, however, becoming 

 iTierged in other storms before reaching Europe. The 

 annual average of storms which are found to cross the 

 Atlantic from the United States to Europe is eighteen, 

 and nearly all of these storms pursued a course north of 

 east, passing in their eastward course considerably to the 

 north of Scotland ; indeed, in only four of the storms did 

 the centre pass as far south as the north of England. 

 Prof. Loomis concludes that, when a storm with a centre 

 depression at least below 29'5 inches leaves the coast of 

 the United States, the probability that it will pass over 

 any part of England is only one in nine; that it will 

 occasion a gale anywhere near the English coast, one in 

 six ; and that it will give rise to a fresh breeze, one in 

 two. A characteristic feature of these storms is the slow 

 rate of their onward progress in crossing the ocean, as 

 compared with their rate over the United States — a 

 feature of the utmost possible importance in attempting 

 to predict the time of their descent on the shores of Europe 

 of those American storms which cross the Atlantic. 

 About half of the whole number of the storms originated 

 in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, five in or 

 near Texas, and four were distinctly traced to the Pacific 

 coast. Of six West India cyclones which occurred in 

 the same time only two could be traced across the 

 Atlantic, and even one of these became blended with 

 another storm. The rest of the paper is taken up with a 

 discussion of the fluctuations of the barometer on Mount 

 Washington, 6,285 feet, and Pike's Peak, 13,960 feet, as 

 compared with what takes place on the level ground at 

 the base of these mountains. As regards Mount Wash- 

 ington, the valuable result is arrived at that the diurnal 

 maxima and minima of the barometer occur more than 

 three hours later at the summit than at the base, showing 

 an average retardation of one hour for each 900 feet of 

 elevation. In the case of Pike's Peak, the rate of re- 

 tardation is one hour for an elevation of 1,380 feet. It is 

 evident from these figures that the law of the rate of 

 retardation is yet to be sought, one of the most important 

 factors, in all probability, being the absence or presence 

 of high plateaux and their extent near the high station, 

 to which must be added the latitude of the place. Obser- 

 vations of the wind at these high levels show, just as at 

 places near sea-level, a circulation about a low centre, 

 the movement of the wind being approximately at right 

 angles to the direction of the low centre ; and further, 

 that at the height of Mount Washington, the low centre 

 of storms sometimes lags behind the low centre at the 

 surface of the earth as much as 200 miles. This last 

 result is so vital in the theory of storms as to demand a 

 much more extended examination, the most special care 

 being taken that the retardation of the time of occur- 

 rence of the diurnal barometric minima be allowed for in 

 the discussion. 



It is with extreme satisfaction we learn that at a recent 

 meeting of the Council of the Scientific Association of 

 France, M. Mascart, Director of the Meteorological 

 Department, submitted a proposal from the Departmental 

 Commission of V'aucluse, for the establishment of an 



observatory on the top of Ventoux, situated to the north- 

 east of Carpentras, and rising above all the surrounding 

 summits to a height of 6,300 feet above the sea. This 

 observatory in the south of France, along with the 

 observatories of Puy de Dome in the north, and of Pic 

 du Midi in the south-west, may be regarded as furnishing 

 France with an enviable system of elevated observatories 

 for meteorological observations such as no other country 

 possesses, thus putting French physicists in possession of 

 the essential data whence the more difficult meteorological 

 problems may be attacked, and the systems of weather- 

 warnings for navigation and agriculture more rapidly 

 developed and improved. It is estimated that 150,000 

 francs will be required to establish the station, of which 

 sum there are already subscribed by M R. Bischoffsheim 

 10,000 francs, by the Commune of Bddoin, situated at the 

 foot of Mt. Ventoux, 10,000 francs, the Council of the 

 Scientific Association 500 ; and as the Meteorological 

 Commission of Vaucluse has opened a subscription-list, 

 the General Council of the Department has promised to 

 aid in forming the roadway up the mountain, and a 

 subsidy is looked for from the Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, the establishment of this important observatory will 

 doubtless soon become an accomplished fact. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



With reference to the reports that Prof Nordenskjold's 

 vessel had got shut in by the ice near East Cape, in 

 Behring Strait, the Committee ^for Promoting Russian 

 Trade and Industry have resolved to apply to the 

 Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, requesting him to 

 assist in instituting a search for Prof. Nordenskjold, and 

 in obtaining more certain information as to the situation 

 of the expedition. Mr. W. H. Dall, the well known U.S. 

 Alaska explorer, has written a letter to an acquaintance in 

 Stockholm, mentioning the previously-reported statement 

 of whalers, from which it is supposed that the Ve^a, has 

 been stopped by ice east of Cape East. Should this be 

 the case, Mr. Dall entertains no fears for the fate of the 

 expedition. If these suppositions be correct, he says, " the 

 breaking up of the ice next July will leave open water for the 

 Vega to proceed to Behring Strait. Vessels pass to west- 

 ward of East Cape every year. There is a creek there. 

 (The letter here gives a sketch map describing a bay, 

 with a small island in the middle of it, and an anchorage 

 inside.) A river with fresh water runs into the bay, and 

 on the coast is a native village. This is not marked in 

 the ordinary maps and charts, and it is just here that the 

 vessel, according to the repots of the natives, must be 

 lying. She can safely winter there. There is a large 

 village, inhabited by Tchuktchees, who would be able to 

 supply fresh meat. This place is situate not more than 

 200 English miles from the white men's trading station 

 at Plover Bay. If the Vega is lying there, the success 

 of the operation is practically achieved, because, as I 

 said, the bay is open every year, and does not get closed 

 by ice until October. Vessels sail there, and carry on 

 trade every summer." 



The last number of the Isvestia of the Russian Geo* 

 graphical Society contains an interesting paper by M. 

 Grigorieff, on the temperature and density of water in the 

 Arctic .Ocean, along the coast of Russian Lapland, 

 and in the White Sea, being the result of observations 

 carefully made on board the schooner Samoyede, by 

 means of good instruments. As to the Arctic Ocean, M, 

 Grigorieff confirms the existence of a warm branch of the 

 Gulf Stream which flows along the coast as far as Gavri- 

 lovskiye Islands, and thence turns due east to the Kanin 

 Peninsula and Kolgueff" Island, and further, to the 

 Moller Bay on Novaya Zemlya. Beneath this warm 

 current there is a cold one flowing in an opposite direc- 

 tion at some depth. When it meets with a rising bottom, 

 and especially with the deep bank of less than IQO 



