January 24, 19 18] 



NATURE 



4^7 



ing our knowledge of the direction and velocity of the 

 currents of the upper air, to meet the demands of avia- 

 tion, which will become greater in the near future, but 

 with a very moderate increase in the resources of their 

 existing institutions, and more active co-operation, they 

 may powerfully aid in the solution of many meteoro- 

 logical problems of theoretical and practical import- 

 ance. 



But the organisation of the Empire's meteorology at 

 the present time is very far from being adequate, for 

 the provision of stations has grown out of local needs 

 or individual initiative, not from a considered plan. 

 When we examine the meteorological organisations of 

 the Empire we may well be astonished at their .extent 

 and their development, but as we look further into the 

 matter we shall see that we are still far from utilising 

 them to the best advantage, for reasons which will 

 appear. 



In all countries where there is a meteorological ser- 

 vice the network of climatological stations is controlled 

 by one or more first-order stations, or meteorological 

 observatories, at which continuous records or hourly 

 readings of pressure, temperature, wind, sunshine, 

 rain, etc., are taken, but none as yet exist in the great 

 Colonial regions of East Africa, West Africa, or in the 

 West Indian Islands, though there are eighteen insti- 

 tutions of this class in other parts of the Empire. 



The work of the meteorologist does not end with 

 recording the pressure, or the temperature, or the 

 monthly amount of the rainfall, but meteorological 

 observations, after being taken, must be worked up 

 into the various forms in which they will be most 

 useful for shipping, agriculture, water-supply, engineer- 

 ing, sanitation and health, and now, also, aerial trans- 

 port. The same form will not suffice for ail, and 

 meteorology itself has its own especial needs, but the 

 important thing is that this information, hovi'ever accu- 

 rate and detailed it may be, will not be available in 

 exactly the forms that answer to different requirements 

 unless there is a sufficient staff of trained meteoro- 

 logists to handle it and to supervise its preparation. 



Nor is the study of a single region sufficient in itself. 

 India, in preparing the monsoon forecast, draws upon 

 data from Egypt, St. Helena, Brazil, etc. ; Egypt, in 

 formingeachyear an estimate of the coming Nile flood, 

 utilises information from India, Uganda, the South 

 Atlantic, and so on. The East Indian Islands need 

 warnings of their hurricanes from the more eastward 

 islands of their archipelago, and must utilise all that 

 Asia and Africa can tell them about the development 

 and movement of tropical storms before their pre- 

 cautions can be considered to have exhausted all the 

 means available. All lands which lie near the sub- 

 tropical zones of scanty rainfall are vitally interested 

 in the problems of forecasting the probable sufficiency 

 or failure of their rainy season. The droughts of the 

 pastoral regions of Australia and South Africa are well 

 known, and the same occur in the Sudan, though 

 from, its retarded development less has been heard of 

 them up to the present time, but in the future, as the 

 population increases and becomes more settled, the 

 same considerations will demand attention. Similarly, 

 the countries in temperate zones find some of their 

 most urgent problems in the adequacy or inadequacy 

 of the summer heat for the ripening of cereal crops. 



We are far from having solved these problems, but 

 we know enough to say definitely that they cannot be 

 solved from the study of a single region, but that they 

 are world-problems in which the meteorological condi- 

 tions of the whole world must be considered, and for 

 studies of such vast importance the British Empire 

 oflfers unequalled opportunities, which must be seized 

 and fully utilised. It is in the development of our 

 NO. 2517, VOL. 100] 



science within the Empire that there are opportunities 

 by which we have hitherto profited inadequately. 



In East and West Africa we have two large groups 

 of Colonial possessions having closely related climates 

 and being already in possession of a number of 

 meteorological stations with records extending over a 

 considerable number of years. It should not be be- 

 yond the wit of man to devise a workable system of 

 co-operation for these stations so as to form for each 

 a service which should have a meteorological observa- 

 i tory as its technical centre, with one or more trained 

 meteorologists to direct its energies and to utilise the 

 collected information for the use of the Colonies them- 

 selves and of the Empire as a whole. 



Already a secular decrease in the annual rainfall of 

 Nigeria has been not merely suggested as being indi- 

 cated, but also announced by some as a fact, so that 

 the confirmation or confutation of this contention is a 

 matter of very urgent importance to the Colony. Such 

 questions as these are best investigated on the spot by a 

 trained meteorologist in the first instance, even though 

 the final stages in the inquiry may require reference 

 to the meteorological authorities of other regions for 

 the results of their investigation into similar or related 

 questions. 



After considering in detail our meteorological organ- 

 isation we find that within the Empire there are 

 alreadv upwards of looo climatological stations distri- 

 buted all over the world, from lat. 60° N. to lat. 54° S., 

 near the equator, within the tropics, and in the tem- 

 perate zone. They are on coast-lines, in the heart of 

 continents, and on oceanic islands. Some few, especially 

 in India, are at high altitudes above sea-level. They 

 therefore furnish us with opportunities for investigat- 

 ing almost anv problem that may arise in meteorology 

 if competent meteorologists make full and proper use 

 of them. 



We come, then, to the conclusion that, in order to 

 provide trustworthv and adequate information regard- 

 ing the climate of' the Empire, and the meteorological 

 phenomena which plav so important a part in the lives 

 of all the inhabitants of the earth, a more efficient 

 organisation of our meteorological resources is neces- 

 sary. In the first place, men will be required who 

 have received a good training in modern meteorology, 

 and have such a knowledge of physics and mathe- 

 matics as will enable them to deal with the problems 

 which thev meet. Hitherto there have been very few 

 of these men in this country, but the present needs 

 have brought a number into direct contact with the 

 subject, and if the meteorological services of the Em- 

 pire are going to offer a career to an able meteoro- 

 logist, some of them may elect to adopt it. Co-opera- 

 tion and intercommunication will be all the more essen- 

 tial and valuable when the meteorological work is 

 entrusted to speciallv trained men who have seriously 

 studied the subject, and this societv should be able bv 

 means of its meetings, and especially by its Journal, 

 to aid powerfully in the attainment of this desirable 

 object. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Leeds.— The Department of Physiology is about to- 

 undergo extension. The work of the teachers of 

 phvsiologv has been divided. Dr. H. S. Raper has 

 been appointed professor of physiology and biochem- 

 istry', and Dr. C. L. Evans has been appointed to a 

 new chair as professor of experimental physiology, or, 

 as it will probably be called, "experimental physiology 

 and experimental pharmacology." This change illus-i 



