June 4, 1891] 



NATURE 



13 



anomaly, which is relatively high in barometric maxima, and 

 relatively low in barometric minima. (2) The range of tempera- 

 ture during the passage of a barometric wave. This is, at least 

 during the winter season, the opposite to that at the lower level. 

 (3) Temperature with varying amount of cloud in winter. The 

 highest temperature coincides with the least cloud, upon the 

 summit, and conversely on the plain. The clear winter days 

 on the Sonnblick have relatively high temperature with great 

 dryness, and these conditions are characteristic of the barometric 

 maxima. (4) Monthly maxima and minima of temperature. 

 The former mostly occur during barometric maxima, and the 

 latter when the high pressure lies in the west or north, and 

 while a barometric minimum exists over Italy or the Adriatic. 

 (5) Temperature and air-pressure on the Sonnblick during 

 barometric minima over Central Europe, especially over the 

 Eastern Alps. The mean temperature at the height of 6650 

 feet during the passage of barometric minima was below the 

 normal, amounting on an average to 2^*5 F. during the winter 

 season. The use of deviations of pressure and temperature 

 in answering many questions of atmospheric physics is here 

 discussed. (6) Vertical distribution of temperature, and mean 

 temperature in a column of air of 3 kilometres in height. The 

 calculations have been made separately for each winter. (7) 

 Preliminary indications respecting the relations of the wind- 

 directions to barometric maxima and minima, A considerable 

 divergence (45°-90°) is shown from the directions as observed 

 below, and the results confirm the conclusions drawn from cloud 

 observations by J. A. Broun and others. (8) Refutation of 

 some objections against the conclusiveness of temperature 

 observations on mountain summits, and general remarks on 

 cyclones and anticyclones. The author points out that recent 

 mountain temperature observations and other facts are opposed 

 to the explanation of barometric maxima and minima in extra- 

 tropical regions by purely thermic considerations. 



The relations of weather and disease have been recently 

 investigated by Herr Magelssen, of Leipzig, who, having formerly 

 called attention to the nature of certain "waves" which recur 

 in the variations of temperature (distinguishing waves of about 

 12 days, 50 days, and 18 to 20 years duration), now traces 

 a connection of these with diseases and mortality. The year- 

 waves especially show this connection ; the mortality (in our 

 latitudes) varying with the winter temperature. The least 

 mortality (relatively) is at the middle part of the temperature 

 periods. The injurious influence of heat is dominant in the 

 more southern latitudes (such as Vienna), while cold begins 

 to act beneficially. In northern places, mild winters prove 

 injurious where several very mild winters come in succession 

 {e.g. Stockholm in 1871-74). The most favourable conditions 

 seem to be an alternation of moderately cold and moderately 

 mild winters. Too much importance, the author thinks, has 

 been attached to relative humidity. He further offers proof 

 that infectious disease is even more dependent on weather than 

 disease of the respiratory organs, or arising from chill. 



The value of systematic observation of snow is now being 

 recognized in meteorology ; and in Russia observations were 

 commenced in January last year at 428 stations in the European 

 portion of the Empire, 21 in the Asiatic, and 55 in the 

 Caucasus. At first it was simply reported daily whether there 

 was a continuous snow-covering'about the station or not. But 

 last winter the inquiry has been extended to the depth and 

 general behaviour of the snow. Thus it is expected that in a 

 few years, some valuable climatological material will have been 

 accumulated at St. Petersburg. The report of Herr Berg on 

 the snow in the early months of 1890, in European Russia 

 {Rcpert. fiir Meteoj-.), contains a map showing the southern and 

 western limit of the continuous snow-covering for the first and 

 fifteenth of each of the months Tanuarv to Arril. In the west 

 NO. II 2 7, VOL 44] 



the snow extended steadily till the beginning of March, the 

 limit being then close to the Baltic. In the south-east, there 

 was steady advance till February, and as far as the coast of the 

 Caspian. In the south, the advance was fluctuating, there 

 being a maximum in the middle of January, and the middle of 

 February, both reaching to the Black Sea coast. The retire- 

 ment of the snow-limit began in the south and south-east in the 

 middle of February ; in the west about half a month later. 

 The general direction was north-east. On April 15 the limit 

 passed through Onega on the White Sea, Wetluga, and 

 Katherinenburg, By the first of May, all European Russia was 

 free from snow. Herr Berg describes the weather accompanying 

 the disappearance of the snow, and traces its causation. 



A DIRECT observation of hail in the process of formation is 

 recorded in the Naturw. Rundschau. In the afternoon of a 

 squally day Prof. Tosetti, looking eastwards through the window 

 of a house (in Northern Italy) which, with two others, enclosed 

 a court, saw the rain which streamed down from the roof to the 

 right, caught by a very cold wind from the north, and driven 

 back and up in thick drops. Suddenly a south wind blew, and 

 the drops, tossed about in all directions, were transformed into 

 ice balls. "When the south wind ceased, this transformation also 

 ceased, but whenever the south wind recurred, the phenomenon 

 was reproduced, and this was observed three or four times in 

 ten minutes. 



Engineering of the 29th ult, states that an extraordinary 

 accident had occurred at the London-Paris Telephone Office 

 in the Palais de la Bourse. One of the employh, a gentle- 

 man named Weller, wished to communicate with the London 

 office on a matter of service. He had already rung up the 

 English officials, and, the bell having sounded in reply, took 

 up the receivers and put them to his ears, when he suddenly 

 sustained a shock of electricity of such severity that it threw 

 him staggering backwards against the door of the telephone 

 cabinet, which, not having been properly fastened, flew open, 

 with the result that he was thrown heavily to the ground. It 

 appears from inquiries that similar accidents, although less 

 serious, have occurred at this telephone office on several pre- 

 vious occasions. The officials attribute them to lightning strik- 

 ing the wire, either at San Gatte, where the submarine cable 

 ends, or at the terminus of the land wire on the Palais de la 

 Bourse, Such accidents, it is declared, might be easily prevented 

 by the simple expedient of erecting lightning conductors at the 

 point where the cable comes ashore, and at the terminus in 

 Paris. 



In the nineteenth annual report of the directors of the Zoological 

 Society of Philadelphia, attention is called to the unprecedented 

 destruction of many of the more valuable and important animals of 

 the native American fauna, and to the need for the immediate 

 adoption of every means which can be employed to save them 

 from complete extinction. The directors think that a good 

 deal may be done in furtherance of this object, both in zoological 

 gardens and private preserves. Of all the bisons now surviving 

 outside the National Park, probably nine-tenths are comprised 

 in a few herds owned by private individuals and zoological 

 societies. 



A FINE tortoise, weighing 87 pounds, obtained by the U.S. 

 Fish Commission steamer Albatross, during her recent visit to 

 the Galapagos Islands, has recently been deposited in the 

 Zoological Park at Washington, D.C. The specimen was 

 collected by Mr. C. H. Townsend on Duncan Island, and is of 

 much interest, not only on account of the locality it represents, 

 but as showing that Dr. Baur was a little hasty in deciding that 

 Testudo ephippium is only a synonym of T. abingdoni. The 

 Duncan Island tortoise agrees exactly with Dr, Giinther's figure 

 of T. ephippium, and is entirely distinct from the Abingdon 

 Island species, which is also well-figured in Dr. Giinther's 



