THEORY OP CYCLONES VON BEZOLD 345 



has prosecuted fundamental work not only in the theory of the 

 general circulation but also especially in the theory of the dynamics 

 of the earth's atmosphere. But independently of the fact that his 

 views were first made known to a larger circle of students (in Ger- 

 many) by the "Lehrbuch" of Sprung, even Ferrel considered this 

 general circulation as a series of phenomena complete within itself, 

 while for him, as also for the majority of modern meteorologists, 

 the cyclones and anticylones are independent structures whose 

 theory he sought to develop in a corresponding way and independent 

 of that of the general circulation. 



On the other hand, already in 1879 Hann 1 had expressed himself in 

 favor of a more general view of the problem and in a short article 

 under the title (" Einige" etc) " Remarks on the theory of the general 

 atmospheric currents" had developed views that correspond in 

 general with those toward which the most recent researches are 

 tending. 



But this memoir appears to have attracted but little considera- 

 tion, and I must confess that only recently I was by Hann himself 

 referred back to this memoir, since it had previously escaped my 

 notice, as is easily explained since the publication occurred at a time 

 when I had first begun to occupy myself with meteorology and had 

 to first make myself familiar with the details of the accepted current 

 theories. 



The merit of attracting the attention of [German ] meteorologists in 

 general to the treatment of this problem from more general points of 

 view belongs undoubtedly to Werner von Siemens, 2 whose memoir 

 ("Ueber, etc") on the "Conservation of energy in the atmosphere" 

 gave a powerful stimulus to this study quite independent of what we 

 may think as to some details of the views therein developed. 



From this time onward various memoirs have appeared which 

 either directly had as an object the investigation of the general circu- 

 lation of the atmosphere, or else attempted to show the unsatisfac- 

 tory nature of the theory of cyclones and anticyclones as developed 

 too narrowly. 



Of these we mention, first, H. von Helmholtz, who in a memoir, 

 ("Ueber, etc") on "The movements of the atmosphere" 3 demon- 

 strated that "by the action of continuous forces there can be formed 

 surfaces of discontinuity," and that "the anticyclonic movement 



1 Hann: Zeit. d. Oest. Ges. f. met. 1879, XIV, pp. 33-41. 



2 W. v. Siemens: Sitzb. d. Berliner Akad., f. 1886, pp. 261-275. 



3 Sitzb. d. Berliner Akad. f. 1888, p. 663. [See p. 93 of the previous collec- 

 tion of translations. C. A.] 



