March 30, 1905] 



NA TURE 



5ii' 



Observations with kites at Blue Hill during the past 

 ten vears, and with balloons elsewhere, show that in- 

 versions of temperature occur at some height in the free 

 air under almost all weather conditions. In a discussion 

 of the kite observations at Blue Hill, published in 1897 in 

 part i., vol. xlii., Annals of the Astronomical Observatory 

 of Harvard College, Mr. H. H. Clayton probably first 

 pointed out that marked inversions of temperature at 

 heights of from a quarter to half a mile in the free air 

 occur in the rear of anti-cyclones. He gives one e.-cample 

 of a rise of 26° F. between 2180 feet and 2530 feet, accom- 

 panied by a corresponding fall of 50 per cent, in the relative 

 humidity, this rise of temperature being more than twici 

 that mentioned by Mr. Dines. 



Prof. Hergeseli's soundings with kites on board thi 

 Prince of Monaco's yacht last July, in the permanent higli 

 barometric pressure south of the Azores, showed a decrease 

 of temperature of 6° F. up to about 1800 feet, when the 

 temperature suddenly rose 14° F., and so remained 

 throughout a stratum 3000 feet thick, above which it fell 

 at the adiabatic rate, the relative humidity decreasing 50 

 per cent, with the rise in temperature. It would appear, 

 therefore, that such inversions of temperature and relative 

 humidity at a moderate height are cliaracteristic of areas 

 of high barometric pressure, both over the land and water. 

 A. Lawrence Rotch. 



Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Hyde Park, . 

 Mass, U.S..\., March 13. 



At the beginning of the report a general plan of 

 the park is given, showing the proposed improve- 

 ments. At first sight the plan appears _ very 

 elaborate and overcrowded with detail, but this is due 



Fig. I.— View down House Dene, showing back of old Mansion-house to 

 left (south), and on opposite bank, a little nearer than the large tree, 

 Wallace's Well, fallen in. Old paths effaced. From "City Develop- 



The Planet Fortuna. 



One point of interest to Airy's brother men of science 

 has not been noticed — that he either misunderstood or 

 wilfully misapplied the lines of Juvenal. The " Purists " 

 urged that planets had always been named after deities, 

 and that Fortuna was not a deity, .^iry said that she 

 was, and quoted " nos te, nos facimus, Fortuna; deam." 

 What did Juvenal really say? He said, " the wise see no 

 divinity in Fortune ; it is only human folly that calls her 

 goddess, and assumes for her a place in heaven." As 

 Gifford renders it : — 



" We should see 

 If wise, O Fortune, nought divine in thee ; 

 But we have deified a name alone. 

 And fixed in heaven thy visionary throne." 



" Nullum numen abest " belongs to a numerous class 

 of misquotations, and spoils the whole tenor of the passage. 

 The supreme authority on Juvenal, J. E. B. Mayor, does 

 not even condescend to cite it. W. T. 



CITY DEVELOPMENTS 



THE elegant volume under notice was written by 

 Prof. Patrick Geddes in response to an invita- 

 tion by the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. The report 

 is copiously illustrated, and embodies a very great 

 amount of valuable and important information, plans, 

 and suggestions as to the laying out of the public 

 park, and as to the buildings, in or around it, needed 

 or desirable for carrying on the v.-ork of the trust. 



The author set to work by having a complete photo- 

 graphic survey made of the park and its environ- 

 ments. All those photographs, however, could not be 

 incorporated in the report, but they will be preserved 

 as a permanent record of the appearance of the park 

 and its surroundings before any changes were 

 inaugurated by the trust. Not content with mere 

 photographs and maps, the author strongly recom- 

 mends the construction of a relief model of the park, 

 bearing on its surface pasteboard models of the new 

 buildings proposed, in order that the general effect of 

 these buildings on their surroundings may be clearly 

 anticipated, and thus the erection of structures out of 

 harmony with their surroundings may be avoided. 



1 " City Development, a Study of Parks, Gardens, and Culture Insti- 

 tutes." A Report to the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. By P. Geddes. 

 Pp. 2!2. (Westminster: Geddes and Co., 5, Old Queen Street.) Price 



to the fact that its designer has endeavoured to show 

 all the essential details in the plan, in order to reduce 

 the number of blocks in the text, and a little study 

 is all that is required to show that the proposed im- 

 provements are not of such a radical nature as a 

 first impression might convey. The proposed treat- 

 ment is essentially a conservative one, and the 

 suggested changes and improvements have been 

 designed to interfere as little as possible with the 

 existing features, views, and even details of the park 

 and glen. 



About one-half of the report is devoted to a detailed 

 consideration of the park, its environs, gardens, and 

 nature museums. The possible approaches and 

 entrances are carefully considered and selected. 



I These must render easy access to, and be in keeping 

 with, the important centre to which they lead. The 

 park must not end abruptly where the town begins, 

 but its environs or setting should be such that a 

 harmonious blending — one with the other — is secured, 



I and in this connection the author seems to have made 

 the most of the material at his disposal. 



rustic fool-bridge 



, with Wall. ce 

 ring old paths 



2 of I he proposed r 



i Well simply re Imilt, and roughly 

 now renewed. The Mansion-house 

 rrets. From "City Development. 



NO. 1848, VOL. 71] 



.\s regards the laying out of the park, the proposed 

 lakes, gardens, tennis courts, cricket pitches, bowl- 

 ing greens, and other recreation grounds, its 

 pavilions, band-stands, museums, walks, and groves, 



