490 
NATORE 
[ Marcu 21, 1907 
ones, and they are balanced by the heavy rainfall of a 
few wet weeks. 
Thus in characterising weeks for counting it is 
necessary to deal with probable frequency of occur- 
rence as well as with the relation of the week’s fall 
to the average depth of rain. Frequeney results are 
most easily expressed by odds. It has ‘been sought 
to determine limits for a weelx of so-called ‘ heavy 
rainfall, so that the odds are two to one against its 
occurrence, and the same for ‘light’ rainfall. 
Further, ‘‘ very heavy ’’ rainfall has been so defined 
that the odds are eleven to ome against its occur- 
rence, and ‘‘ very light’’ in a similar way. 
To determine the limits for these odds the weekly 
values for the twelve districts for the twenty-five 
years 1881 to 1905 have been dealt with. Smoothed 
mean values for each week have been obtained, and 
frequency results for groups of six or seven weeks, 
to get a sufficiently large combination of values to 
make the odds a reasonable representation of the 
probabilities of the case. Limits are then chosen so 
that, of the whole number of rainfall values for a 
group of weeks, one-third are moderate, one-third 
heavy, one-twelfth very heavy, one-third light, one- 
twelfth very light. Sunshine and accumulated tem- 
ENcLanp East 
WEEK 32 34 36 38 40 42, 44 46 48 50 
| “VERY 7777 ~._ HEAVY 
es 
S 
e ~ 
7 ~ } 
MaRS ee = eS 
o-O 
Classification of Weekly Rainfall.—Portion of diagram for the District 
‘*England East”’ for the period from the 32nd to the srst week. The 
line a is the smoothed 25-year average of the weekly rainfall. If the 
rainfall for any week fall within the central shaded belt, it is charac- 
terised as ‘‘moderate"’; if it fall outside this beit it is either “heavy ’ 
or ‘‘light”; if it fall above the dotted line p or below the dotted line 
E, the word ‘‘ very” is prefixed to the designation. The limits are so 
adjusted that 4 of the values for the 25 years 1881-1905 fall below the 
line c, 4 between the lines B and c, and 4 above the line B. One- 
twelfth of the values fall above or below each of the limits p and E. 
ae | 
perature above and below 42° are treated similarly. 
Phe adjectives selected for sunshine are ‘‘ abundant ”’ 
and ‘‘scanty,’’- and for warmth ‘‘ unusual’’ -and 
““ deficient. ”’ 
The work necessary for obtaining these limits has 
been very heavy, but incidentally a number of in- 
teresting points about the weekly values for the 
elements in the several districts and the frequency 
distributions have been disclosed which will be the 
subject of an official publication on the seasons in the 
British Isles. 
The monthly report which began with the 
January number, issued at the end of February, 
shows: less change than was anticipated at. one 
time. Negotiations. were initiated with the view 
of making it a complete index of climatological 
work for the British Isles, to contain a line of 
data for each station contributing observations to 
the Meteorological Office, the Royal Meteorological 
Society, and the Scottish Meteorological Society. At 
present the three bodies collect and publish observ- 
ations independently; but if a joint publication could 
NO. 1951, VOL. 75] 
be arranged, 
data would be 
any person requiring climatological 
able, by reference to a single publica- 
tion, to know what information was in existence 
and where it was to be obtained. Unfortunately 
difficulties arose which could not be overcome in time, 
and as regards climatology the Report for 1907 is 
limited,to the 170 stations in direct or indirect connec- 
tion with the office. But Dr. H. R. Mill, the director 
of the British Rainfall Organisation, has expressed 
his willingness to contribute a rainfall map of iso- 
hyetal lines based on the monthly results for about 
500 stations in the British Isles, and in the current 
issue this replaces the map showing rainfall values 
at the 170 stations which have always been regarded 
as too few for drawing isohyetal lines. 
It ought, perhaps, to be added, as regards the 
daily weather report, that it is prepared and printed 
at the public expense, and is sent free to anyone who 
pays the cost of postage, wrappers, and addressing. 
Complaint has sometimes been made that it is not 
advertised as it should be, but as a matter of fact 
the ‘* advertisable interest ’’ rests with the Post Office. 
For the weekly report, with which the monthly is 
included, a subscription is charged to meet the cost 
of printing. But this report gives so compendious 
a statement of the weather in the British Isles, daily, 
weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and average, in 
an annual volume of about 450 pages, that it ought to 
find a place in every reference library. It has now 
been in existence for more than tw enty- five years, and 
its value as a homogeneous body of statistics increases 
with every additional year. Its weekly pages are too 
much like pemmican to be attractive to the general 
reader; but a disturbing reflection about the matter 
is that when its life has continued for fifty years, 
and the public becomes educated to appreciate its uses, 
there will be no means of meeting demands for the 
numbers which are now regarded as being merely 
of interest to the curious meteorologist. 
TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY. 
AS interesting feature of the progress of engineer- 
ing science has been the gradual formation of 
the engineering vocabulary. Ever since the days of 
the early constructors there has been a steady ap- 
plication of fresh terms to technical practice, and it 
is not difficult to trace the methods by which this 
has taken place. But the process has operated to 
such an extent that what could almost be called a 
new language has arisen, and specimens could be 
quoted from the best examples of engineering litera- 
ture -which to scholars of a century ago would convey 
no meaning, though the origin of each individual 
term might be at once apparent to them. 
Some of these terms have interesting histories by 
reason of the changes of sense they have passed 
through. The word ‘skid,’’ for example, was 
originally the name of the buffer rope hung over a 
boat’s side to protect it from injury. It was then 
applied to the shoe placed under a wheel to brake 
the motion of a carriage, and finally it was turned 
into a verb to express the | vagaries of vehicles in 
muddy weather. ‘‘ Switch,’’ first applied in railway 
practice and connected with the peculiar motion of 
the bar sc named, was passed on to electrical 
machinery. The: ‘‘ salamander’’ is a newt of a kind 
supposed, according to an old legend, to be capable 
of living in fire. The newt, surrounded by his 
flames, is sometimes seen in heraldry, and from this 
source it was applied to certain kinds of foundry 
irons and crucibles. ‘‘ Splay’’ is borrowed from 
architecture, and in its original sense means an 
obliquity or bevel edge. The bevel edge is frequently 
used to expose some interior part, and hence the 
