478 
and, the radiation depending on the charge within the 
ring, and this charge being equal approximately to 
the number of electrons surrounding the ring, both 
will depend on M (see Bohr, Phil. Mag., vol. XXvi., 
1913, p. 476, and Moseley, loc, cit.). But a B particle 
ejected from the innermost ring must pass all other 
rings, and excite radiation different for each ring 
and for each ‘isotope,’ as dependent on the charge 
within, i.e. on nearly A/2, on M, on P, and so on, 
and lose quanta of energy proportional to the square 
of M, P, &c. Indeed, for Ra C (‘‘K” radiation) 
2m.M2?.10!*=0'8 x 10'%e(M.=88), and 
2m. P*10'®=0-4 x 10'*e(P =62), 
in agreement with the quanta, calculated by Ruther- 
ford. (For these velocities m/2V* will nearly give 
the energy of the 6 particle.) Besides, the “L” 
radiation of Bi being about equal to the “K” 
radiation of As (P=29), another quantum 
m/2(58. 10)? =0-09 x 10%e, 
may be expected, and can indeed be calculated from 
Rutherford’s tables (Phil. Mag., vol. xxvi., 1913, 
DS Fon): 
: But even then the nucleus might contain electrons. 
If the particle should, as probable, consist of 4(H+) 
and 2 electrons, and the particle X,+ of 3 (H+) and 2 
electrons, the number of electrons and of H+ par- 
ticles should both be equal to the atomic weight. 
But then the diameter of the positive unit could cer- 
tainly not be greater than the diameter of the electron 
(ro-** cm.), and it might, indeed, be an electron too, 
but in a different state, and be a particle with a net 
positive charge. A. VAN DEN BROEK. 
Gorssel, Holland, December 12. 
Wind Provinces. 
SEVERAL meteorologists have shown recently that 
the wind directions in the neighbourhood of cyclones 
and anticyclones are not of the simple nature that is 
sometimes supposed. Indeed it would seem that at 
any moment, if we consider an area large enough, 
the winds may be separated into distinct provinces 
over which they blow with great steadiness as regards 
direction, 
Fig. 1 shows these wind provinces for the North 
Atlantic and the European and East Asiatic areas for 
October 25. No doubt near the surface of the earth 
the winds are more complex in their distribution 
than they are in the free air. The wind directions and 
isobars are taken from the Weekly Weather Report, 
and the long and short dotted lines separate one wind 
province from another. The greatest irregularities in 
the direction of the wind occur near mountain chains, 
and where rain is falling and producing local currents 
in the lower atmosphere. 
Fig. 2 shows the wind provinces over western 
Europe at 8 a.m. on November 13, 1901. The wind 
directions shown by the arrows are from plate vii. of 
“The Life History of Surface Air Currents,’ by Shaw 
and Lempfert. Here we have the winds of three 
provinces flowing towards or influenced by the 
cyclonic centre. At 6 p.m. the centre had moved 
about one mile to the east, heavy rain fell over 
Europe, and the wind in the rainy area became 
more variable. in direction. The rain of this cyclone 
appears to have been largely due to the wind of the 
south-south-westerly province bunching up against 
and mounting over the wind of the east-north-easterly 
current. Cave is of opinion that rain is very fre- 
quently the result of one wind rising over another in 
this manner. Thus a north-easterly wind may have 
an upper south-westerly rain-bearing wind blowing 
over it, adiabatic expansion and condensation being 
NO. 2304, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
[DECEMBER 25,-1913- 
due to the rise of the air and only slightly to the 
lower pressure of the cyclonic centre. : 
From Fig. 1 it would appear,that winds which are 
at the earth’s surface at one place must often be upper 
winds at other places. Occasionally no doubt the 
line separating two provinces is where thé wind 
undergoes a rather sudden change of direction under 
the influence of an advancing depression; for the 
Fic. 1.—Wind Provinces, Oct. 25, 1913. 
cyclone as it advances, although it changes the direc- 
tion of the wind, does not carry any particular mass 
of air very far from the position in which it found it. 
An interval of twenty-four hours is generally sufficient 
to alter very greatly the distribution of pressure, and, 
therefore, also of the wind provinces. 
Shaw and Lempfert, in their ‘‘ Life History of Sur- 
| face Air Currents,’ have shown that the actual path 
Fic, 2,—Wind Provinces, Nov. 13, 1901. 
of the air is not that which might be gathered from 
the wind charts; for the distribution of pressure and 
the arrangement of the wind provinces, change 
| entirely in many cases, long before a mass of air 
could pass from an area of high pressure to one of 
low pressure. However, they prove that there is an 
actual rise of the air near a cyclonic centre capable of 
| producing adiabatic expansion and the fall of rain. 
a 
