March i, 1906] 



NA TURE 



4i7 



It is important to notice that the author accepts the 

 types of the international cloud atlas and arranges his 

 various forms as subforms of these types. There is, 

 however, one exception. Mr. Clayden does not admit 

 the nimbus cloud as a special type, but puts it under 

 the type stratus. He employs nimbus as an adjec- 

 tive indicating that rain is falling from a cloud. We 

 cannot agree with this plan. Every form of cloud can 

 be transformed into another. It is. indeed, well 

 known that the true typical forms are rare, the 

 majority of clouds being intermediate forms. Of 

 course, it often happens that stratus cloud is trans- 

 formed to nimbus. The farmer in Sweden says, " if 

 the fog is falling the weather will be fine, if the fog 

 is lifting it comes back as rain." It is really the case 

 that in certain weather conditions the fog follows the 

 upward motion of the air; in the rising air the tem- 

 perature falls, condensation goes on, and the light 

 foe is transformed to a dense nimbus with rain. 



of clouds to a work of the greatest value, which should 

 be studied with the greatest care. No one who desires 

 to study the transformations of clouds or the relation 

 of cloud forms to weather can neglect to consider the 

 valuable results and ideas put forward by Mr. Clayden. 

 Of course, it is not possible for an international 

 committee or conference to establish a very detailed 

 classification of clouds, but we think it would be very 

 useful if the author would provide the plates and short 

 descriptions as a small atlas for use in observatories 

 and for specialists. 



H. HlLDECRAND HlLDEBRANDSSON. 



TRANSPACIFIC LONGITUDES. 

 TOURING the year 1903 Canada extended the longi- 

 -*-^ tude work, carried from Greenwich to Vancouver, 

 across the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand. This 

 was made possible by the completion of the British 



Nevertheless, there is a vast difference between the 

 fog formed on or near the ground and the true 

 canopy of nimbus cloud rushing forward beneath a 

 layer of alto-stratus in the front of a storm. But 

 here, as always, one form does sometimes pass into 

 another. The alto-stratus does also sometimes sink 

 down and become transformed into nimbus. We know 

 that during summer all low clouds, as a rule, assume 

 more or less the cumulus form. Thus we cannot say 

 that a stratus or an alto-stratus is a nimbus more 

 than that a stratus or a nimbus is a cumulus. 



It is not possible to give in this short notice a de- 

 scription of the different forms presented in this book. 

 We must also abstain from an exposition of the 

 author's views regarding the causes which produce 

 the different cloud forms. These views are in most 

 cases highly probable, and in all cases useful hints 

 are given for further investigations. Our purpose now 

 is only to direct the attention of our fellow-students 



NO. 1896, VOL. 73] 



Pacific Cable— the All Red Line— in the autumn of 

 1902. The sections of the cable are : — 



Nautical miles 



Vancouver to Fanning Island 3<>54 



Fanning to Suva, Fiji 2181 



Suva to Norfolk Island 1019 



Norfolk to Southport, Queensland 906 



Southport to Doubll<'>s Bay, New Zealand... 513 



The observers (Dr. Otto Klotz and F. W. O. Werry) 



were provided with practically identical instruments, 

 the principal ones being the two Cooke transits, of 3 

 inches clear aperture, and of about 36 inches focal 

 length. Cement or brick piers were built at every 

 station. The observers occupied alternate stations 

 across the Pacific, and as the number of stations is 

 odd, Southport and Doubtless Bay are free from the 

 personal equation, without a direct determination of 

 the latter, although the personal equation was deter- 

 mined. Mr. Werry occupied Fanning and Norfolk, 



