5o6 



A^A TURE 



[March 30, 1899 



able attention and ability have been expended, and from 

 which a noticeable advance was anticipated, has, so far as 

 one can observe in this country, remained a dead letter. 

 It may be that the Meteorological Office has sent out 

 instructions to the numerous army of observers who 

 contribute to the mass of records accumulated at the 

 office, but so far they do not seem to have been 

 followed with a practical result. On this ground we 

 welcome the effort that any less official source may make 

 to instruct a public who cannot but be benefited by more 

 accurate and scientific observation. 



Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book will 

 be found in the last two divisions, wherein we meet with 

 the deductions and conclusions drawn from observation 

 rather than the mere statement of facts. In the eyes of 

 many, the forecasting of weather, including as it does 

 the possibility of safe-guarding against the action of 

 severe storms, whether inland or on our coasts, is regarded 

 as the final outcome of meteorological observation. No 

 office dares to issue forecasts for any particular place. 

 Local circumstances exercise an influence which cannot 

 be adequately taken into account. M. Angot tells us 

 that it has not yet been found possible to divide France 

 into more than eight divisions, and to attempt to give 

 the probable variations in temperature and weather that 

 will generally prevail in each district. Evidently the 

 mechanism employed and the success that attends its use 

 are both about the same as in England. Ninety per cent, 

 of the forecasts are found to possess a satisfactory degree 

 of accuracy. But it is a cjuestion whether forecasting, 

 carrying with it an idea of prophecy, is quite the right 

 term. Long ago Le \'errier wrote : 



" The ultimate result of the organisation which we are 

 establishing should be to announce a storm as soon as 

 it appears at any point in Europe, to follow it on its 

 course by means of the telegraph, and to give timely 

 notice of it to the coasts which it may reach." 



We believe that this view indicates the present 

 position of the various meteorological bureaux. A 

 clear evidence of the approach of a storm or of a 

 change of weather must exist before any announcement 

 can be made. Then it becomes a question of telegraphic 

 communication outrunning the speed of the storm. 

 There is no prophecy from first to last. The preparation 

 of synoptic charts permits and assists the recognition of 

 these signs of changes to be made earlier than would 

 be the case, but experience seems to be often the only 

 guide that will give the direction in which the storm 

 will move. M. Angot regrets the position of Western 

 Europe and the unfavourable conditions under which it is 

 placed for gaining information from stations on the West. 

 Telegraphic communication with Iceland would, he 

 thinks, furnish much valuable information ; but the pro- 

 vision of a telegraphic cable with that remote island 

 cannot be looked upon as likely to be made. On the 

 possibility of predicting weather for longer periods than 

 twenty-four hours M. Angot speaks hopefully, and seems 

 to approve of the suggestion of Dr. \an Bebber, though 

 we have not seen any direct reference to this meteor- 

 ologist. There is no necessity to enter into this question 

 here, since we have recently given some account of the 

 long-continuing types of weather and the use that is 

 made of them i Xaturk, vol. Iviii. p. 2S}. We feel that 

 NO. 1535, VOL. 59] 



in these few remarks very scant justice has been done 

 to a very excellent book, on the appearance of which 

 we congratulate the author, and venture to express the 

 hope that his intention of awakening greater interest in 

 the subject of meteorology in France will be realised. 



RIVER DEVELOPMENT. 

 River Development as illustrated by the Rivers of North 

 America. By Prof. I. C. Russell. Pp. xv -f- 327. 

 (London : J. Murray. New York : G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, 1S9S.) 



THIS book is one of a Progressive Science .Series 

 now being published in the United States and 

 here. The American edition was issued under the title 

 of "The Rivers of North America." The object of the 

 book, as set out in the introduction, is to assist the reader 

 "in questioning the streams and in understanding their 

 answers, and at the same time creating a desire for more 

 light on other and related chapters of the earth's his- 

 tory," and in satisfying an insatiable desire which the 

 reader is told " exists for more knowledge concerning 

 the work of the streams to which so many of the changes 

 that have been made on the earth's surface are due." 



The book consists of nine chapters, dealing with the 

 disintegration and decay of rocks ; the laws governing 

 the streams ; the influence of inequalities in the hardness 

 of rocks ; on river-side scenery ; material carried by 

 streams in suspension and in solution ; stream deposits ; 

 stream terraces ; stream development ; some of the 

 characteristics of American rivers ; the life-history of a 

 river. Of these nine chapters only one is given to the 

 description of the rivers of America, and, with the excep- 

 tion of short allusions to other rivers, this only includes 

 a very brief account of the Mississippi, the Colorado, the 

 Columbia and the Saint Lawrence. 



The book may be read with interest by readers who 

 wish to obtain general information as to the formation 

 and physical condition of rivers. The material is, how- 

 ever, not of that definite character which a reader might 

 expect to find in a book written for a scientific series. 

 It does not contain any information that would not be 

 already in the possession of a student who has paid atten- 

 tion to the physics of rivers. The author does not appear 

 to have made a special study of the physics of rivers, or 

 to have carried out any independent observations or 

 experimental research. The facts and data given have 

 been collected from the writings of physical geographists 

 and the reports of the United States Geological Survey. 

 In fact the author only claims to be "a guide who points 

 out the routes others have traversed." 



In the description of the agencies which operate in the 

 formation of water-courses, of the eflfects produced by 

 running streams, and the characteristics of ditlerenti 

 rivers, the author has not confined himself to that severe^ 

 simplicity of style that is generally adopted in a scientific 

 treatise, nor has he been economical of words. In fact,! 

 those generally in use not being sufficient, he has con-' 

 sidered it necessary to add to them. Thus the reader is 

 told that 



"When a stream has lowered its channel nearly to J 

 base-level downward corrasion is retarded, but lateral] 

 corrosion continues. Low-grade streams are the ones 



