February 13, 1908 J 



NATURE 



355 



stations. \\ .-Mlahabad the northerly component diminishes. 

 during the dry season until midday, after which it in- 

 creases until about 5 p.m., the epochs advancing two 

 hours from November to April. At Lucknow the northerly 

 component increases rapidly to a maximum at ii a.m., and 

 diminishes again to a minimum at 3 p.m., after which 

 the changes are slow and irregular. 



In the wet season there is an average increase in the 

 northerly component at .Mlahabad from midnight until 

 4 p.m., and a corresponding decrease for the rest of the 

 day. At Lucknow the main feature is a sudden increase 

 in the northerly component between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., 

 after which there is a decrease with oscillations to the 

 minimum at 10 a.m. on the following day, the rapid 

 afternoon fall being absent. 



These features of the transverse oscillation, together 

 with the greater steadiness of the winds "at Lucknow, 

 appear to be partly due to its more central situation ; but 

 the backing of the wind during the day indicates that a 

 longer period is necessary to produce the larger motion 

 in the direction of the trough than is requisite for the 

 smaller transverse variation. It is probable that for 

 .\llahabad the earlier transverse motion is modified by the 

 effect of the Central Plateau ; this effect diminishes in the 

 afternoon, and is replaced by the influence of the Hima- 

 layas, which is, of course, weaker than at Lucknow. The 

 nature of the transverse variation appears also to imply 

 that the effect of the Himalaya range in constraining the 

 air motion in the plain is actually produced dynamically 

 through the medium of rotary motion transverse to itself 

 rather than through a forcing of the stream lines to con- 

 form to parallelism with a rigid boundary. 



The solution of the problems presented, and their con- 

 nection with convective motion not shown directly by the 

 winds, would be considerably advanced by a knowledge 

 of the vertical temperature gradient in the free atmosphere 

 over the plain. 



\ noteworthy feature is brought out in the auxiliary 

 tables, representing the steadiness of the wind by the ratio 

 of the resultant air movement to the total movement. 

 The winds of the wet season are most steady near mid- 

 night, while in the dry season the epoch of maximum 

 steadiness is about 4 p.m. 



The accompanying tables exhibit the main features of 

 the annual variation and the distribution of the wind. 



: so that either the suggestion of periodicity or the table 



! needs readjustment. 



j The arrangement of the memoir is excellent, and it is 



j full of suggestiveness to the student of meteorology. It 



I forms a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Indiaa 



I meteorology. E- (>• 



MEDICAL INSPECTION IN LONDON.'- 

 ■P)R. JAMES KERR, medical officer (education) to the 

 ^-^ London County Council, here adds another to the 

 series of his admirable reports. These always contaiiv 

 much that cannot be neglected by the students of educa- 

 tional conditions, and this report is no exception. It 

 consists of sixty-six pages crowded with new materials of 

 the highest scientific and practical value. Administratively, 

 probably the most important statement in the report is 

 that ■' a point has now been reached, as to whether the 

 greater part of the medical inspection shall remain fruit- 

 less, or whether the Council shall take steps which will 

 justify its later interference to see that its younger de- 

 pendents have a fair chance of benefiting properly by the 

 education offered. Treatment as a public concern will 

 have to be considered in respect to certain educational 

 matters, such as visual troubles, discharging ears, ring- 

 worm, and the care of the teeth, in which neither the 

 private practitioner nor the hospitals can give hope of 

 either providing sufficient or satisfactory relief for most 

 of the cases requiring it " (p. 3). .\ composite committee 

 has been appointed to inquire into this serious problem, 

 on which the circular recently issued by the Board of 

 Education has a definite bearing. The report of this com- 

 mittee will be looked for with interest alike by the hospitals 

 and the practitioners. 



The general results of the medical inspection confirm 

 the work of previous years. The medical ofiicers are now 

 coming tg closer quarters with the children, and this re- 

 port contains many careful pieces of special research. 

 These it is here possible only to indicate. Emphasis is 

 laid on the urgency of the inspection of infants, especially 

 of infants of three to five years of age. Tubercular bone 

 and joint disease can then be most readily prevented. Ir> 

 inspection of the secondary schools and training colleges 

 there was noticed a " general ignorance of how to expand 



We note that the winds were taken from the records 

 of BecUley's anemograph, but there appears to be no 

 statement regarding the factor used in the reduction to 

 miles per hour. In any case, the winds are comparatively 

 feeble, the maximum recorded in any single hour being 

 thirty-five miles at Lucknow and forty-five miles at 

 .Allahabad. There appears to be an inconsistency between 

 the statement on p. 320 of the years of maximum and 

 minimum movement and the table on the preceding page, 



NO. 1998, VOL. 77] 



the thorax by deep inspiration " (p. S). Among girls, 

 " headaches were complained of by 20-5 per cent. . . . 

 Exaggerated movements, corrugated foreheads, insomnia, 

 and somnambulism were met with. Several cases of over- 

 strain were specially reported " (p. 9). " The average 

 standard of physique \^ low." There is a careful mathe- 



1 London County Council. Report of I he Education Conimittee of the 

 London Couity Council submitting the Report of the Medical Oflicei- 

 (Education) for the year ended March 31, 1907. 



