April io, 1902] 



NA TURE 



545 



THE EXPLORA TION OF THE A TMOSPHERE 

 AT SEA BY MEANS OF KITES. 



pOR some years past, kites have been persistently and success- 



fully employed by Mr. A. L. Rotch at his observatory at 



Blue Hill, U.S.A., for obtaining a knowledge of the movements. 



land. For example, even when the air is calm, by steaming 

 through it at a speed of ten or twelve knots the kites can be raided 

 to the height they would reach in the most favourable natural 

 wind, and attain the altitude of the upper air-currents. During 

 the passage of the Comino>tweallh, anticyclonic conditions mostly 

 prevailed, and the wind blew only four to twelve miles an hour ; 

 but as the vessel steamed about fifteen knots, it was 

 possible to use the kites on five days out of eight 

 occupied in crossing the Atlantic. In one of the 

 flights it was found that the air was 5°'6 warmer 

 at a height of 130 metres than it was at the sea- 

 level, and remained so during the afternoon (August 

 31). Another advantage gained by flying kites from 

 a steamship is that wherever the observations in the 

 upper air maybe made there is always the observing 

 station on the ship at sea-level, and not far distant, 

 horizontally, with which to compare them. 



temperature and humidity of the upper air, and heights of three 

 miles have been reached ; their use was also systematically 

 begun about the same time on the continent of Europe, espe- 

 cially at M. Teisserenc de Bort's observatory at Trappes, near 

 Paris, where altitudes exceeding those at Blue Hill have been 

 attained. We have also frequently referred to similar experi- 

 ments both with kites and balloons made at the request of the 

 International Aeronautical Committee. Valuable results have 

 been obtained and published, so far as the land is concerned, 

 and experiments will, we believe, be undertaken in this country 

 under the superintendence of the Royal Meteor- 

 ological Society. But in order to raise the kites to 

 any considerable height, a wind of certain velocity 

 is necessary. Mr. Rotch's flights were made when 

 the wind velocity on the ground was between twelve 

 and thirty-five miles per hour, and he points out 

 that certain types of weather, such as anti-cyclonic 

 conditions, with very light winds, or stormy con- 

 ditions, can rarely be studied by that means. 



The prediction of weather for a day or so in 

 advance has been brought to considerable perfection 

 by the combined efforts of various meteorological 

 services and the publication and study of synoptic 

 weather charts ; but further progress is necessary, 

 and we believe that it is to the investigation of the 

 upper air, especially if, as has been suggested, 

 observations could be carried out in equatorial and 

 trade-wind regions, where the changeable conditions 

 of our latitudes do not exist, that further advance in 

 weather knowledge may he confidently expected. 



The plan proposed in a paper recently communi- 

 cated to the Royal Meteorological Society by Mr. 

 Rotch, and published in its Quarterly Joiintal fm 

 January last, with reference to the extension of kite 

 observations to the sea, will doubtless lead to im- 

 portant results, and such observations will show 

 whether the conditions prevailing over the ocean 

 differ materially from those existing over the land. 

 We give illustrations of Mr. Rotch's endeavour to 

 obtain data with kites sent up from the s.s. 

 Commonwealth while crossing the Atlantic, through 

 the courtesy of Captain J. McAuley. Fig. i shows 

 the vessel leaving Boston on August 28, 1901, and the position 

 from which the kites were flown, while Fig. 2 shows the 

 installation of the kite-reel on the after-deck of the vessel. 



The kites can be used on ships to better advantage than on 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Technical Instruction Committee of the City 

 of Liverpool is the recognised local authority through 

 which the Board of Education deals with all the 

 science and art classes in the city with only two 

 exceptions. The Committee carries on its work 

 through many agencies in an organised plan, and 

 every year several important developments are re- 

 corded. From the Report for the year 1901 we 

 learn that the committee again renewed the grant 

 of 200/. in aid of the scientific work carried on by 

 the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Joint Cominittee. A 

 ''' permanent sea fisheries laboratory in the zoological 



department of University College, under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. Herdman, is partly supported by this 

 grant ; and trained assistants are constantly at work 

 in this laboratory, investigating fisheries' questions that may 

 arise in connection with the local industries. One of the 

 rooms of the zoological museum at University College 

 is devoted to a permanent fisheries collection, illustrat- 

 ing the local fishing industries, but no part of the grant 

 made by the Technical Instruction Committee is expended 

 on this museum. In connection with courses of lectures to 

 gardeners on plant diseases, given by Prof. Harvey Gibson, a 



course of special lectures, followed by practical work in the 

 botanical laboratory, has been arranged in the new Hartley 

 Botanical Laboratory at University College. This attempt to 

 show practical working gardeners the scientific methods of 



NO. 1693, VOL. 65] 



