474 



NATURE 



[December 26, 1912 



conditions a notable fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. 

 Indeed, in tropical countries wliere sugar-cane is 

 cultivated, molasses are sometimes actually added to 

 the soil for this purpose. The action of the sugar is 

 not entirely simple, however, and Peck has shown 

 that in Hawaii it m:'- actually do harm by bringing 

 about a marked decomposition of the nitrates (Bull. 

 No. 39, Hawaii in Sugar Planters' Association). 



It is, however, now realised that soil fertility is not 

 wholly a matter of plant food, but may be limited by 

 the presence of harmful substances in the soil. This 

 phase of the problem is being investigated by 

 Schreiner and Skinner, who have recently published 

 (Bull. No. 77, Bureau of Soils, U.S. Dept. of Agri- 

 culture) a detailed account of the action of coumarin, 

 vanillin, and quinone on plant growth. The general 

 research of which this forms part consists in isolating 

 from the soil such organic compounds as can be 

 identified, and then trying their effect on plant 

 growth. 



It would be a mistake to suppose that the medium 

 on which the soil organisms live and which is in 

 contact with the plant roots is the inert mineral 

 matter that constitutes the bulk of the soil. Recent 

 investigations have brought into prominence the 

 colloidal constituents that occur in notable quantity 

 and appear to be distributed over the surfaces of the 

 particles, and apparently impart to the soil many of 

 its characteristic properties. On general grounds, it 

 might be expected that these colloids would be much 

 altered by the addition of small quantities of soluble 

 salts, and the experiments of R. O. E. Davis (Bull. 

 No. 82, Bureau of Soils) have justified this view, and 

 have shown in what way the changes affect the 

 physical properties. 



The re-establishment of vegetation on devastated 

 areas presents many important problems, and much 

 interest attaches to a paper by W. N. Sands on the 

 return of vegetation and the revival of agriculture in 

 the area devastated by the Soufrifere eruption in St. 

 Vincent, IQ02-3. The paper is published in the West 

 Indian Bulletin, vol. xii.. No. i, and is well illus- 

 trated. Vegetation now flourishes wherever the old 

 soil remains, even when a considerable admixture of 

 ash has taken place. The ash itself, however, is un- 

 suited to vegetation, and where no soil is present 

 vegetation is very scanty. Once, however, plants 

 begin to get a footing improvement speedily takes 

 place, as the substances formed on their decay furnish 

 suoplies of plant food. In dealing with the agri- 

 culture, it is noted that yields are now in some cases 

 higher than formerlv ; this result is attributed to the 

 heating of the soil by the lava, and is discussed in 

 the light of recenr work at Rothamsted. 



E. J. R. 



UPPER AIR INVESTIGATIONS. 



WITH the beginning of this year the Meteoro- 

 logical Service of Belgium completed its 

 hundredth international balloon ascent, and the 

 director, M. Vincent, considered this to be a suitable 

 occasion for communicating, to the Royal Academy 

 (Bulletin de !a Classe des Science':, 1912, No. 6) some 

 of the data deduced therefrom. The complete results 

 are included with those obtained in other countries in 

 a special publication compiled by the president of the 

 Internationa! Commission for Scientific Aeronautics 

 and elsewhere. 



The recording apparatus used is the Bosch-Herge- 

 sell baro-thermo-hvgrograph, and Ibis is suspended to 

 the smaller of two rubber balloons, coupled in tandem 

 and inflated with hydrogen gas. The larger balloon 



NO. 2252, VOL. go] 



bursts at a variable height, and the rapidity of the 

 I fall of the apparatus is slackened by the smaller 

 I balloon. This remains fioating as soon as the appa- 

 ratus reaches the ground, and serves as a signal to 

 its whereabouts. After making allowance for acci- 

 dents, ninety-two of the records obtained remained 

 available for examination. The highest altitude 

 reached was 32,430 metres (determined from the pres- 

 sure and temperature curves by means of Laplace's 

 formula) on June 9, 19H. The lowest level of the. 

 principal inversion vi'as recorded at 6890 m. on Novem- 

 ber 3, 1910, and the highest at 13,760 m. on August 

 2, 1906. The lowest temperature, — 73'5° C, was 

 registered on February 2, 1911, at 10,390 m., at the 

 level of the inversion. 



M. Vincent distinguishes three regions in the atmo- 

 sphere accessible to instrumental observation : — (i) An 

 upper one, which has been called the stratosphere, 

 where the decrease of temperature is nil, or replaced 

 by an increase ; (2) an intermediate zone, where the 

 decrease is at the rate of o'7° C. per 100 metres, 

 whether the conditions be cyclonic or anticyclonic; 

 (3) a lower stratum of variable depth, where the 

 decrease is less than o'7°, and is frequently negative; 

 some remarkable inversions are quoted in this portion 

 of the atmosphere. These two lower zones are known 

 as the troposphere. The conditions obtaining in the 

 stratosphere are essentially different from those in 

 the lower regions ; the strata are nearly in statical 

 equilibrium, the wind velocity usually weakens, and 

 the direction is uncertain, but the author shows that 

 there ace important exceptions to this rule. The 

 trajectories of some of the highest ascents determined 

 by means of a special theodolite designed by M. de 

 Quervain have been discussed. 



The Royal Observatory of Batavia has recently 

 published an important contribution to our knowledge 

 of the upper air, including observations made (i) with 

 kites and captive balloon at Batavia between Novem- 

 ber, 1909, and September, 1910; (2) with kites in the 

 Java and South China seas in January, 1910; and (3) 

 with manned balloon in the years 1910 and 191 1. It 

 was during the descent of a balloon on August 5, 

 191 1, that the leader, Lieut. A. E. Rambaldo, unfor- 

 tunately lost his life. A preliminary report upon these 

 investigations was published in the Proc. Amsterdam 

 Acad., June 25, .1910, and referred to in Nature of 

 November 3 of that year. Among the results of 

 the kite observations we note that the amount of 

 aqueous vapour per cubic metre over Batavia de- 

 creases with height, even in the lowest strata. The 

 decrease of temperature with height, up to 1000 

 metres, is less in the west than in the east monsoon ; 

 between 1000 and 2000 metres it is about equal. Over 

 the ocean the decrease is considerable between o and 

 200 metres and exceeds 1° C. in the first 100 

 metres ; above 500 metres it is less than at Batavia. 

 Above 1400 m. the temperature is higher than at 

 Batavia, and the difference probably increases at 

 heights beyond 3000 m. The diurnal change of the 

 vertical temperature gradient differs over land and 

 sea. 



The Supplement to the Monthly Weather Review 

 of the Canadian Meteorological .Service for iqn con- 

 tains a preliminary account of the results of the in- 

 vestigation of the upper air over Ontario by means 

 of balloons and kites commenced during that year ; 

 a full description of the apparatus and methods em- 

 ployed, together with a more complete discussion, is 

 reserved until a longer series of observations has been 

 obtained. Registering balloons were liberated on the 

 evenings preceding the " international " days, and the 

 results are given for each o'5 km. of height, with 

 intermediate points if there were any noteworth}' 



