448 



NA rURE 



[August 30, 1906 



ihe galvanometer amounting to -2/100 volt, followed 

 liy a deviation of +2/100 volt; it was then subjected 

 to an excess of CO„, which caused temporary intoxi- 

 cation, from which it afterwards recovered. Small 

 quantities of CO,, such as 4 per cent., exhibited to 

 the leaf cause increased electrical effects, which are 

 a galvanometric expression of increased chlorophyll 

 action (see Fig. 2) ; that is, the more assimilation, 

 the more the electrical sign of assimilation. The 

 photographic records indicate dissimilative effects in 

 the minus direction and assimilative action in the plus 

 direction. 



METEOROLOGICAL KITES IN INDIA. 

 ""P HE India Meteorological Department has recently 

 *• given in a number of its Meteorological 

 Memoirs (vol. xx., part i.) " an account of the pre- 

 parations made for determining the conditions of the 

 upper air in India by means of kites." The Govern- 

 ment of India, acting on a strong recommendation 

 by the Royal Society, about three years ago sanctioned 

 the inclusion of the exploration of the middle and 

 higher atmosphere by means of kites and balloons 

 as a part of the scheme of operations of the Meteor- 

 ological Department. Two officers were deputed to 

 Germany to study the methods employed by the 

 Aeronautischc Observatorium des Koniglich Preuss- 

 ischen Meteorologischen Instituts. The first part of 

 the memoir gives a description of the instruments 

 employed, and the results obtained from the first pre- 

 liminary ascents. The place selected for these was in 

 Lower Sind, about six miles VV.N.W. of Karachi, 

 a mile from the sea and ten miles from the Hala 

 Range on the west, forming the boundary between 

 Lower Sind and Baluchistan. 



The ascents were made in the last week of August 

 and first fortnight of September, 1905, shortly before 

 the withdrawal of the south-west monsoon current 

 from Upper India. 



In order to appreciate the results, it is necessary 

 to bear in mind that during the wet monsoon in 

 India an area of minimum pressure stretches from 

 Upper India to the Soudan, in which pressure is 

 absolutely lowest in Sind. The intensity and position 

 of this varies considerably during the season. The 

 observations were hence made in the south-west 

 quadrant of this area of minimum pressure, where 

 the lower cyclonic air movement is probably light and 

 irregular, due to the obstructive action of hill ranges 

 of moderate elevation. 



The observations showed that a humid current 

 (approaching saturation) obtained on the average up 

 to an elevation of about 2500 feet (from about 

 W.S.W.), and that above this was a very dry current 

 from west with slight northing, the intermediate 

 region of transition from the humid to the dry being 

 probably less than 1000 feet in thickness. The accom- 

 panying table gives selected data from the two most 

 satisfactory ascents. 



The very dry current represents indraught from the 

 Baluchistan plateau to the Sind low-pressure area, 

 which, however, as a result of the presence of hills, 

 entered it at a considerable elevation, exceeding on 

 the average 2500 feet. The most remarkable feature 

 is the large increase of temperature in passing from 

 the lower humid current into the upper dry current, of 

 4° C. to 7° C. in amount, and of the comparatively 

 slow rate of decrease for some distance above that 

 plane of transition. Almost equally remarkable is 

 the sudden and comparatively abrupt change of the 

 relative humidity from saturation to values of 5 

 and 6 only. Mr. Blanford many years ago estab- 

 lished that in drought years in North-Western India 

 NO. 1922, VOL. 74] 



this dry current from Baluchistan descends to the 

 level of the plains in Sind and extends southwards 

 and eastwards to very considerable distances, and is 

 an important factor in determining the intensity of 

 the drought in North-Western India, and perhaps of 

 conditioning it. Another point of interest is the com- 

 paratively rapid variation, even in short periods, of 

 the lower level of this dry current. Mr. Field, who 

 carried out the observations, says that " a nearly 

 saturated stratum of air from the sea extended from 

 the ground surface (10 metres above the sea) upwards 

 to a level which rose from 500 metres on August 27, 

 through 800 metres on August 28, to 1130 metres on 

 August 31. From that day onwards until September 9 

 its limiting height was not reached by the kite, but 

 probably exceeded 1000 metres. Its upper limit fell 

 again to 600 metres on September 12." 



The observations give valuable and interesting in- 

 formation of what may perhaps be termed an outlying 

 portion of the south-west monsoon current. They 

 suggest that the extension of the work will give most 

 important information respecting the south-west mon- 

 soon circulation, and perhaps on the causes of the 

 variation of the intensity and extension of the south- 

 west monsoon rainfall, one of the great problems 

 which for some time past has engaged the earnest 

 attention of the Meteorological Department at the 

 instance of the Government of India. 



NOTES. 



Wn deeply regret to announce the death, at the age of 

 seventy-four years, of Mr. C. Baron Clarke, F.R.S., which 

 took place at Kew on Saturday last, and, at the compara- 

 tively early age of fifty-two years, of Prof. H. Marshall 

 Ward, F.R.S., which occurred at Babbacombe, Torquay, on 

 Sunday last. Prof. Ward, who had been ill for some 

 months, had filled the chair of botany at the University of 

 Cambridge since 1895. 



On .'\ugust 20 there passed away at his beautiful country 

 seat, Coles Park, near Buntingford, Herts, in his eightieth 

 year, one who is well known to mineralogists as joint 

 author with the late Mr. W. G. Lettsom of the " Manual 

 of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland," and 

 whose name will ever be linked with perhaps the finest 

 private collection of minerals which was ever brought 

 together in this country. Mr. Robert Philips Greg as a 

 young man took great interest in the fine collection which 

 his father, a noted economist and antiquary, had purchased 

 from the executors of its previous owner, Mr. Thomas 

 Allan, F.R.S., and spent considerable sums of money in 

 acquiring new specimens and bringing the collection up to 

 date. After the publication of his " Manual " in 1858 he 



