August io, 1905] 



NATURE 



355 



October ib and 17, 1903, one which developed from 

 scarcely visible indications into a gale on December 30, 

 1900, and one which disappeared, or " filled up," as it is 

 technically called, on February 6, 1904. The conclusion 

 was drawn that the suggested extension of the area of 

 observation by means of wireless telegraphy from ships 

 crossing the Atlantic would not immediately place fore- 

 casting in the position of an exact science, but would add 

 greatly to the facilities for studying the life-history of 

 depressions. 



The irregularities and uncertainties illustrated by the 

 examples given might be attributed in part to the com- 

 plexities of pressure due to the irregular distribution of 

 land and sea in the northern hemisphere. Charts of the 

 mean isobars for the world for January and July showed 

 greater simplicity of arrangement in the southern hemi- 

 sphere, where the ocean was almost uninterrupted, than 

 in the northern hemisphere, where there were alternately 

 large areas of sea and land. The comparative simplicity 

 of the south as compared with the north was also illus- 

 trated by a chart representing an attempt at a synoptic 

 barometric chart for the world for September 21, 1901. 



The simplification of the barometric distribution at 

 successively higher layers of the atmosphere, as illustrated 

 by Teisserenc de Bort's chart of mean isobars at the 

 4000-metre level, was pointed out, and illustrations were 

 also given of the method of computing the barometric dis- 

 tribution at high levels from observations at the surface, 

 using dat.i obtained from observations at high-level observ- 

 atories, ur those made with balloons and kites. 



'.Some indication of the connection between the com- 

 plexity of the surface and the simplicity of the upper strata 

 might be established by means of careful observations of 

 the actual course of air upon the surface and the 

 accompanying weather conditions. 



The actual course of air along the surface was often 

 misunderstood. The conventional S-shapcd curves repre- 

 senting the stream lines from anticyclonic to cyclonic 

 regions were shown to be quite incorrect as a represent- 

 ation of the actual paths of air along the surface. A 

 diagram contributed to the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Royal Meteorological Society ^ showed the computed paths 

 for special case of a storm of circular isobars and uniform 

 winds, travelling without change of tyoe at a speed equal 

 to that of its winds. An instrument made by the Cam- 

 bridge Scientific Instrument Company to draw the actual 

 paths of air for a number of different assumptions as to 

 relative speed of wind and centre, and of incurvature of 

 wind from isobars, was also shown, and the general 

 character of the differences of path exhibited under 

 different conditions was discussed. 



In illustration of the application of these considerations 

 to practical meteorology, it was noted that rainfall is an 

 indication of the existence of rising air, and conversely 

 the disappearance of cloud may be an indication of de- 

 scftiding air. It was further noted that if the ascent and 

 descent of air extended from or to the surface, the actual 

 paths of air along the surface, as traced from the direc- 

 tion and speed of the winds, ought to show convergence 

 in the case of rising air and divergence in the case of 

 descending air. 



The chart for April 16, 1903, was referred to for an 

 obvious case of dilatation or divergence of air from a 

 centre corresponding with fine weather, the centre of the 

 area of divergence being specially marked " no rain," 

 and the actual trajectories or paths of air for two different 

 travelling storms were contrasted, to show how the rain- 

 fall might be related to the convergence of the paths of 

 air. The two occasions selected were (i) the rapid 

 travelling storm of March 24-25, 1902, and (2) the slow 

 travelling storm of November 11-13, 1901." The trajec- 

 tories or actual paths of air for these two storms had been 

 constructed from two-hourly maps drawn for the purpose 

 from a collection of records of self-recording barographs, 

 &c. Those for March 24-25 showed the paths to be looped 

 curves with very little convergence, whereas those for the 



1 The Meteroological Aspects of the Storm of February 26-27, iQO'i. 

 Q. J R. Mel. Sue, vol. xxix. p. 233, 1903. 



- See Pilot Charts for the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, issued by 

 ihe Meteorological Office. February, IQ04. 



NO. 1867, VOL. 72] 



storm of November 11-13 showed very great convergence; 

 so much so that if four puffs of smoke could be imagined 

 starting at the same time frotn Aberdeen, Blacksod Point, 

 Brest, and Yarmouth respectively, and travelling for 

 twenty-four hours, they would find themselves at the end 

 of the time enclosing a very small area in the neighbour- 

 hood of London. 



Corresponding to this difference of convergence as shown 

 by the paths was the difference of rainfall as illustrated 

 by two maps showing the distribution of the rain deposited 

 from the two storms. The first, with little convergence, 

 gave hardlv anywhere more than half an inch ; the second, 

 with its great convergence, gave four inches of rain in 

 some parts of its area. 



BREATHING, IN LIVING BEINGS.' 

 T T has been said that the most striking facts connected 

 with respiration are its universality and its continuity. 

 In popular language " the breath is the life." Breathing 

 is not only a sign of life, it is a condition of its existence. 

 Permanent cessation of breathing is regarded as a sign of 

 death. Link up with this the icy coldness of death and 

 you have two significant facts. 



Respiration and calorification are therefore intimately 

 related ; in fact, calorification is one form of expression of 

 the results of respiratory activity. 



The popular view of respiration is an inference from 

 what is observed in man and animals. During life the rise 

 and fall of the chest goes on rhythmically from the 

 beginning to the end. The respiratory exchanges effected 

 in the breathing organs — lungs or gills^constitute 

 "external respiration." This, however, scarcely touches 

 the main problem, viz. what is called " internal respira- 

 tion," or tissue respiration — i.e. the actual breathing by 

 the living cells and tissues which make up a complex 

 organism. 



We are told that man does not live by bread alone. We 

 know he requires, in addition, solids, fluids and air. 

 Taking these to represent the three graces, then air is of 

 all the graces best. 



The higher animals have practicaliv no reserve stores 

 of air — unlike what happens with the storage of fats and 

 proteids — and hence the necessity for mechanisms by which 

 air is continually supplied to the living tissues, and also 

 by which the waste product of combustion, viz. carbon 

 dioxide, is got rid of. Closure of the wind-pipe, even for 

 a few minutes, brings death with it from suffocation. 

 The entrance of oxygen is prevented and the escape of 

 carbon dioxide is arrested. 



The process of breathing is common to all living beings 

 — to plants and animals alike. It consists essentially in 

 the consumption of oxygen by the tissues and the giving 

 out of carbon dioxide. It is immaterial whether the 

 animals or plants live in water or air, the principle is the 

 same in both cases. Living active protoplasm demands a 

 supply of oxygen. 



All the world's a stage. The human body is at once a 

 stage, and a tabernacle — a vast theatre — and the myriads 

 of diverse cells of which it is composed, the players. 



The cells or players, as active living entities, not only 

 require food, but they require energy. The respiratory 

 exchanges in and by the living cells provide the energy for 

 the organism. This breathing by the cells is called " in- 

 ternal respiration." In a complex organism, therefore, the 

 respiratory exchanges represent the algebraic sum of the 

 respiratory activity of the several tissues that make up 

 the organism. The various tissues, however, breathe at 

 very unequal rates. 



In one of his charming " contes philosophiques, " 

 Voltaire describes the visit of a giant of Sirius to our 

 planet. Before reaching his journey's end he would have 

 to traverse an aerial medium, and on arriving would see 

 before him a fiuid medium in continual movement, and 

 tracts of solid land. After investigation — or no doubt he 

 would be told, even though he was not personally con- 

 ducted — that the water surface of this our globe is two 



1 Abstract of a discourse delivered at the Royal Institution of Great 

 Britain by Dr. William Stirling. 



