300 



NATURE 



[F^<5. i9,ii8y^ 



the purpose of showing the method of working of this 

 division of the U.S. Signal Service, the " Division of 

 Telegrams and Reports for the benefit of Commerce and 

 Agriculture." The system appears to us to be thorough 

 and careful, and calculated to lead to valuable scientific 

 results in the department of meteorology. For each of 

 the three daily times mentioned in the title, there is first 

 a tabulated meteorological record from 72 stations in the 

 United States and British N. America, showing the state of 

 the barometer, thermometer, humidity , wind, clouds, rainfall, 

 weather. This is followed by a weather-map constructed 

 on the preceding record, on which, by clearly distinguish- 

 able marks, the state of the weather at all the stations is 

 shown, whether clear, cloudy, snow, rain, cic, the direc- 

 tion and velocity of the wind, and the average elevation 

 of the locations. Following this is a synopsis of the re- 

 cord, in which the general results of a comparison of the 

 particular observations are briefly stated. This synopsis 

 is succeeded by a statement of " probabilities," which are 

 the deductions made from the conditions exhibited in the 

 chart, considered in their sequence, as to the meteoric 

 changes probably to follow within the twenty-four hours 

 next ensuing. Then come the " facts " by which the 

 " probabilities " may be tested, these facts being a classi- 

 fied statement of the state of the weather at the various 

 stations at the next succeeding time of observation, with 

 " general remarks " showing how far the probabilities have 

 been realised. This is done, as we have said, three times 

 every day of the month for which this Bulletin is pub- 

 lished, and the value of the publication to students of 

 meteorology is evident. " As a contribution of data, at 

 least, to meteoric science," the introductory statement 

 justly says, "and a demonstration that it needs only that 

 governments should will and act through proper organisa- 

 tion to make meteoric knowledge of daily and practical 

 use to the people, the publication must have its value." 

 The Government of the United States deserves the 

 highest credit for the wisdom it displays in perceiving 

 what the true interests of the country are, and for its 

 liberality in supporting a scientific department such 

 as the one from which this Bulletin issues, vi-hose 

 business it is, by publishing the result of scientific re- 

 search, to " benefit commerce and agriculture." By a 

 patient pursuit of the system exhibited in this Bulletin, 

 and by adopting what improvements miy from time to 

 time suggest themselves, we have no doubt that results of 

 great value to science will follow. 



The Treasury of Botany : a Popular Dictionary of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, with which is incorpo>-ated a Glos- 

 sary of Botanical Terms. Edited by J. Lindley, M.D., 

 and Thos. Moore; assisted by numerous contributors. 

 New and revised edition, with Supplement. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.) 

 There is no more difficult task than that of editing re- 

 issues of scientific works published some years since. 

 The progress of science is so rapid, the number of new 

 facts accumulated year by year so enormous, that the 

 most satisfactory and exhaustive treatise on any subject 

 written by a specialist in that subject, becomes to a cer- 

 tain extent obsolete or imperfect in ten years. And yet, 

 where can our scientific men be found with leisure to 

 write or edit new dictionaries of science every ten years .' 

 The re-editing of old dictionaries seems, therefore, the 

 inevitable alternative, though one attended with many 

 disadvantages, which disadvantages are greatly increased 

 when the objectionable plan has been adopted, as in the 

 present case, of stereotyping the plates of the original work. 

 The new facts can then only be placed before the reader 

 in the form of a supplement, which may often seem at 

 variance with the work itself, while errors or imperfect 

 descriptions cannot lail to be reproduced. Lindley and 

 Moore's " Treasury of Botany " was so admirable a work 

 in its day, containing such an enormous mass of informa- 



tion, that a new edition must necessarily be welcome, 

 although botanical science has made such rapid 

 strides since its first publication in 1866 ; and the 

 \\'elcome will be more hearty when it is found that 

 the new matter has been entrusted to such com- 

 petent authorities as Dr. Masters, Prof. Thiselton- 

 Dyer, Mr. Britten of the British Museum, Mr. Jackson 

 of the Kew Museum, and the sur\'iving editor. 

 The only fault we have to find with the supplement 

 is that it occupies five times too little space ; under 100 

 pages out of 1,350 is clearly entirely insufficient for even 

 a brief account of the main additions to botanical know- 

 ledge made during the last eight years. Had the new 

 contributors been allowed a larger space, the book would 

 have been a far more satisfactory one. It is to be re- 

 gretted that at a time when so much attention is being 

 paid to vegetable histology, a description of the vegetable 

 cell should be republished without comment, not only so 

 inadequate, but so misleading in our present state of 

 knowledge, as the following : — " Cavities in the interior of 

 a plant ; the cells of tissue are those which form the inte- 

 rior of the elementary vesicles ;" or that no description 

 whatever should be given of the structure or mode of 

 formation of starch-grains. As a dictionary of botanical 

 nomenclature and classification the work is most ample ; 

 and on this ground only the " Treasury of Botany " is 

 one which no botanical student can afford to be without. 



A. W. B. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



{The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous 

 communications. ] 



Simultaneous Meteorological Observations 



It is doubtless familiar to most of your readers that at the 

 Meteorological Congress at Vienna a proposal was adopted 

 which was made by the War Department of the United States 

 regarding the institution of a system of simultaneous daily ob- 

 servations all over the globe. 



I have recently received the subjoined letter from the chief 

 signal officer at Washington on the subject. 



It may be of interest to your readers to know that invitations 

 have been issued by this Office to a large number of observing 

 meteorologists in the United Kingdom, on whose co-operation I 

 considered I might count, and that I have received returns from 

 sixty-one stations for the first fortnight of the year, and from 

 sixty-four for the second, so that we may consider that the plan 

 has met with general acceptance with the public. 



I am ready to leceive the names of any gentlemen who are 

 willing to assist in the scheme, and who possess properly verified 

 instruments, and shall be very happy to answer inquiries on the 

 subject. Robert H. Scott, Director 



Meteorological Office, London, Feb. 17 



" War Department, Washington, D.C., 



"Jan. 20, 1874 



" Sir, — At the recent Meteorological Congress at Vienna a 

 proposition was adopted to the effect that it is desirable that, 

 with a view to their exchange, at least one uniform observation 

 of such character as to be suitable for the preparation of synoptic 

 charts be taken and recorded daily and simultaneously at as 

 many stations as practicable throughout the world. 



" The United States has an especial interest in reports and 

 exchanges of this character, for the uses of the particular work 

 in which it is engaged. It is hoped that when they are suffi- 

 ciently extended, satisfactory solutions of many questions from 

 time to time presenting themselves to this Ofhce, and which now 

 cannot be answtred, will be arrived at. 



" I have the honour, therefore, to request the establishment of 

 a regular exchange between the Meteorological Office of which 

 you are Director, and the Office of the Chief Signal Officer at 



