S66 REPORT— 1903. 



each of tliese flights being 7,870 feet ahove sea-level, and the greatest height being 

 12,550 feet. Beginning with December 1901, kite-flights, in co-operation with 

 similar ascents of kites and balloons in Europe, were attempted every month upon 

 a certain day that was appointed by the International Committee for Scientific 

 Aeronautics, of which the writer is the American member. During 1902 thirteen 

 flights were made, of which ten were upon the international days specified. 



In two of the flights the upper kites broke away and were lost in the ocean, 

 but it is probable that the height obtained during one of them exceeded 16,000 feet. 

 The average height of the flights from which records were obtained is 7,940 feet, 

 being little more than during the preceding year, but the maximum height of 

 14,060 feet is considerably greater. The reason that flights were not made on all 

 the international days was lack of wind at the ground, and sometimes it was 

 impossible to get higher than the cumulus clouds on account of the wind failing at 

 that level. Occasionally the strength of the wind at high altitudes was an 

 obstacle to further progress upward, and caused the accidents already mentioned. 

 Were it desired to fly kites every day, or with certainty on any pre-determined 

 daj^, duplicate kites and apparatus might be installed on board a small steamboat, 

 which by steaming in Massachusetts Bay could create an artificial wind to raise 

 the kites or reduce the wind to a suitable velocity. 



The possibility of thus becoming independent of the natural wind by flying 

 meteorological kites from a vessel appears to have been first shown by the writer 

 in 1901, when he described his experiments to Section E of this Association at 

 Glasgow. The subsequent successful use of this new method of meteorological 

 research by European colleagues is related in 'Science,' vol. xviii. pp. 113, 114. 

 The most important application of this method would be to the investigation 

 of the meteorological conditions above the trade-winds and doldrums, a project 

 which the author presented to the International Aeronautical Congress at Berlin 

 in 1902. The accepted theories as to the motion of the upper currents, or anti- 

 trades, are not sustained by the observations of the movements of volcanic dust 

 and high clouds. 



Moreover, we are ignorant concerning the depth of the trades, and know 

 nothing about the vertical variations of temperature and humidity over the 

 ocean, nor whether sudden changes in these elements occur between the trades 

 and the anti-trades. The author desires to make atmospheric soundings with 

 kites flown from a vessel between the Azores and Ascension Island, and is 

 endeavouring to obtain the funds to charter and equip a steamer, believing that 

 in this way some of the most important problems in meteorology and physical 

 geography may be solved. 



6. Wo7-k of the International Aeronautical Committee, 

 By Professor H. Hergesell. 



Professor Hergesell, als Priisident der internationalen Kommission fiir 

 Luftschiflahrt, giebt einen Bericht iiber die aeronautische Arbeit, die bisher von 

 dieser Kommission gemacht ist. Die Kommission, 1896 gelegentlich der Konferenz 

 der Directoren des Meteorologischen Instituts in Paris ins Leben gerufen, hat die 

 Aufgabe durch gemeinsame internationale Arbeit die hohen Schichten der Atmo- 

 sphare zu erforschen. Eine ihrer Hauptaufgaben ist die Ausfiihrung simultaner 

 Aufstiege von moglichst vielen Punkten der Erdoberflache. Um dieses Werk 

 durchfiihren waren viele Schwierigkeiten zu iiberwinden. Zunachst gait es 

 fiir diese Auftahrten ein moglichst einwandfreies Instrumentarium zu schaflTen. 

 Ziemlich gelangte man am besten durch gemeinsame Besprechungen, die auf drei 

 Konferenzen der Kommission, 1898 zu Strassburg, 1900 zu Berlin und 1902 zu 

 Berlin, abgehalten wurden. Die Sitzungsberichte finden sich in den offiziellen 

 Berichten, die von dem Prasidenten der Kommission veroffentlicht worden sind. 



Professor H. Hergesell concluded his remarks as follows : — 



In making prominent at this place the development of our studies, I do so in 

 the hope that English meteorologists also will take part iji our experiments. I 



