TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION A. 5G9 



7. Slow Refrigeration of the Chinese Climate. By Dr. J. Edkins. 



8. Progress of the Exploration of the Air with Kites at Blue Hill 

 Observatory, Mass., U.S.A. By A. Lawrence Rotcii, S.B., A.M.^ 

 F.R.Met.Soc, Director. 



A preliminary report on the subject was presented to this Section at the- 

 Liverpool meeting; of the British Association, and, in consequence of the successful 

 results which had been obtained at Blue Hill, this method of exploring; the free 

 air was endorsed by the International Meteorological Conference which met in 

 Paris last September. 



Many improvements in the kites and apparatus have been effected during the 

 past year, and, through the aid afforded by a grant from the Hodgkins Fund of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, the first steam-reeling apparatus for kites has been con- 

 structed. Since August 1894, when an instrument recording continuously and 

 graphically its indication was for the first time lifted by kites, 130 records of 

 barometric pressure, air temperature, and relative humidity, or of wind velocity,. 

 have been obtained up to the extreme altitude of 8,740 feet above Blue Hill. 

 This height, which was attained last October, is believed to be the greatest to 

 which a meteorograph has been raised by kites (see 'Nature,' December 17, 1896). 

 Nine records have been obtained more than a mile above the hill at all seasons of 

 the year, both in fine and in stormy weather. 



The data have been discussed and are about to be published in the ' Annals of 

 the Harvard College Observatory.' They furnish some important facts concerning- 

 the changes of temperature, relative humidity and wind in the free air, under 

 varying atmospheric conditions, and constitute the most thorough exploration of 

 the lower mile of free air ever made in any manner. Since warm and cold waves 

 appear to commence in the upper air it seems probable that daily observations with 

 kites would aid in weather forecasting, and the experiment is to be tried by the 

 United States Weather Bureau at several stations. Meanwhile the investigation 

 is being continued at the Blue Hill Observatory, with the hope of obtaining data, 

 two or three miles above the earth, and kites are serving to supplement the- 

 measurements of the heights of clouds made by the methods prescribed by the 

 International Cloud Committee. 



9. Kites for Meteorological Uses. By C. F. Marvin. 



The author gave an account of the initiation of the investigation by the Weather 

 Bureau at Washington of the availability of kites for making daily observations, 

 in the free air. 



He then described and showed a full-sized model of the improved kites as nov» 

 employed by the Weather Bureau, and referred to methods of bridling the kite to 

 secure approximately constant pull upon the string under wide variations in the 

 wind force ; also to the use of a * safety line ' upon the kite, corresponding in 

 function to the well-known fusible plug in electrical circuits. 



A brief outline of the mechanics of the kite was given, and remarks were made 

 upon the flying of kites in tandem. 



In conclusion the results thus far attained were discussed. 



10. Meteorites, Solid and Gelatinous. By Dr. Otto Hahn. 



The author gave an account of bodies found in the meteorite of Kinyahinga, 

 which fell on June 6, 1866. These he considers to be organic, sponges, &c. 



11. November Meteors and November Flood Traditions. 

 By R G. Haliburton. 



