October 17, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



371 



work here as soon as liis successor at Centre 

 College is secured. 



Dr. H. L. Ibsen has been appointed assist- 

 ant professor of animal husbandry, at the 

 University of Wisconsin. 



Dr. Frank C. Gates, formerly professor of 

 biology at Carthage College, is now assistant 

 professor of botany in charge of the herba- 

 rimn at the Kansas State Agricultural Col- 

 lege, at Manhattan Kansas. 



Mr. C. E. Allred has been appointed chief 

 of the new Department of Agricultural Eco- 

 nomics in the University of Tennessee. This 

 department is to embrace all work done in 

 farm economics, farm management and rural 

 sociology. Eesearch work in these subjects 

 is being planned. Previous to taking up this 

 work Mr. Alired was farm management 

 specialist for Tennessee. 



Dr. "William F. Prouty, assistant state 

 geologist of Alabama since 1906, and pro- 

 fessor of geology and mineralogy at the Uni- 

 versity of Alabama since 1912, has resigned to 

 accept the professorship of stratigraphic geol- 

 ogy at the University of North Carolina. 



Dr. Douglas E. Semmbs, formerly professor 

 of geology in the Agricultural and Mechan- 

 ical College of Texas, and recently engaged 

 in oil work in the Texas fields, has been 

 elected associate professor of geology in the 

 University of Alabama to fill the vacancy 

 caused by the resignation of Dr. Prouty. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SNOW-ROLLERS 



To THE Editor of Science : The wind-blown 

 snowballs described by Mr. L. E. Woodman 

 in your issue of August 30, p. 210-211, are 

 known to meteorologists as " snow-rollers," 

 and are rather frequently reported. The most 

 extensive account of snow-rollers in the Eng- 

 lish language is that given in the Quarterly 

 Journal of the Eoyal Meteorological Society, 

 Vol. 34, 1908, p. 87-96. This is mainly a 

 compilation of accounts of the phenomenon 

 previously published in scientific books and 

 journals, and is illustrated. Some of these 

 accounts appeared in the Monthly Weather 



Eeview (published by the U. S. Weather 

 Bureau). Probably the most important con- 

 tribution to the subject of snow-rollers is the 

 article '' Schneewalzen," by Eudolf Meyer, in 

 Korrespondenzblatt des JSTaturforscher-Vereins 

 zu Eiga, Vol. .52, 1909. This gives a list and 

 analysis of all cases known to the writer be- 

 tween the years 1808 and 1909, and is accom- 

 panied by a bibliography which lists 35 

 previous papers on the subject in several 

 languages. 



C. F. Talman 

 U. S. Weather Bureau, 

 Washington, D. C. 



To the Edjtor of Science: I was much 

 interested in Professor Woodman's account of 

 " A Snow Effect," in your issue of August 29. 

 Years ago, at the time of the great blizzard 

 in 1888, I saw the snow rolled up by the wind 

 into pillow-like balls in Clay Comity, Kansas, 

 and these snowballs were actually rolled up- 

 hill. The wind was very strong from the 

 northwest and the snowballs were formed on 

 slopes facing the northwest. The following 

 note is taken from my diary of the time : 



January 12, 1888. — ^In the morning we had wind 

 and snow from the southeast, which gradually 

 changed to the southwest. The snow was very 

 soft and moist and albout six inches deep. At 

 three o'clock p.m. the wind changed to the north- 

 west, blowing very strong and cold, which rolled 

 the snow up into large rolls lite pillows, some be- 

 ing two feet in diameter and three feet long, and 

 some even larger. In some places more than a 

 dozen could be counted en a square acre. 



These pillow-like balls were narrow in the 

 center and becarne wider toward the outside, 

 leaving a sort of funnel-like depression at 

 each end. 



John H. Schaffner 

 Department op Botany, 

 Ohio State University 



To THE Editor of Science: A snow effect 

 similar to that reported by Professor Wood- 

 man in your issue of August 29 occurred last 

 spring at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. 



The parade gromid at the Fort was dotted 

 one morning by snow balls. I thought, on 



