August 13, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



155 



tunity of living in health and safety in 

 regions where such considerations are of vital 

 importance. Maracaibo can be reached from 

 New York City by the Eed " D " Line in 

 from ten to twelve days, and once at Mara- 

 caibo, the camps can be reached without 

 difficulty. 



In addition to these permanent camps, there 

 is more or less exploration going on, and I 

 was informed by two gentlemen that scien- 

 tific investigators would be welcome with such 

 exploring parties. Correspondence relative to 

 this matter might be addressed to Mr. Grady 

 Kirby and Mr. J. Whitney Lewis, care of 

 The American Consul, Maracaibo. The Lake 

 Maracaibo region ofl^ers an available field to 

 collectors, and there are well-established and 

 regular lake steamer lines, and from Encon- 

 trados, to mention only one of the railroads, 

 a railroad extends to Estacion Tachira at the 

 foot of the mountains at an elevation of 364 

 meters. Between the terminals of this rail- 

 road are two or more other points in desirable 

 country for study and collecting. From 

 Estacion Tachira there is an automobile road 

 to San Cristobal, which is on one of the head 

 waters of the Orinoco river. 



E. B. Williamson 



MATHEMATISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 



In view of the numerous reports of the 

 present hardships of German scientists it may 

 be of interest to note that in 1918 a new jour- 

 nal devoted to mathematical research was 

 started in Germany under the title Mathe- 

 mafische Zeitschrift, and that three volumes 

 of this periodical appeared in 1919 while only 

 two volumes were expected to be published 

 annually according to the announcement. 



This evidence of activity in mathematical 

 research seems to reflect an optimism which 

 one might not have expected under present 

 conditions. The subscription price of the first 

 four volumes of this journal was 24 marks per 

 volume, for the fifth volume it was raised to 

 32 marks, and for the sixth it was again 

 raised to 48 marks. The director of the jour- 

 nal is L. Lichtenstein, of Berlin. 



G. A. Miller 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Aids to Forecasting. By E. Gold, F.E.S. 



Published by the Air Ministry. London, 



1920. 



This publication officially nmnbered Geo- 

 physical Memoir No. 16, gives a classification 

 of the Daily Weather charts, 1905 to 1918. 

 The weakness of any such classification is, of 

 course, the assumption that like surface 

 isobaric conformations are always followed by 

 similar weather conditions. 



The general principle which Colonel Gold 

 uses in selecting 15 types and subtypes, recog- 

 nizes the position of the anticyclone as the 

 dominating feature. This we are glad to 

 notice because for many years forecasters 

 have centered their attention on the " low " ; 

 naturally enough, overlooking the fact that 

 directive force and course of the " lows " are 

 determined largely by the antecedent or ad- 

 jacent "highs." Doubtless we shall have 

 better forecasts for the North Atlantic sea- 

 board when there is a fuller knowledge of the 

 relation between advancing " lows " and those 

 quick moving anticyclonic areas from the 

 north known as " Labrador highs." 



This series of British charts starts with 

 the anticyclonic to the S.W. then moving 

 east until over Western Europe, then S.E., 

 E., N.E., N., N.W., and W. 



Additional charts of special character are 

 included, such as the indefinite area of low or 

 high pressure, the trough, the dumb-bell de- 

 pression and the depression centrally situated. 

 The types were selected primarily with refer- 

 ence to the weather of southeastern England 

 and northeastern France. 



The forecaster fits his chart to the classified 

 type and fuids in a table corresponding type 

 dates. Referring to the charts for those days 

 he studies the general results. It is suggested 

 that a local forecaster ought to have a set of 

 synoptic charts interleaved so that he may 

 study the weather in more detail. 



The primary purpose of the arrangement 

 is to, assist in day-to-day forecasting; but 

 the data can be employed in discussing from 



