SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 182. 



servatory for several years past. The ad- 

 vantages which kites have over balloons up 

 to a height of at least 10,000 feet, whenever 

 there is wind, were pointed out. It was re- 

 ported that, besides their use in the United 

 States, kites were being employed to obtain 

 meteorological records at St. Petersburg and 

 near Paris. M. Tacchini proposes to try 

 them on Mounts Cimone and Etna, and 

 Professor Hann hopes to obtain data in this 

 waj' above the Sonnblick, the highest per- 

 manently occupied observatory in Europe. 

 The Conference recommended kites as being 

 of great value to meteorology, and desired 

 that they should be used at the chief ob- 

 servatories, together with the kite-balloon 

 (described hereafter) for continuous obser- 

 vations. The Committee was enlarged by 

 the addition of the following persons : M. 

 Teisserenc de Bort and Prince Roland Bona- 

 parte, of Paris ; Professor Hildebrandsson, 

 of Upsala ; Professor Pernter and Lieuten- 

 ant Hinterstoisser, of Vienna ; Captain 

 Moedebeck, of Strassburg, and Lieutenant 

 von Siegsfeld, of Berlin. The next meet- 

 ing will be at Paris in 1900. 



During the Conference there were two 

 trials of the kite-balloon — a captive balloon 

 which, unlike the ordinary spherical one, is 

 not driven down or carried away by strong 

 winds. It is the invention of Lieutenants 

 von Parseval and von Siegsfeld, of the Ger- 

 man army, where it is used for reeonnoiter- 

 ing, but the smaller Strassburg balloon, 

 constructed by Mr. Riedinger, of Augsburg, 

 for Professor Hergesell and Captain Moede- 

 beck, is the first to lift self-recording 

 meteorological instruments. It consists es- 

 sentially of a cylinder of varnished linen, 

 having a volume of 7,770 cubic feet, so at- 

 tached to the cable that its upper end is in- 

 clined towards the wind, which thus tends 

 to raise the balloon. The cylindrical form 

 is preserved, notwithstanding leakage of 

 gas, by admitting wind into an auxiliary 

 envelope at the rear end, which also serves 



as a rudder, stability about the axis being: 

 secured by lateral wings. The instruments 

 are contained in a basket, with open ends, 

 hung far below the balloon. The azimuth, 

 angular altitude and traction of the cable 

 are recorded continuously by an inge- 

 nious dynamometer. In spite of unfavor- 

 able weather and gas of InsufiBcient lifting 

 power, the experiments were fairly success- 

 ful, and previously the balloon had been 

 maintained during several days above 

 the city. 



The Committee also witnessed an as- 

 cent of the ballon- so7ide ' Langenburg,' car- 

 rying self-recording instruments. This 

 silk balloon, when inflated with 14,000 

 cubic feet of coal gas, had an initial lift- 

 ing force of 440 pounds in excess of its 

 load. Owing to a premature start, the bal- 

 last was left behind, and the sudden plunge 

 upward not only emptied some of the gas, 

 but stopped the clock movements of the 

 thermographs. The ascent was made in the 

 late afternoon, and the balloon, which soon 

 disappeared in the clouds, was found the 

 next day about sixty miles southeast of 

 Strassburg, having risen more than six 

 miles, as was determined from its baro- 

 metric record. 



A. Lawrence Eotch. 



THE FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM. 

 The Field Columbian Museum is making 

 fast progress and doing eifective work in 

 the various departments. The Zoological 

 Department is busy with the rich collec- 

 tion brought back by Professor Elliot's 

 expedition to Somaliland. Two notable 

 groups have been installed in the West 

 Court, viz.: the lesser koodoo {Strepdceros 

 imherhis) and Waller's gazelle {Lithocranius 

 walleri) . The first is said to be the largest 

 and most complete of its kind in the world, 

 and in fact the only one in existence giving 

 a full representation of this beautiful spe- 



