416 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVni. No. 717. 



miles of altitude, so that in the higher avail- 

 able regions of the atmosphere (where the de- 

 crease in the stored heat, for accessible in- 

 creasing heights, is probably insensible) obser- 

 vational data should reveal a practically con- 

 stant temperature for all superior distances 

 that can be reached by the known means at our 

 disposal. The experimental results recently 

 obtained hy means of kites and balloons con- 

 firm in a strihing manner the run of the data 

 given in the above table, in which the earth, 

 not the sun, is taken as the controlling influ- 

 ence so far as temperature conditions are 

 concerned. 



The ever-varying unstable conditions in 

 the lower strata of high temperature cause 

 more or less continuous ruptures of these 

 strata, each vent containing an uprush of 

 the heated air fed by a horizontal inrush 

 on all sides. In the equatorial regions the 

 inrushing air has a more or less uniform 

 temperature, and the direction of motion 

 is nearly straight towards the axis of the 

 uprush, so that great cyclonic motions are 

 not to be expected as a regularly recurring 

 phenomenon in these regions. In the mid- 

 dle latitudes, however, the conditions are al- 

 ways such that cyclonic movements of the 

 lower air are almost inevitable. 



Owing to the decrease in the diurnal sur- 

 face-velocity of the earth with decreasing 

 polar distance, an uprush of air in a middle 

 latitude will, in general, be supplied as fol- 

 lows: on the equatorial side, by warm air 

 rushing polewards, not directly towards the 

 axis of the uprush, but always towards a re- 

 gion on the east side of this axis ; on the pole 

 side, by cold air moving equatorwards towards 

 a region on the west side of the axis. Owing 

 to this arrangement of the moving air, equi- 

 librium can not at once be restored, and a 

 great cyclonic motion of increasing intensity 

 results, to be overcome later on by the de- 

 struction of the vertical motion through the 

 now increasing want of sufficient air-pressure 

 from below. 



The cyclonic motion of the atmosphere, 

 brought into action through the axial rota- 

 tion of the earth, has long been known, but so 



far as I am aware no satisfactory answer has 

 ever been given to the question — Why does 

 the atmosphere, tahen as a whole, have a 

 greater angular velocity of rotation {diurnal) 

 than the earth itself? I offer the following 

 explanation : 



An inspection of the above table shows that 

 the uprushing expanding air may rise many 

 hundred miles and still have a temperature 

 far above the critical point.' As the air-mass 

 rises (and loses its moisture through condenr 

 sation) its diurnal angular velocity dimirir 

 ishes, so that by the time this same {now 

 dry) air again reaches the lower layers of the 

 atmosphere, to cause an increase of pressure, 

 the region of the uprush will be far to the 

 east of the place where the pressure has in- 

 creased. To restore the equilibrium the piled- 

 up mass of air now flows bach into the region 

 of low pressure farther to the east and thereby 

 causes an eastward motion of the atmosphere 

 with reference to the earth's surface. 



As each " low " is forced to move eastward 

 by its necessarily following " high," the gen- 

 eral eastward circulation of our atmosphere 

 is explained. It is evident that the observed 

 equatorial acceleration of the sun's atmos- 

 phere, and of planetary atmospheres in gen- 

 eral, can be explained in a similar manner. 



In an atmosphere quiescent throughout, the 

 different gases constituting the envelope would 

 be arranged in concentric layers, the lightest 

 gas being at the top; through the vertical 

 circulation, however, a mechanical mixture 

 of these gases must take place, and other 

 phenomena must also result. 



j. m. schaebeele 



Ann Aeboe, 

 Marcli 24, 1908 



'It is proper to state here that during the 

 progress of my investigations it was found neces- 

 sary to reject the kinetic theory of gases and to 

 substitute in its place a simpler and more ra- 

 tional theory, which is so general in its applica- 

 tion that even gravitation is satisfactorily ac- 

 counted for. According to this theory the force 

 which causes an uprush, or which causes radia- 

 tion in general, has the same source and the same 

 properties as the force which causes gravitation 

 and other physical phenomena of nature. 



