November 6, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



651 



The experiments and inferences from them 

 are numerous and suggestive. It may be that 

 strict morphologists lay too much stress upon 

 heredity and try to explain too many phe- 

 nomena as due to recapitulation. It would 

 seem to the reviewer that Professor Goehel 

 has underestimated the importance of heredity 

 as much as most morphologists exaggerate it. 

 Charles J. Chambeelain 



SGIJENTIFIO JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The American Journal of Science contains 

 the following articles : " Some New Measure- 

 ments with the Gas Thermometer," by A. L. 

 Day and J. K. Clement ; " Range of the a- 

 rays," by W. Duane ; " Alteration of Augite- 

 ihnenite Groups in the Cumberland, R. I., 

 Gabbro (Hessose)," by C. H. Warren; 

 " Studies in the Cyperaceffi. XXVI. Remarks 

 on the structure and affinities of some of 

 Dewey's Carices," by T. Holm; "Applications 

 of the Lorentz-FitzGerald Hypothesis to Dy- 

 namical and Gravitational Problems," by H. 

 A. Bumstead. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



ELECTRIC DISTURBANCES AND PERILS ON MOUN- 

 TAIN TOPS 



In view of the scientific interest that has 

 been aroused by the sudden death of moun- 

 taineers on the widely separated peaks of San 

 Gorgonio and Whitney during apparently the 

 same electric storm in June, 1904,' the foUow- 



^The distance between these peaks, which lie on 

 opposite sides of the Mojave Desert, southern 

 California, is approximately 180 miles and the 

 difference in elevation is 5,015 feet, the higher 

 peak. Mount Whitney (altitude 14,515 feet), being 

 the highest mountain in the United States, ex- 

 cluding Alaska. 



The death on San Gorgonio, said to be the first 

 case of the kind in San Bernardino County, oc- 

 curred July 24, 1904, that on Mount Whitney two 

 days later, July 26. Referring to these fatalities. 

 Professor Alexander G. MoAdie, quoted in the 

 Mont lily Weather Review, September, 1904, page 

 420, says: 



The accidents have a scientific interest in that 

 there are but few records of deaths by lightning 

 in this state. But it should be noted that com- 



ing recent experience of Captain R. M. Bram- 

 bila, U. S. Infantry, and the writer will be 

 welcomed as furnishing some hint of the 

 power and magnitude of such electric disturb- 

 ances. 



This experience was endured by the party 

 during the regular visit to the automatic 

 weather observatory maintained by the Nevada 

 Agricultural Experiment Station on Mount 

 Rose (altitude 10,800 feet), the dominating 

 peak north of Lake Tahoe (on the California- 

 Nevada state line), and approximately 200 

 miles north of Mount Whitney. 



The storm, which was mainly electric in 

 nature, displayed itseK first on the evening of 

 Friday, October 19, 1907, in a heavy cloud 

 mass lying close along the crest of the Carson 

 Range north of Mount Rose, but in no wise 

 involving Mount Rose itself. The flashes of 

 lightning were frequent and heavy. Little 

 thunder, if any, however, was heard. On the 

 morning of the twentieth, when the actual 

 ascent of Mount Rose began, clouds gathered 

 from the direction of Lake Tahoe about the 

 summit, and enveloped it somewhat persist- 

 ently during the day. The wind did not ex- 

 ceed ten miles per hour, and the temperature 

 remained above freezing. 



From the summit itself the canons below 

 could be seen filled with masses of vapor. As 

 night darkened a moderate storm of hail and 

 snow with rain began to fall. The pack horse, 

 which had been stabled on a terrace just below 

 the observatory, was covered from tail to ears 

 to protect him from the pelting missiles. 



paratively few people have been exposed to storms 

 at high elevations. Mr. Byrd Surby was killed 

 on the summit of Mount Whitney, within 50 feet 

 of the monument. It was snowing at the time of 

 the accident. It is probably not well Icnown that 

 the variations in the electric potential of the air 

 during a snowstorm are almost as rapid and as 

 great as those prevailing during a thunderstorm. 

 In this present case I am inclined to think that 

 the electrical disturbance was not localized, but 

 simply incidental to a disturbed field which ex- 

 tended well over the high Sierra, Inyo, Panamint 

 and Telescope ranges; also the San Bernardino 

 Range, and probably the mountains of Arizona. 

 This condition lasted perhaps a fortnight. 



