870 
ment, national, state and municipal condi- 
tions are discussed at length; there is a con- 
sideration of economic conditions and labor 
questions, the items thus far occupying about 
half the bulky volume. 
In matters of science the treatment is of 
rather restricted divisions, generally by those 
in the employ of the government or with col- 
leges. In agriculture, Allen, Hooker, Evans. 
Knight and Glasson, all of them related to 
some bureau, discuss, respectively, the census 
of 1911, diseases of live stock, diseases of 
plants, legislation and horticulture, while 
Morse, of the Bussey Institute, considers live 
stock, and Felt, of Albany, the seventeen-year 
locust. Ethel Marion Smith, of the Bureau 
of Fisheries, takes up briefly the story of the 
fisheries. In similar manner Locke and Wil- 
son, of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, present reviews of mining and ore- 
dressing and coal, coke and petroleum, while 
Hofman, of the same school, discusses lead. 
Here no government expert is heard, but Ful- 
ton, president of the South Dakota school, 
Macgregor, of Columbia, and two engineers 
and an editor, Stoughton, Fulton and Ingalls, 
contribute other special articles. Mathematics 
in general is from the pen of Wilson, of the 
Massachusetts Tech, while Todd, of Amherst, 
writes quite at length and in an interesting 
manner of the astronomical world, outlining 
the important movements of the science. Geo- 
logical topics are divided between Woodworth 
and Palache, of Harvard, Reid, of Johns Hop- 
kins, who discusses vuleanology and De Wolf 
and Ransome. Meteorology of course is con- 
sidered by Ward, of Harvard, terrestrial mag- 
netism by Faris, in government employ, and in 
geography, Davis, of Harvard, is the only col- 
lege man, Gannett and Littlehales, of Wash- 
ington, and Adams, editor of the publications 
of the Ameriean Geographical Society, caring 
for the other sections. Chemistry enlists a 
full company of experts, Cornell and Colum- 
bia tieing the government number, two, with 
one each from Technology and Wisconsin, 
while the story of physics is presented by 
Saunders, of Syracuse. In the same way are 
taken up zoology, botany, paleontology, eth- 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 909 
nology and archeology, the last three together 
by the presentation of abstracts of the books, 
publications and society achievements of the 
year. These notings will serve to show the 
method in which the subjects are attacked and 
the kind of men who have contributed the dif- 
ferent essays. Psychology and philosophy, 
medicine and surgery and engineering follow, 
while religion, the arts and literature round 
out the whole. 
The book is of convenient size, 8vo, well 
printed on light-weight paper, so that it is— 
despite its bulk of 900 pages—not inconveni- 
ent to hold in the hand, and it is quite well 
indexed by larger topics, which will probably 
serve the purpose since the articles are in 
general not long and are arranged with well- 
displayed headings. 
JoHN Rircui, Jr. 
NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 
A NEW AEROLOGICAL LABORATORY 
TxHE close relationship between meteorology, 
the science, and aviation, the art, is becoming 
more generally recognized as time progresses. 
At present there is being erected at Rostock, 
a small city in northern Germany, on an arm 
of the Baltic Sea, an institution which is to 
be an aerological observatory as well as an 
aeronautical laboratory. The aerological re- 
searches will be based upon data obtained from 
aloft by means of kites and balloons, while the 
aeronautical experiments will consist mainly 
of the adaptation of aircraft to the conditions 
thus determined. Professor Otto Kriimmel 
will direct the aerological investigations, while 
Captain Alfred Hildebrandt will have charge 
of the aeronautical work, which will include a 
manufacturing plant. Because of the favor- 
able location especial attention will be paid 
to hydro-aeroplanes. As is customary in 
Germany, municipal aid will be given the 
new institution. 
THE NEW YORK METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 
Tue New York Meteorological Observatory, 
located in Central Park, New York City, has 
