SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1178 



creases in price, especially since tlie United 

 States entered the war. 



The total output of coke and anthracite 

 pig iron in the first five months of 1917 was 

 about 15,800,000 gross tons, compared with 

 about 16,175,000 tons during the correspond- 

 ing period of 1916, a decrease of about 2 

 per cent. 



The quantity of iron ore from mines in 

 the Lake Superior region shipped from upper 

 Lake ports from January 1 to June 1, 1917, 

 was about 6,500,000 gross tons, compared with 

 slightly more than 10,100,000 tons for the cor- 

 responding five months of 1916, a decrease of 

 about 3,600,000 tons, or more than 35 per cent. 

 This apparently large decrease in ore ship- 

 ments from the principal producing region 

 was not due to inability to mine ore but 

 largely to the belated opening of Lake traffic 

 because of ice blockades and to many ore- 

 carrying boats having been put out of com- 

 mission through accidents. 



Plans are being made by committees of the 

 Council of National Defense to increase ship- 

 ments of iron ore, coal and coke during the 

 remainder of the season through cooperative 

 methods, and possibly the Jxme shipments will 

 nearly equal those of June, 1916. In the 

 meantime the blast furnaces have been draw- 

 ing on large stocks of ore at lower Lake ports 

 in order to offset the deficiency in upper Lake 

 shipments. Deferred shipments of coke and 

 other causes of traffic congestion have also re- 

 tarded operations at some furnaces. 



Prices of pig iron at western Pennsylvania 

 furnaces have advanced since January 1, 1917, 

 61 to 77 per cent, and since a year ago 134 to 

 200 per cent. On July 3, 1917, basic iron was 

 quoted at Valley furnaces at $52 a ton, Bes- 

 semer iron at Pittsburgh at $57.95, and No. 2 

 foimdry iron at $55, while at Birmingham, 

 Ala., foundry iron, which one year ago sold 

 at $14 brought $47 a ton. Low-phosphorus 

 iron has been quoted at $70 to $80 a ton. 

 Feverish buying of pig iron by private con- 

 sumers who were endeavoring to provide for 

 their present needs, as well as for their needs 

 far into 1918, has caused much of the recent 

 increase in price. The extent, of the govern- 



ment's war needs for steel is not yet defined, 

 but increasing. Orders are being placed 

 slowly, however, and they should not inter- 

 fere seriously with deliveries of steel to private 

 consumers. As the government is not com- 

 peting in price it would seem that there may 

 be at least some warrant for belief that prices 

 may eventually adjust themselves without need 

 for further great inflation. 



METEOROLOGY AND AERONAUTICAL 

 ENGINEERING! 



Introductory : Importance of meteorology in 

 aviation; aircraft and weather in war: (a) 

 general climate; (h) weather and weather 

 forecasts : military field meteorological serv- 

 ices. 



The Atmosphere: Composition; height; 

 " troposphere " and " stratosphere " : general 

 characteristics of each. 



Temperatures in the Free Air: Vertical 

 temperature gradients; temperatures at vari- 

 ous heights; inversions; stable and unstable 

 conditions in relation to flying. 



Pressure: Importance; comparison with 

 water; decrease with altitude; physiological 

 effects of diminished pressure; measurement; 

 mercurial and aneroid barometers and baro- 

 graphs : use, errors, corrections ; determination 

 of altitudes by means of barometers; isobars; 

 pressure gradients. 



The Wind in Relation to Pressure at 

 Earth's Surface: Wind direction; deflection 

 of winds from gradient: earth's rotation and 

 friction; cyclonic and anticyclonic wind sys- 

 tems; "gradient wind;" Buys Ballot's Law; 

 isobaric types. Wind velocity; general rela- 

 tion to gradient; Beaufort Scale and its 

 equivalents in force and in velocity in miles 

 an hour; anemometers; Robinson and Dines; 

 gustiness of wind. 



Conditions of the Atmosphere Affecting 

 Aviation: General and Local: (a) general air 

 movements, essentially horizontal ; atmospheric 



1 Syllabus of ten lectures on Meteorology given 

 in the course in aeronautical engineering at the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology in coopera- 

 tion with Harvard University, by Eobert De C. 

 Ward, professor of climatology, Harvard Univer- 

 sity. 



