November 23, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



511 



ing) at Columbia University, New York City. 

 Dr. McKee was at the head of the department 

 of chemistry of the University of Maine from 

 1909 to 1916, leaving this position a year ago 

 to enter commercial chemical work in New 

 York City as head of the research department 

 of the Tennessee Copper Company. While 

 at Maine he initiated and developed the de- 

 partment for the making of pulp and paper, 

 the first of its kind to be established in any 

 college in this couxitry. 



The personnel of the department of geology 

 and mining engineering at Iowa State Col- 

 lege, Ames, la., is now as follows: Head of 

 department. Dr. S. W. Beyer, who is also dean 

 of the division of engineering, vice A. Mar- 

 ston, now major of the Battalion of Engineers, 

 Iowa National Guard; L. C. Hodson and Dr. 

 S. L. Galpin, associate professors of mining 

 engineering; H. F. Staley, professor of 

 ceramic engineering; Dr. Chas. A. Mann, as- 

 sociate professor of chemical engineering; 

 John E. Smith, assistant professor of geology. 



Dr. J. E. Marr, University lecturer in geol- 

 ogy in Cambridge University, has been elected 

 to the Woodwardian professorship of geology 

 in succession to the late Professor McKenny 

 Hughes. 



F. DE QuERVAiN, professor of surgery at the 

 University of Basle, has accepted a call to the 

 medical faculty of Berne as successor to 

 Professor Koeher. 



J. Jadassohn, professor of dermatology at 

 the University of Berne, has been appointed 

 professor in Breslau in succession to Pro- 

 fessor Neisser, who died some months ago. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 AN EXTRAORDINARY RAINFALL RECORD 



During a recent visit to the Hawaiian Is- 

 lands, I had occasion to -do some collecting on 

 Kauai, the northern island of the group. 

 While there I made a trip to a region of such 

 extraordinary precipitation that it seemed 

 worthy of record. 



The island is almost circular in outline, 

 rather less than thirty miles in its greatest 

 diameter. It consists for the most part of a 



plateau averaging about 3,500-4,000 feet in ele- 

 vation, but rising to a little over 5,000 feet at 

 Mt. Waialeale, almost in the center of the is- 

 land. 



As in all the Hawaian Islands the windward 

 (NE.) side has a very heavy precipitation, 

 while on the leeward side the rainfall is veiy 

 light. 



The central part of Kauai, culminating in 

 Mt. Waialeale, has the heaviest precipitation of 

 any station in the Hawaiian group, and can 

 be equalled by very few regions anywhere, 

 where rainfall data have been kept. In one 

 year over 600 inches fell, and for the five 

 years — 1912-1916 — the average was slightly 

 more than 500 inches. 



Waialeale is seldom free from rain clouds, 

 and the precipitation is almost incessant. In 

 consequence the whole region near it is a bog, 

 partly covered with a forest of low trees, 

 thickly draped with dripping masses of mosses 

 and liverworts, but a good deal of the region, 

 including the summit of Waialeale, is an open 

 bog, covered with coarse grasses and sedges, 

 with a few stunted shrubs and various charac- 

 teristic bog plants. 



TABLE I 



Precipitation at Waialeale, Island of Kauai, Terri- 

 tory of Hawaii 

 Elevation above sea level 5,075 feet 



Year Rainfall In Inches 



1912 399.35 



1913 453.00 



1914 610.00 



1915 590.00 



1916 539.70 



Precipitation at Waimea Village, Island of Kauai, 



Territory of Hawaii 



Elevation above sea level 10 feet 



Year Ralnlall In Inches 



1912 20.50 



1913 23.58 



1914 24.50 



1915 13.40 



1916 22.05 



Distance "Waimea to Waialeale (air line) 13.5 



miles. 



My guide on this expedition was Mr. W. V. 

 Hardy, hydrographer of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, who has been keeping records 



