August 23, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



245 



present reviewer, standing in the museum of 

 whieli he is the director, was engaged in a 

 lively conversation with Col. Roosevelt about 

 the evolution of mammalian life in North 

 America. A score of newspaper reporters sur- 

 rounded the speakers, and one of them subse- 

 quently published an account in which he 

 said that a most astonishing conversation in 

 language absolutely unintelligible to the 

 listeners took place between the ex-president 

 and the director of the museum. 



The publication of such works as that 

 which has appeared from the pen of Mr. KJnipe 

 will tend in the future to make the subject 

 more intelligible to the ordinary reader and 

 the association of the names of things with 

 splendid illustrations of them must familiar- 

 ize the public with the whole subject. 



Too much praise can not be bestowed upon 

 the fine plates which adorn the volume. They 

 are the product of the facile pencil of Miss 

 Alice B. Woodward, the talented daughter of 

 Dr. Henry Woodward, the late curator of 

 geology and paleontology in the British Mu- 

 seum, and Mr. Ernest Bucknall. A few of 

 these originally appeared in the author's first 

 volume, but the great majority are new. 



W. J. Holland 



NOTES ON METEOBOLOGY AND 

 CLIMATOLOGY 



A RAINLESS APRIL IN ENGLAND 



April last was the driest month on record 

 over a large part of England. In London but 

 0.04 inch of rain fell, making this month the 

 driest of that name in about a century and a 

 half, which is the length of the record. In 

 the last half-century only one month, Feb- 

 ruary, 1891, had less precipitation. At 

 another station, Bromley, where a record has 

 been kept since 1869, April, 1912, was the 

 first month in which no precipitation was re- 

 corded. 



THE recording OF EARTHQUAKES 



It is particularly unfortunate that congress 

 did not see fit to make an appropriation for 

 the inauguration of seismological work under 



the auspices of the U. S. Weather Bureau. 

 Two seismographs have been in operation at 

 the central office in Washington for a num- 

 ber of years, but no work of this character 

 has been done at any of the other stations, 

 notwithstanding the general call from a num- 

 ber of sources that the weather bureau en- 

 gage in this important work. While not 

 strictly meteorological in character this work 

 is carried on by the weather services of most 

 countries, principally because in each country 

 it is the one government scientific bureau hav- 

 ing permanent stations at scattered points, 

 with a trained body of observers to conduct 

 the work. In the United States good work 

 has been done by various educational institu- 

 tions, particularly those of the Jesuit order. 

 However, it has been the experience of other 

 countries that seismological observations can 

 be obtained to greatest advantage by a gov- 

 ernment bureau through the use of standard 

 instruments, permanently established and 

 having similar environments. In the United 

 States the weather bureau seems best equipped 

 for such work. 



THE ATMOSPHERE AT GREAT HEIGHTS 



Luminous phenomena like meteor trains 

 and auroras at heights of 200 kilometers 

 (124 miles) or more have long proved the ex- 

 istence of some atmosphere, however tenuous, 

 even at these great heights. According to 

 Professor W. J. Humphreys, the atmosphere 

 at a height of 150 kilometers (93 miles) con- 

 sists of 99.73 per cent, (by volume) of hydro- 

 gen and 0.27 per cent, of helium, with a total 

 pressure of 0.0043 in millimeters of mercury. 

 As a result of recent investigations, Dr. A. 

 Wegener concludes' that there is an atmos- 

 phere of perceptible density even up to 500 

 kilometers (311 miles) and that in the high- 

 est strata there must be an unknown gas in 

 addition to and lighter than hydrogen. He 

 suggests that this gas be called " geocoro- 

 nium " because of its similarity to " coro- 

 nium " which is supposed to exist in the at- 

 mosphere of the sun. 



' Himmel und Erde, July, 1912. 



