1^40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol,.* II., No. 31. 



continuefl to spread over central Illinois till about 

 11 P.M. About noon on the iSfh another very severe 

 squall started from south-western Iowa, where con- 

 siderable damage was done in Fremont and Page, 

 counties: tlie storm increased in fury while spreading 

 over north-western Missouri till about 3 p.m. Another 

 storm of less severity visited north-eastern Missouri 

 and southern Illinois on the evening of the same 

 day. A severe pquall with hail reached, on the after- 

 noon of the IStli, into north-western Iowa, coming 

 from Dakota. A southerly squall reached Polk and 

 Jasper counties early on the 16th. 



On the whole, the weather during July has been 

 very tine: bright skies, aglow with ripening sunshine, 

 alternated with enriching rains, — summed up iu 

 splendid crops of small grain and hay, and excellent 

 pastures, and giving promise of a good crop of corn, 

 for the fall season promises well also. 



State university of Kansas, Lawrence. 



Weather report for Juhj. — In four of the past fif- 

 teen years, the July mean temperatui'e has been 

 lower than in this year; but the July rainfall has 

 been but once exceeded during that period (in 1871). 



Mean temperature, 76.18°, which is 2.17° below the 

 July average. The highest temperature was 96.5°, 

 on the 2;3d; the lowest was .'jO°, on the 9th: giving a 

 monthly range of 40.-5°. The mercury reached or 

 exceeded 90° on seventeen days. Mean temperature 

 at 7 A.M., 71.27°; at 2 p.m., 85.71°; at9 p.m., 73.90°. 



Kainfall, 7.23 inches, which is 2.94 inches above the 

 July average. Kain fell in measurable quantities on 

 nine days. There were five thunder-showers. The 

 rain of the .30th yielded 3.10 inches. The entire rain- 

 fall of the seven months of 1883, now completed, has 

 been 29.03 inches, which is 7.99. inches above the 

 average for the corresponding period of the preceding 

 fifteen years, and is 1.43 inches above the total rain- 

 fall of the year 1882. 



Mean cloudiness, 39.46% of the sky, the month 

 being 1.89% cloudier than the average. Number of 

 clear days (less than one-third cloudy), 18; half-clear 

 {from one to two thirds cloudy), 7; cloudy (more 

 than two-thirds), 6. There were three entirely clear 

 days, and three entirely cloudy. Mean cloudiness at 

 7 A.M., 38.39%; at 2 p.m., 45.48%; at 9 p.m., .34..52%. 



Wind: S.W., 39 times; N.E., 15 times; NW., 12 

 times; N., 9 times; S., 7 times; W., 5 times; S.E., 

 5 times; E., once. The entire distance travelled by 

 the wind was 10,901 mileS, which is 2,229 miles above 

 the July average. This gives a mean daily velocity 

 of 351.64 miles, and a mean hourly velocity of 14.65 

 miles. The highest velocity was 40 miles an hour, 

 from 1.30 to 2 a.m. onthe 12th. 



Mean height of barometer, 29.086 inches; at 7 A.M., 

 29.111 inches; at 2 p.m., 29.071 Indies; at 9 p.m., 

 29.078 inches; maximum, 29.381 inches, on the 18lh; 

 minlTnvim, 28.079 inches, on the Utli; monthly range, 

 0.702 inch. 



Kelative humidity: mean for the month, 71.4; at 7 

 A.M., 80.3; at 2 p.m., 54.7; at 9 p.m., 79.1; greatest, 

 97, on the 31st; least, 20, on the 2d. There was no 

 fog. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Circumstances were not favorable to the produc- 

 tion of remarkable essays at the recent meeting of 

 the American association. The attendance was nol 

 large. The officers of the meeting, and especially 

 those wdio had to make addresses, could scarcely be 

 expected to produce elaborate papers in addition to 

 their other labors. As the number of addresses per 

 meeting has increased, we may observe more readily 

 some of the effects of the system that demands them. 

 The most evident result is, that usually, where we gain 

 one good address, we lose two or three good papers. 



The distance of the meeting from their homes 

 affected especially members of sections A, B, C, anil 

 T), devoted to the exact sciences. Perhaps it affecled 

 the quality as well as the number of their papers. 

 There were not many from the east to present essays, 

 though quite as many as could have reasonably been 

 expected; but there were scarcely any froni the local- 

 ity of Ihe meeting and its neighborhood. Local in- 

 terest, both as to authors and hearers, was of course 

 deficient. In short, there was nothing remarkable 

 in those sections to spur production, and the product 

 was not remarkable. It was good, but not great. 



Some of the papers seem to have lost their way 

 among the sections; a paper that was chiefly botan- 

 ical having gone before the chemists, and the p.aleon- 

 tological papers being divided between biology and 

 geology. In some cases the affinities of authors 

 rather than of subjects may have been consulted, 

 though probably the discrepancy was mostly created 

 in efforts to equalize the amount of work in the dif- 

 ferent sections. 



During the progress of the meeting, it being found 

 that botanists were present in unusual numbers, a 

 botanical club was formed. The immediate object 

 was the organization of botanical excursions. An 

 ultimate object is to arrange for preparing a petition 

 to memorialize congress respecting differences be- 

 tween the rulings of the post-office department as 

 to the sending of plants by mail at home and abroad. 

 The organization of the club was somewhat informal. 

 Prof. W. J. Beal of Lansing, Mich., was appointed 

 president, and John M. Coulter of Crawfordsville, 

 Ind., secretary. The roll was signed by twenty-five 

 botanists who were present at the first session of the 

 club, and theii' number was increased before the 

 meeting of the association adjourned. 



We have before alluded to the singular want of 

 executive ability, or of co-ordination in achieving re- 

 sults, which marred the work of the local committee. 

 That continued throughout the meeting, with many 

 embarrassing results. We again refer to it, not to 

 find fault anew, but to mention that the committee- 

 men themselves acknowledged their blunders most 

 heartily in their farewell speeches, and that their 

 kind intentions were manifest throughout. 



— Students of meteorology will be interested in a 

 paper lately read by M. Faye before the Frencli acad- 

 emy of sciences on the whirlwinds of sand observed by 

 Col. Prejevalsky in central Asia. M. Faye believes 

 that such sand-storms, like those of Mexico, India, 



