610 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol-. II., No. 40. 



have been long since expelled from their re- 

 sponsible positions. The remaining acts com- 

 plained of have been done in pursuance of the 

 general policy just outlined. It seems equally 

 clear that these complaints, though natural, 

 are unjust. The residuarj' legatees have now 

 $192,000 to divide. It is not long since they 

 had nothing. Science is certainly grateful to 

 the trustees, since their economical policy has 

 alread3^ saved a large sum which will event- 

 uallj' go to making the California academy 

 of sciences more powerful and useful than it 

 now is. 



With regard to the other bequest in which 

 science is interested, — namel}', the ' Lick ob- 

 servatory, — there is every reason to be ex- 

 tremel.y grateful to the trustees for their wise 

 administration of the trust. 



Their econom}- has certainly been remarka- 

 ble. They have expended on the observatory 

 to Oct. 1, 1883, $154,527.98 ; and they have 

 remaining $545,472.02. This $155,000 has 

 done the following things :. the top of a bleak 

 mountain four thousand feet above the sea, 

 and twentj'-seveu miles from a town, has been 

 levelled off so as to give a sutHcient area for 

 the buildings (forty thousand tons of rock 

 ha-fe been removed for this purpose alone) ; 

 brick enough to complete the whole of the 

 buildings has been made on the side of the 

 mountain, and delivered at the top, at a total 

 cost less than the price of hauling the same 

 amount from the nearest town ; a handsome 

 and well-built main building is now nearly fin- 

 ished (the large dome alone remains ; a small 

 dome, containing a very perfect twelve-inch 

 equatorial by Clark, has been in use since 

 November, 1881) ; a four-inch transit instru- 

 ment, in a convenient house, is in complete 

 working-order ; a photoheliograph in a perma- 

 nent house has been in use since December, 

 1882; the house for the meridian circle is 

 begun ; the meridian circle is half paid for, 

 and a paj-ment has been made on the large 

 telescope. This is the work which is to be seen 

 on the mountain-toij proper. Just below this 

 are the houses for the workmen, shops, stables, 

 etc., all in good condition, and a very com- 



plete system of water-supplv in full working- 

 order. 



It will appear to an3' competent person that 

 this work has been done thoroughl}', and that 

 it has been done economically. At the same 

 rate of expenditure, at least §300,000 will 

 remain as a permanent fund for the support 

 of the observatorj-. 



It therefore appears that the trustees have 

 deserved well of science in their administra- 

 tion of their trust, not onlj' in regard to the 

 California academj- of sciences, but also in 

 relation to the Lick observatorj' ; and it should 

 be the desire of all interested in the adminis- 

 tration of this trust to strengthen the hands 

 of the trustees in the continuance of their wise 

 policy. 



WHIRLWINDS, CYCLONES, AND TOR- 

 NADOES.^ —II. 



The further growth of the desert-whirl may 

 be briefly described. The air standing quietly 

 on a flat, drj- surface allows the lower strata to 

 be quickly warmed to a high temperature. If 

 the air were in motion, no part of it would re- 

 main long enough close to the ground to be 

 greatly warmed ; if the surface were not flat, 

 the lower air would flow up the slopes as soon 

 as it was a little heated, and not wait to ac- 

 quire a high temperature ; if the surface were 

 wet, much of the sun's heat would be occupied 

 in evaporating the water (as will be explained 

 below) , and would so be lost to the lower air : 

 it is therefore only in calm weather, on a 

 desert plain, that the sun can succeed in warm- 

 ing the lower air to excess, and so produce a 

 very unstable equilibrium, and a strong up- 

 draught when the upsetting begins. The longer 

 the delay before the overturning, the more 

 heat-energy is accumulated, and the more vio- 

 lent the motion when it begins. The lower 

 air rises at some point against the oppression 

 of the upper layers. The surrounding warm 

 air flows in from all sides toward this central 

 point, and follows the leader. Soon the mo- 

 tion becomes general and lively, dust and 

 sand are blown along toward the centre, lifted 

 and carried aloft with the ascending air 

 in its rapidly rising current, and then the 

 whirling column becomes visible. When thus 

 established, the increased velocity and the rota- 

 ry- motion of the air near the centre are con- 

 stant characteristics of the upsetting. Thirty 



^ Continuod from No. 30. 



