December 14, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



767 



tical shaped iinplemcnt, toothed around its 

 whole exterior), and a few worked Hakes. 

 Fragments of clay vases of various shapes and 

 sizes abounded, many of them having a 'her- 

 ring-bone ' pattern of ornament incised upon 

 them. All of these objects evidentlj' belong 

 to the neolitliic period ; and the monument 

 itself resembles a sort of combination of the 

 dolmen and tiie sepulchral grotto. 



But a novelty among neolithic interments 

 seems to have been discovered at Follia das 

 Barrndas, a short distance to the north-east. 

 This is excavated in the natural soil, a white 

 limestone and green marl, and has almost the 

 shape of a covered alley, twelve j'ards long, 

 extending east and west. The circular cham- 

 ber at the west was divided by pieces of thin 

 flagstone into partitions intended to contain 

 human remains, of which as many as twelve 

 were found, but in so bad a condition as to be 

 useless for study. 



Accompanying tiie remains were a flint pon- 

 iard, two ver\- fine lance-points of unusual size, 

 and seven large knives ; also a long cylindrical 

 stone ' war-club,' similar to those previously 

 described, but more handsomely ornamented, 

 and two of the ' badges of authority.' A flat 

 pendant, like those alread.v spoken of, and 

 fragments of a few rude clay vases, completed 

 the funeral furniture. But it should be noted, 

 that both in this sepulchre, and the one last 

 described, there was found a large number of 

 the same kind of rolled pebbles as those which 

 occur so conspicuously in the covered alley of 

 Monte Abrahao. 



In concluding this brief account of Signor 

 Kibeiro's interesting researches, we can onlv 

 express the hope that his recent death, which 

 all lovers of knowledge must deplore, maj- not 

 deprive prehistoric students of the publication 

 of the remainder of the work. 



THEORETICAL METEOROLOGY. 



Theoret'ische meteorologie. Ein versuch die erschein- 



ungcn ilea luflkreises auf grumlge.feize zuriickzu- 



Jiihren. Von .^LBEnx R. v. Millkr-Hadekfei-S. 



VVien, Spielhagen S)- Schurich, 1883. 130 p. 8°. 



TuK past twenty jears have witnessed a great 



advance in the science of meteorologv, viewed 



from a theoretical stand-point. Previous to 



this period, the laws deduced were derived 



empiiically from the observations made ; and 



this is largely true at the present time. The 



attempts to place the science upon a firmer 



basis by l)uilding ui)()n well-established phj'si- 



eal laws, and deducing conclusions by strict 



mathematical processes, have met with decided 



success. Hut this branch of meteorologv is 

 3et largely undeveloped : consequently there 

 is no treatise tliat covers the ground satisfacto- 

 rily, and tiiei'c is a large gap between deductive 

 meteorolog}' and the inductive conclusions upon 

 which meteorological text-books are based. 

 The mathematical papers are scattered in the 

 volumes of scientific journals, or published in 

 separate form. Even if they were collected to- 

 gether, and their contents condensed into one 

 treatise, the result would lie unsatisfactory. It 

 would be found that a large majority of famil- 

 iar phenomena are yet unaccoiuitcd for, and 

 that many of the conclusions reached by theo- 

 retical methods cannot be used for further in- 

 vestigations, on account of assumptions made 

 for the sake of simplifying the work, but which 

 are unwarranted by observed facts. The hope 

 of meteorology as an exact science, tiowever, 

 lies in the success which will attend these theo- 

 retical investigations in the future ; and there- 

 fore any treatise devoted to this branch of the 

 science is welcomed, however fragmentarj- it 

 ma}' seem to the reader. 



The latest i>ublication upon theoretical mete- 

 orology is this octavo of a hundred and thirty 

 pages, by Professor Miller-IIanenfcls of Graz. 

 It is confessedly- incomplete, but seems to be 

 worthy of the attention of the student. As 

 its title implies, it is an attempt to refer at- 

 mospheric phenomena to fundamental laws. 

 The author is not a practical meteorologist, but 

 a mathematician, who treats the phenomena 

 discussed as mechanical problems as far as 

 possible, iiolding tiiat the first tiling necessary 

 is to establish the fundamental laws of meteor- 

 ology, and afterwards to build upon this secure 

 foundation. In the first section the laws of 

 IMariotte and Gay-Lussac are treated, the 

 method giving essentially the same result as 

 that deduced by Riihlmaini in his well-known 

 barometric formula. Passing then to the move- 

 ments of the atmosphere, tiie author discusses 

 first its general movement, and tlieu the laws 

 of the winds, the latter subject occupying a 

 large part of the treatise. The laws of ascend- 

 ing currents as developed by Hann are briefly 

 referred to. and the laws of moist air-currents 

 also discussed, the formulae for which are based 

 upon Ilildelirandsson's exposition of Dalton's 

 law. The fundamental laws of thefmodynaraica 

 are the basis of the discussion of the disturb- 

 ances of density giving rise to winds. Numer- 

 ous theorems are laid down in connection with 

 the phenomena of tiie winds, and it is recog- 

 nized that differences of temperature are the 

 original cause of them. The diurnal change 

 of the barometric pressure is explained in a 



