336 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 37. 



dowed men. Ryder was patient and dig- 

 nified. He was not a Pegasus chafing in 

 his harness, but as one consecrated to the 

 calling of his choice and on whose heart 

 the lowliest duties on itself did lay. But 

 we are the losers. We cannot but be sad- 

 dened at the knowledge that he did not live 

 to put in form and substance the results of 

 his profound labors. His work is like an 

 unfinished house webbed in scaffolding, 

 with heaps of building material scattered 

 about the ground. The spu-its to which 

 Ryder was kin (the Keats, the Mozarts), 

 visit us at long intervals, and when they 

 come we treat them as though they were 

 ordinary mortals after all. 



Harrison Allen. 



BEPORTS OF INTERNATIONAL METEORO- 

 LOGICAL MEETINGS. 



Two of these have lately been received ; 

 the first being the Report of the International 

 Meteorological Congress, held at Chicago in 

 August, 1893. This Congress was remark- 

 able for the number of papers presented 

 rather than for the number of persons who 

 assembled to hear them read, and yet it 

 seemed doubtful whether they could be pub- 

 lished, as the Congress Auxiliary of the Co- 

 lumbian Exposition had no funds available. 

 Fortunately, the U. S. Weather Bureau was 

 able to accomplish this in its series of Bul- 

 letins, Bulletin 11, Part II., now before 

 us, forming Part II. of the Report, which 

 is devoted to history and bibliography, 

 agricultural meteorology, atmospheric elec- 

 tricity and terrestrial magnetism. The 

 first section is of special interest, as it con- 

 tains a detailed account of the commence- 

 ment and development of meteorology in 

 the United States, with which the Army 

 Medical Department, the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, the Hydrographic Ofiice and the 

 Signal Service were chiefly concerned. 

 Two papers of much bibliographical in- 

 terest, relating to English meteorological 



literature from 1337 to 1699 and to meteor- 

 ology and terrestrial magnetism in the fif- 

 teenth, sixteeenth and seventeenth cen- 

 turies, were contributed, respectively, by 

 Mr. Symons, of London, and Dr. Hell- 

 mann, of Berlin, the two highest authorities 

 on this subject. This Report is edited by 

 Mr. O. L. Fassig, the able librarian of the 

 Weather Bureau, who deserves great praise 

 for effecting translations of the various 

 foreign papers, with no pecuniary assist- 

 ance, and otherwise performing a difficult 

 task in so satisfactory a manner. Part I., 

 which appeared more than a year ago, con- 

 tained the papers on weather services and 

 methods, rivers and floods and marine me- 

 teorology; while Part III. will comprise 

 cUmatology, instruments and methods of 

 observation and theoretical meteorology. 



The second report to be mentioned is that 

 of the International Meteorological Com- 

 mittee, chosen at the Munich Conference in 

 1891, which held its first meeting at Upsala 

 in August, 1894. The proceedings are pub- 

 lished in three languages, and the English 

 edition, prepared by Mr. R. H. Scott, Sec- 

 retary to the Committee, is issued as No. 

 115 of the official publications of the Lon- 

 don Meteorological Ofiice. The present 

 members of the Committee and the coun- 

 tries which they represent are as follows: 

 Messrs. von Bezold (Prussia), Billwiller 

 (Switzerland), de Brito-Capello (Portugal), 

 Davis (Argentine Republic), Eliot (India), 

 Ellery (Victoria, Australia), Haun (Aus- 

 tria), Harrington (United States), Hepites 

 (Roumania), Hildebrandsson (Sweden), 

 Mascart (France), Mohn (Norway), Paul- 

 sen (Denmark), Scott (Great Britain), 

 Snellen (Holland), Tacchini (Italy) and 

 Wild (Russia). Among the most im- 

 portant resolutions was that the proposed 

 International Meteorological Bureau was 

 not realizable, but that the Committee ap- 

 peared to be the proper body to estab- 

 lish and maintain relations between the 



