252 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1050 



bearing localities in Japan no developments 

 of note were reported. 



OCEAITIA 



In Borneo, Sumatra and Java no notable 

 additions to productive area were made. In 

 the northeastern portion of New Guinea 

 (Papua) petroleum deposits were reported near 

 Eitape, and in the southeastern portion of the 

 island oil indications of great promise were 

 found by Australian geologists on the western 

 flank of the Albert Mountains, between the 

 Eiver Purari on the north and Tule Island 

 on the south. 



New Zealand. — Interest was centered in the 

 Taranaki district, New Plymouth, North Is- 

 land, where late in the year four wells pro- 

 ducing oil simultaneously were believed to 

 indicate the presence of a considerable quan- 

 tity of oil in the locality. On South Island 

 the Shell interests abandoned a test well at 900 

 feet on account of the presence of metamorphic 

 slate. 



AFRICA 



Algeria. — Work on the test well of the 

 Algerian oil fields at Abd-er-Eahim was sus- 

 pended in April, 1914, at a reported depth of 

 902 meters, on account of parted casing. A 

 second test started in March was located at 

 Messila. 



Egypt. — The activity of the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Oilfields, Ltd., resulted in the completion of a 

 number of creditable wells during the year in 

 the Gemsah and Hurgada fields. 



Somaliland. — ^Promising oil indications were 

 found in British Somaliland on the south side 

 of the Gulf of Aden. 



A STUDT OF TSE INFLUENCE OF VOL- 

 CANIC DUST VEILS ON CLIMATIC 

 VARIATIONS 



The series of overlapping yearly means of 

 temperature, expressed graphically, show most 

 characteristic crests and depressions. In the 

 ease of tropical stations, in particular, the 

 crests of the curves are very regular and re- 

 cur at intervals of two to three years, prac- 

 tically at the same time all around the world. 



As a general result of a detailed study of 



the temperature data of the years 1900-1909, 

 for Europe, Greenland and North America, 

 I have found some striking correlations be- 

 tween these equatorial variations and the more 

 complicated variations of temperate and arctic 

 regions. This research has been published 

 recently in the Annals of the New York 

 Academy. 



In another study of all available tempera- 

 ture data of the years 1891-1900, published 

 some years ago, I have shown that terrestrial 

 atmosphere, at the earth's surface, has been 

 warmer in 1900 than in 1893 by at least 

 0.5° C. On the maps representing the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the departures of 

 annual means from the quasi-normal values 

 of ten-yearly means, the areas of positive de- 

 partures have been called thermopleions and 

 the areas covered by negative departures anti- 

 pleions. On the curves of overlapping means 

 the crests correspond to pleions and the de- 

 pressions correspond to antipleions. I have 

 presumed that the excess of pleions over anti- 

 pleions, corresponding to pleionian crests of 

 equatorial stations, may be due to an increase 

 of the solar constant. 



Recently, many papers have been published 

 about the influence of volcanic dust on meteoro- 

 logical phenomena, on atmospheric tempera- 

 ture in particular, and it has been admitted 

 by different authors that volcanic dust must 

 have been a factor in the production of past 

 climatic changes. 



The hypothesis ascribing the origin of cli- 

 matic variations to the presence of volcanic 

 dust veils in the higher atmospheric layers, is 

 a very plausible argument against my supposi- 

 tion that the changes in terrestrial temperature 

 are due to cosmical causes. Before going any 

 further in my researches on the mode of forma- 

 tion and the dynamics of pleionian varia- 

 tions, it was therefore necessary to flnd out to 

 what extent one may be justified to suppose 

 that the antipleionian depressions of tempera- 

 ture are simply caused by the presence of 

 volcanic dust veils. 



In a paper read before the New York Acad- 

 emy of Sciences on December 7, 1 have studied 



