January 2, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



33 



SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS 



Dr. Nils Ekholm in a recent work^ makes 

 \use of isallobaric charts (charts of equal 

 changes of pressure) in addition to the usual 

 isobaric charts. His study of the former 

 indicates that pressure changes are of primary 

 importance, while cyclonic and anticyclonic 

 phenomena are secondary. 



A thorough study of the thunderstorm ob- 

 servations in Germany for 1910 has recently 

 appeared." The thunderstorm observations of 

 1,570 stations are printed in extenso and sum- 

 marized in a number of tables. The mean 

 velocity for 979 thunderstorms was 38 kilo- 

 meters per hour; the extreme velocities were 

 9 and 95 kilometers per hour. Twenty per cent, 

 of the thunderstorms came in May, forty per 

 cent, in June and twenty per cent, in July. 

 There is a special article on the destructive 

 thunderstorm of May 11, 1910. 



The British Rainfall Association under the 

 direction of Dr. H. R. Mill deserves credit for 

 its large 52d volume " British Rainfall, 1912." 

 Part 1 contains three special articles on " The 

 Great Rainstorm of August 25-26, 1912"; 

 " The Wettest Summer in England and 

 Wales," and " The Seathwaite-pattem Rain- 

 gauge." Part 2 is an extensive treatment of 

 the British rainfall data of 1912. Part 3 is a 

 general table of the rainfall observed at 5,272 

 stations. 



The report of the Praneo-Swedish sounding- 

 balloon expedition in Lapland 1907, 1908 and 

 1909 has been published recently. As in middle 

 latitudes, the base of the stratosphere was en- 

 countered at a mean elevation of twelve kilo- 

 meters with temperatures of — 50° to — 60° 0. 

 These temperatures are higher than those at 

 the base of the stratosphere in equatorial 

 regions where records of — 80° C. are not 

 uncommon.^ 



^ ' ' Daa Wetter auf der Nordsee wahrend der 

 erste Halfte von Juni 1911," Copenhague, 1913. 



6 Th. Arendt, ' ' Ergebnisse der Gewitter-Beo- 

 bachtungen im Jahre 1910," Verbff. d. Kon. 

 Preuss. Met. Inst., No. 266. 



' See Scientific American, December 6, 1913, p. 

 432. 



The pumping action (suction) of the wind 

 particularly in mountain stations offers a 

 serious obstacle to accurate barometer read- 

 ings. Mr. G. V. Eisner in a monograph, 

 " Tiber den Einfluss des Windes auf den 

 Barometerstand an Hohenstationen,"^ dis- 

 cusses this at length. As yet no way has been 

 found to eliminate this wind eifect. 



In recognition of the fact that the Blue Hill 

 Meteorological Observatory is now part of the 

 Division of Geology of Harvard University, 

 the members of that Division visited the Ob- 

 servatory November 8. Professor Alexander 

 McAdie, the new Director, gave an address on 

 " Modern Methods of Frost-fighting." 



The Smithsonian Institution is to reopen 

 the Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory, which 

 was closed a few years ago. The first serious 

 contribution from the scientific side of aero- 

 nautics is to be found in the work of Langley. 

 His original purpose was not to construct a 

 flying machine, but to determine the laws 

 governing flight. Two wind tunnels are to be 

 made for tests on models. In addition 

 to these experiments, an aircraft field-labora- 

 tory is proposed for measurements of stress, 

 moments of inertia, etc., and for the adjust- 

 ment and repair of several full-scale land and 

 water aeroplanes. 



The part which high humidity plays in pro- 

 ducing heat stroke was well illustrated in 

 Vienna on August 20, 1913. With the relative 

 humidity around eighty per cent, and tempera- 

 tures between 20° and 23° C, several suffered 

 from heat prostration. 



The council of the Royal Meteorological 

 Society has awarded the Symons Gold Medal 

 to Mr. W. H. Dines, F.R.S., in recognition of 

 the valuable work he has done in connection 

 with meteorological science. The medal will 

 be presented at the annual meeting of the 

 society on January 21, 1914. 



We learn from Nature (London) that in 

 November the British Meteorological Service 

 8 Veroff. d. Kon. Preuss. Met. hist., No. 257. 



