.January 30, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



171 



tions have been approved by him, announce- 

 ment is made of a general change to begin 

 January, 1914, in the character of the Monthly 

 Weather Review and the Bulletinof the Mount 

 Weather Observatory. These two periodicals 

 which have hitherto appeared separately {i. e., 

 the Monthly Weather Review, largely devoted 

 to statistical data and notes on current 

 vreather conditions, and the Bulletin of the 

 Mount Weather Observatory, embodying a 

 portion of the research work done by the 

 bureau) will be merged into a single publica- 

 tion. The new series will retain the former 

 ■well-known title. Monthly Weather Review. 

 It will contain contributions from the officials 

 of the Weather Bureau engaged in research 

 work of any kind bearing on the atmosphere, 

 and its pages will be open also to others work- 

 ing along similar lines. It will not contain 

 the detailed tables for the twelve large clima- 

 tological districts that have appeared in the 

 Review since July, 1909, but tables giving a 

 general summary of the data from the " full 

 reporting stations " of the Bureau, about 200 

 in number, will still appear as in the past. 

 Beginning with January, 1914, the statistics 

 now assembled to form these detailed tables 

 for the twelve large climatological districts, 

 defined by great watersheds, will continue to 

 he assembled in tables similar to these, but 

 will be arranged by states instead of districts. 

 The tables for each state will form one report 

 prepared at the section center of that state, 

 except in the case of the New England States, 

 which wiU appear as a single section; and 

 Maryland, Delaware, and the District of 

 Columbia will also be grouped into a single 

 section. The total number of these sections 

 will be 42. These detailed summaries by 

 states will each contain from 8 to 12 pages 

 of data and charts and will be issued from 

 ten to twenty days after the close of each 

 month; they will thus meet the need for 

 prompt dissemination in each state of the 

 information they contain better than is possi- 

 ble under the present policy of collecting them 

 at the Central Office into a single monthly. 



The Russian empire, covering one seventh 

 of the land area of the globe and only sparsely 



settled in spite of its nearly 170,000,000 inhab- 

 itants, offers an interesting subject for study 

 for both business men and economics. This 

 country to-day presents a picture of economic 

 development comparable with that of the 

 United States of three or four generations ago, 

 in that Russia is now chiefly a producer of 

 the raw materials derived from nature, such 

 as grain, timber, hides and minerals, and is 

 just beginning to develop manufacturing in- 

 dustries of importance. Its exports are al- 

 most entirely foodstuffs and raw and semi- 

 manufactured products, while it imports 

 nearly all of the higher grades of manufac- 

 tures which its people require. The total 

 value of the foreign trade of European Rus- 

 sia, in 1912, according to official figures, was 

 more than $1,200,000,000, in which the United 

 States participated to the extent of only $53,- 

 000,000. However, the indirect trade between 

 the two countries passing through foreign 

 middlemen brings the value of the sales of 

 American products to Russia to $80,000,000, 

 and the exports from Russia to the United 

 States to $30,000,000. Largely owing to the 

 lack of knowledge among American business 

 men of the possibilities of the Russian market, 

 the trade between the two countries is on the 

 threshold only of its possible development. 

 The monograph on Russia just published by 

 the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 

 merce, of the Department of Commerce, en- 

 titled " Handbook on Russia," should there- 

 fore be of special interest. This book eon- 

 tains nearly 260 pages, with two maps, and 

 includes a comparative description of the eco- 

 nomic situation in European Russia, by Con- 

 sul General John H. Snodgrass, stationed at 

 Moscow; reviews of the commerce of various 

 districts in 1912, by the American consuls sta- 

 tioned in Russia, and a very timely descrip- 

 tion of commercial and industrial conditions 

 in Siberia, by Consul John Jewell, stationed 

 at Vladivostok. To those who still regard 

 that country as a frozen waste, the picture 

 presented by Mr. Jewell will be a revelation. 

 He compares Siberia to-day with Canada of 

 a generation ago, and points out the possibili- 



