JULY 21, 1899. ] 
density which corresponds to a molecule con- 
taining four atoms at the fusing point of potas- 
sium iodid; red phosphorus under pressure is 
converted into ordinary phosphorus. 
THE Proceedings for June 1st contain the ab- 
stract of a paper by J. N. Collie and T. Tickle, 
which, while dealing with an organic substance, 
has a direct bearing on the valence of oxygen. 
Dimethyl pyrone acts as a base in forming a 
large series of salts by the direct addition of 
acids without elimination of water. The chloro- 
platinite is also formed. From this the infer- 
ence is drawn that the oxygen is the base-form- 
ing element and that its valence in the salts 
must be four. The formula of the base is 
/cH = C-Me 
Co. O and of the salts 
\cu = CMe 
enn Ye Ju 
Be C- Me nae 
every way to the salts of dimethyl pyridone, as 
BA C: aN Le 
ae nee ING 
to be in the compound no other element which 
can be base-forming, it would seem that oxygen 
must be added to the list of base-forming ele- 
ments, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and iodin, 
and that we now have oxonium bases. 
corresponding in 
As there seems 
FLUORIN has been given as present in analyses 
of some mineral waters, as those of Mont Dore 
and of St. Honoré les-Bains. F. Parmentier 
has made a careful examination of these waters, 
and his results, published in the Comptes Rendus, 
show that no fluorin is present. The etched 
appearance of glass vessels in which these 
waters have stood is shown to be due to the 
deposition of silica, of which a considerable 
quantity is present in the waters, and not to 
any real etching or the deposition of any 
fluorin compound. 
do Wy 18f, 
CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
FOEHM WINDS. 
In the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for May, 
Billwiller gives a clear and concise account of 
SCIENCE: 
89 
the various kinds of winds which he believes 
should be classed together as foehm winds (Ueber 
verschiedene Entstehungsarten und Erscheinungs- 
formen des Fohms). There are five varieties in 
all. The first is the best known of all, viz., the 
foehm on the northern slopes and in the north- 
ern valleys of the Alps, which occurs during 
the passage of an area of low pressure across 
central and northern Germany. It is this 
warm, dry wind which is so important a factor 
in the climate of some of the Swiss villages, 
Meiringen, for instance. Its rapid evaporation 
of the deep winter snows has gained for it the 
name of shneefresser. The north foehm on the 
southern side of the Alps is the second class, 
which occurs when barometric minima move 
across the northern Mediterranean region and 
thus draw down the air from the mountains, or 
when a barometric maximum is forming or ap- 
proaching on the northern side of the Alps, 
thus producing a considerable gradient to the 
south. A simultaneous appearance of foehm 
winds may take place in both northern and 
southern Alpine valleys when there is a well- 
marked descent of the air over the mountains. 
This gives rise to the third class of these winds. 
Under the influence of the Alpine topography 
the slow down-settling of the air within an 
anticyclone may become locally hastened, and 
thus there results a development of air currents 
dynamically warmed, which constitute the 
fourth class of foehm winds. Lastly come the 
dry, foehm-like winds which have occasionally 
been noted as blowing out of winter anticy- 
clones in cases where there is no effect of to- 
pography. Although the immediate cause of 
the occurrence of these warm and dry winds 
may be different in different cases, this does not 
affect the nature ofthe foehm itself. A distinct 
division cannot well be made between the vari- 
ous classes and the term foehm should, there- 
fore, be used to describe the characteristics of 
the winds, rather than their immediate cause. 
LIGHTNING AND THE ELECTRICITY OF THE AIR. 
UNDER the title, Lightning and the Electricity of 
the Air, A. G. McAdie and A. J. Henry, of the 
U. S. Weather Bureau, have prepared a report 
which has been issued as Bulletin No. 26, ofthe 
Weather Bureau. This Bulletin consists of two 
