90 
parts, the first of which, by Mr. McAdie, deals 
with the electrification of the atmosphere and 
the measurement of the potential of the air— 
auroras and protection from lightning. Mr. 
McAdie has made himself an authority on 
lightning in this country, and whatever he has to 
write about lightning always finds large numbers 
of attentive readers. Most of Mr. McAdie’s 
portion of this Bulletin has previously been 
printed. Part II.,by Mr. A. J. Henry, deals with 
matters of very general interest, viz., loss of life 
and of property by lightning; character of 
soil as influencing lightning strokes; kind of 
trees struck by lightning, and the question, is 
the danger of lightning stroke increasing. The 
Bulletin is illustrated by means of a consider- 
able number of views of lightning flashes and of 
damage done by lightning, and will doubtless 
prove interesting and profitable reading to a 
great many persons. 
HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE CAMEROON MOUN- 
TAINS. 
THE extraordinary rainfall at the base of 
Cameroon Peak (18,369 ft.) is made the subject 
of a brief communication by Hann, in the May 
number of the Meteorologische Zeitschrift. The 
mean annual rainfall at Debundja (Lat. 4°8’ N.; 
Long. 9°0’ E. approximately), altitude 16 ft., 
as determined by three years’ observations, is 
about 370 inches. This rainfall shows a double 
period, viz., a maximum in June and a second 
maximum in.September. At Bibundi, 1 km. 
distant from the ocean and about 10 ft. above 
sea level, the rainfall in the year 1897 amounted 
to 412 inches. These rainfalls are only ex- 
ceeded by the rainfall at Cherrapunji, on the 
Khasi Hills, in Assam, where the annual 
amount is 474 inches. Hann is of the opinion 
that when additional stations are established on 
the slopes of the Cameroon Mountains, they 
will show a rainfall equal to that of Cherra- 
punji. 
VERTICAL TEMPERATURE GRADIENT USED ON 
; WEATHER MAPS. 
THE daily weather map for June 16, 1899, 
issued at San Francisco by A. G. McAdie, Fore- 
cast Official, notes the vertical temperature 
gradient in the atmosphere in the vicinity of 
San Francisco at the time of the morning ob- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. X. No. 238. 
servation. We believe that this is the first in 
stance on record in which data concerning the 
vertical temperature gradient have been in- 
cluded on a daily weather map. The following 
is the reference as printed at the base of the 
map in question: ‘‘In the vicinity of San 
Francisco this morning the vertical gradient of 
temperature is about one degree increase for 
80 ft., up to an elevation of 2,500 ft. The rela- 
tive humidity at sea level is nearly 100 per 
cent.; at Mt. Tamalpais, 23 per cent. 
RECENT PUBLICATION. 
Weather Forecasting: Some Facts Historical, 
Practical and Theoretical. Wits L. Moore, 
Chief of U.S. Weather Bureau, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Bul- 
letin No. 25. 8vo. Washington, D. C., 
1899. Pp. 16. 
THE contents of this Bulletin are sufficiently 
described by its full title. The matter was 
first printed in the Forum for May, 1898. 
R. DEC. WARD. 
SIR WILLIAM FLOWER. 
IN an obituary notice of Sir William Flower, 
whose death we were compelled to record last 
week, the London Times comments as follows 
on his contributions to museum administration : 
The greater part of his active life was spent 
in the direction of important museums, and the 
question of their practical organization was one 
in which he always took a keen interest, and in 
which probably his best work was done. Both 
by precept and example he assiduously urged 
the importance of museums as instruments for 
the advancement of knowlege, and it cannot be 
doubted that his efforts did much to dispel the 
delusion—which even now lingers on in some 
quarters—that any miscellaneous collection of 
objects, huddled together in any sort of way, is 
all that is wanted to constitute a useful museum. 
In his presidential address to the British Asso- 
ciation at Newcastle, in 1889, he treated the 
subject at length, and particularly emphasized 
the importance of properly selecting and ar- 
ranging the specimens exhibited. A museum, 
he pointed out, can promote science in two 
ways—by affording facilities for scientific re- 
search and by providing opportunities for popu- 
