FEBRUARY 1, 1901.] 
the North Atlantic Ocean is noted, this step being 
made possible by the use of reports now received 
from the West Indies, the Bahamas, Bermuda, 
France, Great Britain, Germany, etc. When- 
ever possible, forecasts are to be made of wind 
force and direction for the first three days of 
the voyage of all outgoing steamships. A brief 
history of each hurricane that occurred during 
the year is given, with copies of statements 
from persons not connected with the Weather 
Bureau regarding the efficiency of the storm- 
warning service. An important improvement 
in connection with the display of storm-warn- 
ings for the benefit of mariners has been made 
by the adoption of a specially constructed steel 
tower, with a flagpole at its summit. From 
this pole the signal flags are flown by day, and 
on it lanterns are displayed at night. ‘ Emi- 
nently satisfactory’ progress is reported to 
have been made with experiments in wireless 
telegraphy. The importance of the Weather 
Bureau’s Lake Marine service may be under- 
stood from the statement that ‘each of the 
20,000 or more vessels that pass Detroit receives 
the latest information available with regard to 
the force and direction of the wind, and the 
location and probable movement of storms.’ 
WEST INDIAN HURRICANES. 
UNDER the title ‘ West Indian Hurricanes’ the 
Weather Bureau has issued a report, prepared 
by Professor E. B. Garriott, which will find 
many interested readers. Since the United 
States has come to take an active political in- 
terest in West Indian affairs, West Indian 
hurricanes have assumed an additional impor- 
tance in the eyes of the American people. This 
monograph gives a general account of these 
storms, their laws of circulation, cloud move- 
ments, tracks, formation, prognostics and char- 
acteristic phenomena. Poéy’s table of hurri- 
canes from 1493 to 1855 is given, supplemented 
by a table based on Weather Bureau records, 
giving the hurricanes from,1878 to 1900. Then 
follow brief descriptions, arranged by months, 
of recent hurricanes, including the famous ‘ Gal- 
veston Storm’ of last September, and lastly 
local descriptions of historic hurricanes. Charts 
showing the hurricane tracks for each month 
for the years 1878 to 1900 accompany the 
SCIENCE. 
193 
report, which is to be recommended as being a 
readable, non-technical discussion of the subject 
with which it deals. 
MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 
THE Monthly Weather Review for September 
(issued November 16th) contains the following 
articles: ‘West Indian Hurricane of Septem- 
ber 1-12, 1900,’ by Professor EK. B. Garriott; 
‘Special Report on the Galveston Hurricane of 
September 8, 1900,’ by Dr. I. M. Cline, Local 
Forecast Official at Galveston; ‘The Storm 
Waves of South Carolina and Texas,’ by Gen- 
eral E. P. Alexander; ‘On the Color and Po- 
larization of Blue Sky Light,’ by N. E. Dorsey ; 
“Review of Professor Very’s Memoir on At 
mospheric Radiation,’ by N. E. Dorsey; ‘The 
Frequency of Hail in the United States’ and 
‘The Crop as depending on Meteorological 
Conditions,’ by Professor Cleveland Abbe. 
R. DEC. Warp. 
BOTANICAL NOTES. 
‘BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITIES IN WASHINGTON. 
Ir may be doubted whether the botanists of 
this country fully realize the magnitude of the 
botanical work now being done in Washington. 
In the Department of Agriculture there are 
several ‘divisions’ devoted wholly to botanical 
investigations, and several others whose work 
contributes more or less to the enlargement of 
our scientific knowledge of plants. Thus the 
‘divisions’ of Botany, Vegetable Physiology 
and Pathology, and Agrostology are so many 
divisions of the science of botany, while the 
‘divisions’ of Forestry, Soils, Biological Survey, 
Experimental Gardens and Grounds, and Po 
mology, and the ‘section’ of Seed and Plant 
Introduction, are more or less contributory to 
botanical science. All these have much in 
them which is of interest to the botanist; in 
fact, some of the most interesting contributions 
to the scientific aspects of botanical inquiry 
have come from the second list, where the ap- 
plications of science are generally emphasized. 
To these must be added the National Herbarium 
under control of the Smithsonian Institution, 
where are stored nearly a million botanical 
specimens. 
