196 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. HI. No. 58. 



Meteorological Congress at Chicago in 1893 

 an essay lately published, with much other 

 material in the second part of the report of 

 the Congress, and issued as Bulletin II. of 

 the United States Weather Bureau. In- 

 jurious winds are classified as violent, cold 

 and desiccating. The first class includes 

 the hurricane, the tornado and the thunder- 

 squall (derecho of Hinrichs). The second 

 class includes nocturnal winds, descending 

 mountain valleys; these being quoted as 

 injurious to the vine and limiting its area 

 of cultivation in certain parts of Europe, 

 but not yet known to be harmful in this 

 country. Cold waves, blizzards and northers 

 also belong in the second class. The de- 

 forestation of Michigan is said to have given 

 more ready access to cold waves, hence * the 

 peach crop has nearly disappeared ' from 

 that State. The desiccating winds are more 

 fully described, especially the hot south- 

 west winds of the Plains, to which Curtis 

 had previously given special attention (7th 

 Bienn. Rept. Kansas State Board of Agri- 

 culture, 1891, 162-183; see also essay by 

 Cllne, Amer. Meteorol. Journ., xi, 1894, 

 175-186). The statistics often counties in 

 Kansas in 1888 showed a loss of 21,000,000 

 bushels of corn alone, due principally to 

 hot winds. These winds are chiefly of day- 

 time occurrence, their temperature reaching 

 over 100°, even to 109°, while their relative 

 humidity is probably not over 20 or 25%. 

 When the ground has been thoroughly 

 dried, then one or two days of hot winds 

 wither and shrivel up the crops beyond 

 possibility of more than partial recovery. 

 Destructive hot north winds occur in the 

 valley of California. Timber belts are re- 

 commended as the best protection against 

 both cold waves and hot winds. 



DROUGHTS AND FAMINES IN INDIA. 



John Eliot, of the Indian meteorological 

 ofi&ce, contributed a paper of much value to 

 the Chicago Congress under the title given 



above. After a general account of the cli- 

 mate of India, in particular of the winds 

 and rainfall, the author shows that the 

 famine districts are all in areas of moderate 

 or light rainfall, between 20 and 35 inches. 

 One such area enters the southeastern 

 coast of the peninsula and extends north- 

 westward over the Deccan ; another forms a 

 V-shaped belt, pointing eastward and en- 

 closing the arid desert area of the lower 

 Indus. A late beginning of the rainy sea- 

 son, a prolonged break in its continuance, 

 scanty rainfall during the period, or an 

 early cessation of the rains, result in famine. 

 In northern India famine is usually due 

 either to the failure of two half-year crops 

 in succession, to the complete failure of one 

 crop after a succession of poor or bad sea- 

 sons. In the Deccan famine follows a fail- 

 ure of the summer rains, after one or more 

 bad seasons. A list of twenty-four famine 

 years is given, beginning with 1769. Of 

 these eight were ' intense famines,' while 

 six were only 'severe scarcities.' The 

 Orissa famine of 1865-66 caused a loss of 

 life estimated at one million, out of three 

 million population, and a loss to the State 

 of £1,500,000. The Behar famine of 1873-4 

 caused an expenditure of £6,000,000, in pro- 

 viding relief to the distressed people ; con- 

 sequently the loss of life was small. 



METEOEOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN CYCLONES 

 AND ANTICYCLONES. 



A VALUABLE study of the distribution of 

 meteorological elements around areas of 

 low and high pressure at Vienna and at 

 Thorshavn, Sweden, has been made by 

 Akerblom (Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 

 XX., 1895, Bihang, No. 3). The diagrams 

 for surface winds and for cirrus clouds are 

 here reproduced. It is noticeable that 

 while the cirrus clouds over a cyclonic area 

 show but a moderate deflection to either 

 side of their mean course from W. 6° S., 

 those over an anticyclonic area are deflected 



