May 29, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



801 



Educator (Terre Haute, Ind.) in the hope 

 of cultivating an appreciative study of local 

 physiography in the Indiana schools. In the 

 April number, two outline maps exhibit 

 hypothetical restorations of several stages 

 of the glacial lakes in relation to the mo- 

 raines, the retreating ice front and the tem- 

 porary outlets. As several of the terminal 

 moraines constitute the most important 

 local reliefs of the level prairies of Indiana, 

 and as one of the earlier lakes overflowed 

 across northern Indiana to the Wabash and 

 thence to the Ohio, passing the site of Fort 

 Wayne, the subject is a pertinent one for an 

 educational journal, and deserves more em- 

 phasis than it commonly receives in the 

 schools. The Science department of the 

 Educator, conducted by Prof. C. R. Dryer, 

 of the State Normal School at Terre Haute, 

 proposes to follow Taylor's essay with 

 others of local physiographic bearing pre- 

 pared by investigators of acknowledged 

 competence, and in this plan they set a 

 good example that deserves imitation. 



W. M. Davis. 

 Haevaed University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON 3IETE0R0L0GY. 

 WEATHEE BUREAU KITE- FLYING. 



The past year has witnessed a very no- 

 table development in scientific kite-flying in 

 this country. In Washington the Weather 

 Bureau has, under the direction of Prof. 

 AVillis L. Moore, Chief of the Bureau, been 

 carrying on an extended investigation into 

 the best kinds of kites for use in sending up 

 meteorological instruments. Prof. C. F. 

 Marvin has recently minutely described the 

 kind of kite now in use by the Bureau (Mo. 

 Weather Eev., Nov., 1895). This kite is 

 a modification of those used by Hargrave 

 in Australia, and is not at all like the ordi- 

 nary kite. Instead of being flat, and taper- 

 ing at the lower end, as in the usual form, 

 these kites are box-shaped, with their ends 

 open and their sides partly covered with 



cloth or silk. This style of kite, which has 

 also been in use at Blue Hill for some months, 

 is found to be admirably adapted to the 

 purpose for which it is intended, and when 

 fiile piano wire is used to hold it, instead of 

 twine, is a splendid flyer. The next few 

 years will undoubtedly witness many im- 

 provements in kites used for meteorological 

 purposes, and the United States seems to be 

 distinctly in the lead in this work at the 

 present time. 



BALLOONS AND KITES IN CLOUD 

 OBSERVATIONS. 



In connection with the cloud observa- 

 tions to be made during the International 

 Cloud Year (see Science, May 1, 1896, 661) 

 the suggestion is made by Kremser (Me- 

 teorologische Zeitschrift, Api-il, 1896, 143- 

 144) that the extended use of small pilot 

 balloons would result in giving us much 

 valuable information as to the air currents 

 in and around clouds. These balloons, 

 which can be made at slight expense, reach 

 considerable altitudes, and are especially 

 useful in indicating the drift of the air cur- 

 rents when there are no clouds in the sky, 

 the direction of the lower currents when 

 only upper clouds are visible, etc. Clay- 

 ton, of the Blue Hill Observatory, has for 

 some time been using kites to help in de- 

 termining the altitudes of the base of stratus 

 and nimbus. These clouds, which so often 

 cover the whole sky with a uniform sheet, 

 can only have their heights determined 

 under the most favorable circumstances if 

 the ordinary theodolite is used. 



BLUE HILL KITE-FLYING. 



The work done at Blue Hill Observatory 

 with kites was outlined by Clayton before 

 the Boston Scientific Society at a recent 

 meeting (Boston Commonwealth, May 9, 

 1896, 12-13). The kites at present in use 

 are the Eddy, or tailless, and the Hargrave, 

 or box kite. Continued experiments at 

 Blue Hill have resulted in the development 



