Septembee 7, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



at an average speed of 13.5 miles an hour. 

 Several interesting reports were received con- 

 cerning the passage of the central ' eye.' Thus, 

 Capt. T. A. Hillgrove, of the cutter Basilan, 

 at anchor, noted: 



Between 8 and 9 p.m. wind and sea suddenly 

 died down, the sky cleared, and stars became 

 visible. The calm lasted for fifteen minutes. The 

 barometer remained 10 mm. below the graduated 

 glass (700 mm.). After the calm, the wind 

 rushed in from the southeast with hurricane force, 

 and the barometer began to rise. 



Before the ' eye ' the wind was north. The 

 Basilan did not pass through the exact center. 

 The Pathfinder, ten miles south, experienced 

 but three minutes of calm. The true center 

 passed between the two vessels, and was, there- 

 fore, of very small radius. Later on, observa- 

 tions show that the calm central area increased 

 in size. At Manila, where the center was 24 

 miles from the city, wind velocities of 90 to 

 over 100 miles an hour were recorded. There 

 is evidence that both ascending and descend- 

 ing winds were produced. Iij one case roofs 

 fell in, as if overwhelmed by a weight on top. 

 The ocean swell was particularly heavy, and 

 had much to do with the loss of several ves- 

 sels, including the Cantabria. We wish to call 

 special attention to the very complete set of 

 illustrations which accompany this report, in- 

 cluding views of damage done on shore; of 

 wrecked vessels; maps of the cyclone track 

 and of the weather conditions; and reproduc- 

 tions of numerous instrumental records. 



KITE FLYING IN INDIA. 



The extent to which scientific kite-flying has 

 made its way around the world is evidenced 

 by the publication, as Vol. XX., Part I., 

 of the famous Indian Meteorological Memoirs, 

 of 'An Account of the Preparations made 

 for Determining the Conditions of the Upper 

 Air in India by Means of Kites.' The writer 

 is J. H. Field, deputy meteorologist; the date 

 of publication, 1906. One of the chief ob- 

 jects of the work was the determination of 

 the distinctive characters of the monsoon cur- 

 rents in India, leading to other questions in 

 connection with the penetration of the Bengal 

 monsoon current into the country along the 



base of the Himalayas. The flights took place 

 between August 26 and September 12, 1905, 

 a short distance (9 kms.) from Karachi City. 

 The results show that a nearly saturated 

 stratum of air from the sea extended from 

 about 10 meters above sea-level upwards to a 

 level which rose from 500 m. on August 27 

 to 1,130 m. on August 31. After that day, 

 until September 9, its limiting height was 

 not reached by the kite, but probably exceeded 

 1,000 m. By September 12 the upper limit 

 fell again to 600 m. Above this nearly satu- 

 rated stratum, an extremely dry wind was en- 

 countered, the recorded humidity (possible 

 error of 10 per cent.) being in some cases 

 only 5 per cent, to 10 per cent. These warm 

 upper winds were of land origin, and showed 

 very rapid diurnal changes of temperature. 

 The report is well illustrated by means of 

 vertical temperature gradient diagrams, as 

 well as by weather maps, 



WORK OP THE PHILIPPINE WEATHER BUREAU. 



Some idea of the amount of work now be- 

 ing done by the Philippine Weather Bureau 

 may be gained from the fact that the Annual 

 Report of the director for the year 1903, which 

 has recently been mailed, embraces 1,128 

 pages, quarto size, of tabulated meteorological 

 observations. With such a volume in hand, 

 or rather on one's desk, for it is too heavy to 

 hold, one who did not know what the Philip- 

 pine Weather Service has done would be in- 

 clined to say. What a hopelessly extravagant 

 expenditure of time and money to collect and 

 publish these data ! But the Manila Observa- 

 tory, and the whole meteorological service, 

 have made the most excellent use of their 

 records. It would be well for meteorology 

 if as good use had everywhere been made of 

 the results of the daily weather observations. 



CLOUDINESS AND ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES. 



The value of accurate records of cloudiness 

 is emphasized by certain suggestions contained 

 in a recent paper by Professor E. C. Picker- 

 ing, on ' An International Southern Tele- 

 scope ' (Proc. Amer. Philos. 8oc., XLV., 1906, 

 44-53). If the earth be divided into cloudy 

 and clear halves, nine tenths of the present 

 observatories lie in the cloudy regions. It is 



