October 26, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



539 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 

 METEOROLOGY OF THE NILE BASIN. 



A VALUABLE report on ' The Physiography 

 of the Eiver Nile and its Basin' (1906, 4to, 

 pp. 411), by Captain H. G. Lyons, Director- 

 General of the Survey Department of Egjrpt, 

 shows how rapidly our knowledge of the 

 physiographical and meteorological conditions 

 of northern Africa is being enlarged. This 

 volume, of over four hundred pages, illus- 

 trated by means of nearly fifty charts, dia- 

 grams and maps of various kinds, is very ef- 

 fective evidence of the energy and ability of 

 the present chief of the Egyptian Survey 

 Department. A second smaller publication, 

 ' The Eains of the Nile Basin in 1905 ' (Cairo, 

 1906, pp. 40, pis. IX.), deals with the rainfall 

 of one year. It includes monthly rainfall 

 maps, and some interesting diagrams of Lake 

 Victoria levels; of gauge readings for Lake 

 Albert, Bahr el Ghazal, White Nile, Blue Nile, 

 Atbara and Nile, and also an instructive com- 

 parative diagram of Nile floods. Much pop- 

 ular interest has always been excited by the 

 famous Nile overflows. With each succeeding 

 year the factors concerned in these overflows 

 are more carefully worked out and more thor- 

 oughly understood. 



COLD WAVES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Bulletin P of the Weather Bureau, by 

 Professor E. B. Garriott, deals with ' Cold 

 Waves and Frost in the United States ' (1906, 

 4to, pp. 22, charts 328), and is a very useful 

 collection of charts which teachers will be able 

 to put into the hands of classes in meteor- 

 ology. In the test there is a chronological 

 account of historical cold periods in the 

 United States, and a summary and classifica- 

 tion of the more important cold waves and 

 frosts in the period 1888-1902, inclusive. A 

 considerable body of material is here collected, 

 in very convenient form for study, and it is 

 to be hoped that some competent person who 

 has the necessary time at his disposal will give 

 these charts the attention which they merit, 

 and will deduce from them various important 

 conclusions which have not yet been reached 

 concerning both cold waves and frosts. 



climate of ALASKA. 



A REPORT on ' The Climate of Alaska,' by 

 Cleveland Abbe, Jr., forming part of a recent 

 publication on the geology and physiography 

 of that territory, appears separately as an 

 extract from Professional Paper No. 1^5, U. S. 

 Geological Survey, pp. 133-200. The avail- 

 able records have been carefully studied and 

 summarized, and although the conditions of 

 observation were in many cases not all that 

 could be desired, so far as accuracy, exposure 

 of instruments and regularity are concerned, 

 yet this volume presents a valuable body of 

 information which was much needed in many 

 quarters. The discussion in the text is clear 

 and concise. The tabulations are well ar- 

 ranged and in several cases unusually com- 

 plete. And there is a satisfactory recognition 

 of the human relations which is all too rarely 

 found in climatic reports. 



COLORADO COLLEGE OBSERVATORY. 



The semi-annual Bulletin of the Colorado 

 College Observatory (June, 1906) contains the 

 meteorological statistics, with an introductory 

 explanation, by Professor E. H. Loud, the 

 director; ' Colorado Springs Weather Records,' 

 by Chester M. Angell, being a table of meteor- 

 ological statistics for 1872-1903, and a second 

 paper on the ' Evolution of the Snow Crystal,' 

 by J. C. Shedd. 



NOTES. 



At a meeting of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society held on July 12, 1906, a paper by 

 Dr. Alexander Paterson, of Hebron, Syria, 

 was read, in which, on the basis of ten years' 

 recent observations at that station, it was held 

 that the climate is now much the same as the 

 scriptures show it to have been 3,000 years ago. 



The Eourteenth Report of the Sonnblich- 

 Verein (1905) contains an account of the 

 observatory Reina Margherita on Monte Rosa, 

 with a view of the royal party, including 

 Queen Margherita, on its ascent of the Gnif et- 

 tispitze. 



Those who wish to keep up with the prog- 

 ress that is being made in kite meteorology will 

 need to consult ' The Vertical Temperature 

 Gradients on the West Coast of Scotland and 



