732 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 306. 



ing of the Plant of the Standard Oil Company at 

 Bayonne, N. J., July 5, 6, and 7, 1900,' by W. H. 

 Mitchell, notes the formation of cumulus clouds 

 over the smoke from the fire, and the fact that 

 the surface winds were drawn in towards the 

 fire from a distance of over half a mile. The 

 'Climatology of St. Kitts, W. I.,' by W. H. 

 Alexander, Observer Weather Bureau, dis- 

 cusses observations made in 1892-1899. Pro- 

 fessor A. J. Henry considers ' The Hot Weather 

 of August, 1900.' The initial movement which 

 led to the hot wave during August was the slow 

 drift of an area of high pressure southward and 

 southwestward from southern New York, 

 where it was located on August 4th, to the 

 Ohio and Upper Mississippi valleys, in which 

 region it culminated about the 8th. The warm 

 weather extended from the Eocky Mountains to 

 the Atlantic, and within this general area of 

 high temperature there were small areas of ex- 

 cessive heating, as near St. Paul and St. Louis. 

 At St. Paul the monthly mean temperature was 

 77.2 °, a higher average than has before been 

 recorded there, and at St. Louis, also, the Au- 

 gust mean was higher than any previously ob- 

 served there. Two additional points are of 

 special interest. From August 6th to August 

 11th, when the highest temperatures were re- 

 corded in Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District 

 of Columbia and Virginia, the winds were from 

 a northerly quarter. Secondly, between the 

 6th and the 11th the diurnal variation of the 

 barometer at Washington was almost tropical 

 in its regularity, and was very marked. Pro- 

 fessor Abbe calls attention to the fact that a 

 Monthly Statement of Average Weather Condi- 

 tions, giving a brief discussion of the average 

 weather conditions of each month as determined 

 by long observation, is hereafter to be issued by 

 our Weather Bureau. These statements are 

 prepared in response to a popular demand for 

 something in the way of a long range weather 

 forecast. The first of these statements, that 

 concerning August weather, is printed in this 

 number of the Monthly Weather Review. Pro- 

 fessor Abbe also has a paper on ' The Influence of 

 the Lakes on the Temperature of the Land, ' in 

 which he concludes that " the direct influence 

 of the lake water upon the temperature is ap- 

 preciable for a few miles only ; the indirect in- 



fluence, by reason of the formation of cloud and 

 rain, may be felt for 50 miles." 



CLIMATE OF CORDOBA (ARGENTINA). 



Under the direction of Mr. Walter G. Davis, 

 the Argentine Meteorological Ofiice is issuing a 

 series of reports on the climate of Argentina 

 with a rapidity and to an extent which is cer- 

 tainly phenomenal. The latest volume, XHI., 

 bearing the date 1900, embraces 620 pages, 33 

 of which concern the Annual Eeports of the 

 Director for 1894 and 1895, and the remainder 

 of which (i. e. ,587 pages) consists of meteorO' 

 logical tables for Cordoba. These tables are a 

 continuation of those published in Vol. IX., of 

 the Anales of the Argentine Meteorological 

 Office, which ended with the year 1893. The 

 number of years included in the present volume 

 is five, ending with 1898. The completeness 

 of tabular presentation is admirable, there be- 

 ing, for example, twenty-six distinct tables giv- 

 ing the results of observations on evaporation 

 alone. It is impossible to overestimate the 

 value of the data contained in such reports as 

 this. 



E. Dec. Ward. 



AN EXPLOSION OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST. 



A SINGULAR though not unprecedented acci- 

 dent took place at the Mammoth mine, in Utah, 

 recently. Illustrating applied thermodynamics 

 in an interesting but fatal manner, causing the 

 death of one and the severe injury of another of 

 the engineers of the mine. 



The cylinder of an air- compressor exploded 

 while in operation in regular work, and with 

 such violence as gave evidence of more than the 

 action of the normal air-pressure in its produc- 

 tion. The back cylinder-head and the cylinder 

 itself were shattered ; the violence of the ex- 

 plosion was terrific. The two men were thrown 

 across the room and badly mangled and one 

 instantly killed. Fragments of metal and of 

 flesh were found outside [the building and a 

 long distance away. The air-pressure, at de- 

 livery from the compressor, was but 80 pounds 

 per square inch. The cause of the explosion is 

 presumed to have been the compression of the 

 vapors of petroleum given off by oil used for 

 lubrication in too large quantity and of too light 



