no 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 368. 



pain was experienced. Shortly afterwards he 

 noticed that a part of the retina was perma- 

 nently affected, the injured portion being in the 

 form of a square, with the center of vision in 

 one corner. The sharp outlines of this field 

 could be easily distinguished, and upon closing 

 the eye, fan-shaped flashes of a violet color 

 spread out from one corner over the injured 

 area at equal intervals of several seconds, their 

 recurrence being entirely involuntary. After 

 being some time in the dark the flashes of color 

 ceased. 



There was in general an apparent lack of il- 

 lumination over this part of the retina, accom- 

 panied by a loss of power to properly distin- 

 guish colors, more especially green. The 

 outlines of objects were blurred, their dimen- 

 sions also appearing to be reduced by about 

 one quarter. Printed letters could not be rec- 

 ognized at more than half the distance at which 

 they were easily read by the uninjured eye. 

 Parallel lines seemed to converge over the 

 injured portion. In walking and riding he 

 noticed at a short distance ahead what seemed 

 to be a spot a few inches in diameter and about 

 two inches high, which he often turned his 

 wheel aside to avoid. The injured eye was also 

 very defective in estimating distances. The 

 effect lasted several weeks with almost un- 

 diminished intensity, but has since been grad- 

 ually disappearing. 



The second case is that of Mr. E., who in 

 May, 1900, imprudently observed for some time 

 the partial eclipse of the sun with his eyes un- 

 protected in any way. No effect was noticed 

 until late in the day, when in looking over the 

 hillside he saw apparently a flock of eight or 

 ten red birds whose movements were very 

 erratic. Since the birds appeared wherever he 

 looked, he carefully examined the field of 

 vision, and discovered that the sun had formed 

 a crescent image on the center of the retina of 

 the left eye. The color of the image was 

 green with a narrow red border. The injured 

 area seemed to be quite blind, and parallel 

 lines diverged around it, this effect being just 

 the opposite of the previous case. The injury 

 is always noticeable and very annoying, espe- 

 cially in reading. In making observations in 

 the physical laboratory he had to discontinue 



the use of his left eye, which he had been ac- 

 customed to use constantly. The effect is still 

 noticeable after a year, though it causes much 

 less annoyance. 



A case exactly similar to this has been de- 

 scribed, in which the injury had lasted ten 

 years. 



Frank Allen. 



CoENEix University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



RAINFALL, COMMERCE AND POLITICS. 



A SUGGESTIVE paper by H. H. Clayton in 

 the Popular Science Monthly for December, 

 on 'The Influence of Rainfall on Commerce 

 and Politics,' forcibly emphasizes the interest 

 and value of the studies that may be made 

 along the lines of human, or economic, meteor- 

 ology. In pointing out that 'every severe 

 financial panic (in the United States) has 

 been closely associated with a protracted 

 period of deficient rainfall,' and that 'there 

 has been no period of protracted drought with- 

 out a severe financial panic except a period, 

 the effects of which were masked by the large 

 disturbances attending our Civil War,' the 

 author has clearly indicated how closely 

 national crises are related to the changing 

 meteorological conditions of successive years. 

 The sequence of deficient rainfall — deficient 

 food supply — financial panics — changes in the 

 dominance of political parties, — is also con- 

 sidered. There is much in this discussion that 

 might well occupy the attention of those who 

 take pleasure, not only in studying the corre- 

 lations of meteorological conditions and poli- 

 tics in the past, but who also wish to try their 

 luck at forecasting the political changes of the 

 future. Mr. Clayton rightly calls attention to 

 the value of such investigations on the 

 economic side of meteorology, and to the need 

 of more opportunity in our universities for 

 the study of the influences of the atmosphere 

 upon health, upon commerce and upon poli- 

 tics. 



This interesting paper suggests a number 

 of other, somewhat similar, examples of the 

 influence of weather upon political movements 

 of greater or less importance. Among the' 

 causes of the 'Boxer' outbreak in China, which 



