January i6, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



':.! 



They also exert a powerful effect upon the body in all skin- 

 diseases, but are probably less useful than the sulphurous 

 waters in such cases. At present no waters of this character 

 are utilized for baths, but could be readily led into suitable 

 bath-houses at the Norris Basin. This locality is indeed the 

 best suited for a sanitarium of any of the geyser basins of 

 the park, as all the varieties of waters occur here, save the 

 calcareous. 



Sulphurous waters are very familiar, though those of the 

 Yellowstone are particularly strong. The Mammoth Hot 

 Spring waters, tliough smelling strongly of sulphur at the 

 vent, possess little, if any, of that important constituent 

 when led into baths, for it is all deposited about the vents 

 and upon the algse growing in the waters; but excellent ex- 

 amples of this type are found at the Norris Basin, as well as 

 elsewhere in the park. 



Now that the roads and hotel accommodations in the park 

 are so good, and the region so easily reached in Pullman 

 coaches and with dining-cars, it is to be hoped that the waters 

 of these springs may bring relief to many sufferers. 



Walter Harvey Weed. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspoildenfs are requested to be as brief as possible. The V3riter''s name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



On request^ twenty copies of the nuynber containing his communication will 

 be furnished free to any correspondent . 



Time-Measuring among Savage Peoples. 



The question has arisen, in the National Museum whether the 

 American aborigines or any other savage peoples have any 

 mechanical devices for measuring the time of day or portions of 

 the day. I do not now allude to calendars, of wliicli there are 

 many, nor to observation of dawn, sunrise, a little alter .sunrise, 

 near noon, noon, etc., based on the diumal movement of the 

 heavenly bodies, but to primitive dials and the like. I have 

 heard of the Montaguai's practice of setting a staff in the snow 

 and marking the shadow, and of the Pueblo haliit of marking the 

 path of a sun-ray across the tloor, but u:iy inforiiiatiuu is not first- 

 rate. My familiarity with the African and insular peoples is 

 limited ; but it is designed to setup in the National Museum an 

 elaborative series to illustrate time-keeping, and we are anxious 

 to know what manner of invention should stand at the beginning 

 of the series. Otis T. SIason. 



Washington, Jan. 10. 



Professor Ferrel and American Meteorologists. 



It would seem to be high time that some one having authority 

 should read the riot act to a number of American meteorologists. 

 The views lately advanced by Dr. Haun, that cyclones (excepting 

 those of tropical regions) have their origin rather in the great gen- 

 eral movements of the upper atmosphere than in the ascensional 

 movement of relatively warm and moist air and the consequent 

 vapor condensation, may or may not stand the test of a more ex- 

 tensive and critical series of temperature studies than those made 

 in 1889, but it is none the less incumbent upon American meteor- 

 ologists to treat with proper courtesy the conscientious and life- 

 long labors of a fellow-countryman; and it is but scant courtesy 

 to exhibit to the world an eagerness to drag into prominence and 

 accept seriously a new theory of cyclonic genesis, when such a 

 theory lacks in every way extensive and careful study, and is 

 really but little more than a mere possibility suggested by an 

 eminent foreign mete<irologist, when he found in certain tem- 

 perature observations a somewhat marked difference from those 

 which the accepted theory seemed to hiui to require. 



There may be " thermic," and there may be dynamic, cyclones; 

 but the observations should be numerous and trustworthy before 

 it is claimed that such a distinction exists, and before we seri- 



ously accept the very radical view that temperatures in cyclones 

 are determined by the motions of the air. A thorough series of 

 temperature determinations at different parts of the storm, as a 

 mechanism, is needed, and should be offered. Especially is this 

 demanded when the acceptance of the new view implies a partial 

 remodelling, at least, of a theory that is of long standing, and has 

 the sanction of one of the best equipped minds of the many that 

 have tackled meteorological problems. Should occasion require. 

 Professor Ferrel can doubtless successfully defend the views he 

 holds ; but, for the benefit of some who may not be aware of his 

 methods of work, it may be not out of place to say here that 

 nothing from his hand is the result of haste, but, on the contrary, 

 the result of mature thought, and patient, careful, deliberate 

 study of the best scientific information at his command. 



With all possible deference to Dr. Hann's eminence in matters 

 meteorological, it is to be questioned whether a series of tempera- 

 ture observations at some fourteen stations, seven of which have 

 an altitude of over two thousand metres, for only two storms (the 

 barometric maximum of Nov. 12-24, and the minimum of Oct. 1), 

 prove any thing, after all, but that it is quite possible to find tem- 

 peratures higher than the normal when lower ones might be ex- 

 pected. But this abnormality is but a slim support for a new 

 theory, nor does it disprove the old. The air in the high area late 

 in November was apparently warmer than the air in the " low " at 

 the beginning of October ; but that does not prove that the mean 

 temperature of the air .in any and every maxima is always higher 

 than the mean temperature of any and every extra-tropical minima 

 (it is conceded that the new theory will not hold for tropical storms). 

 Dr. Hann claims that seven of these alpine stations have an ele- 

 vation over two kilometres above sea-level. Yet it may be an 

 open question if these heights give the conditions which he 

 sought, more particularly if we remember that certain of the cirri 

 clouds certainly have an elevation of not less than eighty kilome- 

 tres, and a two-kilometre temperature observation may give but 

 an uncertain irdication. We can even find at surface stations 

 abnormalities, that, if misinterpreted, might lead us to doubt a 

 great mauy of our accepted views in the matter of atmospheric 

 temperature. Mr. Kingston,' director of the Toronto Observatory 

 in 1868, called attention to the fact that the twelve-year normals 

 (1841-52) were not applicable to observations of later years, and, 

 according to five year normals, it was easy to show that January 

 was warmer than February, etc. ; and Schott shows in a table 

 how, from 1841 to 1850, February was colder than January at 

 New Haven, Toronto, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah, 

 while from 1851 to 1860 the reverse holds true. 



It is therefore, it seems to me, only fair to insist that American 

 meteorologists demand full and most thorough evidence before 

 seriously considering the question of modifying present theories; 

 more particularly, too, when an unintentional but none the less 

 real disposition exists in certain quarters to speak carelessly of 

 Professor Ferrel and his work, and to deny him his proper place. 



Not a bad example of this carelessness appears in a translation 

 by E. F. Bamber, in the Philosopliical Magazine for December, 

 1890, of Werner von Siemens's views on a general system of 

 winds of the earth. The eminent physicist, in refuting the state- 

 ment of Dr. Sprung in a recent paper in the Meteorologische Zeit- 

 schrift, that he attempted, like Ferrel, to found on theoretical 

 calculations a theory of the general system of winds on the earth, 

 disclaims in all modesty a sufficient proficiency in the higher 

 mathematics to do this, but then immediately adds, it appears to 

 us somewhat illogically, that he "considers this method alto- 

 gether inappropriate." He therefore repudiates the charge that 

 " he sought, like Ferrel, to demon'strate by means of calculation 

 an original state of atmosi^heric motion in order to afterwards 

 base his further speculations thereon." ' There is no intentional 

 intimation here, we take it, that Ferrel's views are based on a 

 supposition more or less hasty and uncertain, and there is there- 

 fore little occasion for the rejoinder that any such intimation in- 

 dicates a lack of familiarity with FerrePs work ; but it ought 

 to be felt and recognized, especially by American meteorologists, 

 that experimental fact rests at the bottom of every natural law 



' See Sehotfs Tables, p. 199. 



^ SitzQDgsberichte d K. Preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin. 1890. 



