800 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 075 



panion memoir to, and an extension of, the 

 same "writer's " Studies among the Snow 

 Crystals during the Winter of 1901-2," pub- 

 lished in the Monthly Weather Review^ 1902, 

 XXX., 607-616, pis. I.-XXII. 



J. G. C. Cottier : " A Summary of the His- 

 tory of the Eesistance of Elastic Fluids " ; a 

 posthumous paper, published by permission of 

 the literary executor of Mr. Cottier. 



W. P. Stewart : " Local Forecasting at 

 Eseanaba, Mich. " ; brings out several points 

 of local interest, and also the fact that, owing 

 to the protection afforded by Lake Superior, 

 eold waves are more severe to the east and 

 west than at Eseanaba. 



Dr. Irving Langmuir : " Lightning Phe- 

 nomena " ; note on the curious " beaded trails " 

 ©f several lightning flashes. 



Professor Cleveland Abbe : " Salton Sea and 

 Local Climate " ; " the practical question is not 

 how much the Salton Sea can affect climate, 

 but how its waters can be used for irrigating 

 the lands that surround it." 



" Tornado at Maple Plain, Minn., " and 

 " Hail-shooting in Italy " ; short notes. 



Dr. P. Polls: "The New Public Weather 

 Service of Germany " ; an interesting account 

 by the head of the Aachen Observatory, who 

 has lately been in the United States studying 

 our weather service. 



NILE FLOOD, 1906 



An important report on " The Rains of the 

 Nile Basin and the Nile Flood of 1906," by 

 Capt. H. G. Lyons, director general of the 

 Survey Department of Egypt (Cairo, 1907), 

 has been received, and illustrates, in a most 

 striking way, the progress which meteorology 

 is making in Egypt. Here is a report of 

 seventy pages, dealing with the rainfall of a 

 region concerning which practically nothing 

 was knoWn a few years ago. And we learn 

 from this same report that " it is also pro- 

 posed to investigate the upper region df the 

 monsoon current over the Sudan plains by 

 means of kites carrying self -registering ap- 

 paratus." The charts given by Capt. Lyons 

 are of much interest, especially those of the 

 seasonal and annual rainfall. These charts 

 extend south to Lake Nyassa. Four isobaric 



charts cover an area between the equator and 

 lat. 10° N., and east as far as long. 80° E. 



SENSIBLE TEMPERATURES 



A FURTHER contribution to the discussion 

 concerning the " subjective " or " sensible " 

 temperatures, i. e., the temperatures which 

 human beings actually feel, and which depend 

 on temperature, humidity, wind, insolation, 

 and many other factors, is contained in the 

 Meteorologische Zeitschrift for October, 1907 

 (W. Knoche: "Die aquivalente Temperatur: 

 ein einheitlicher Ausdruck der klimatischen 

 Faktoren Lufttemperatur und Luftfeuehtig- 

 keit"). This paper deals with the so-called 

 " aquivalente Temperatur," as originally sug- 

 gested by von Bezold. If we imagine the 

 water vapor contents of unit volume (1 cu. m.) 

 condensed, and the resulting latent heat of 

 evaporation expended in warming a cubic 

 meter of dry air to a certain temperature, the 

 increase of temperature resulting from the 

 latent heat of evaporation, added to the then 

 prevailing air temperature, gives the " aqui- 

 valente Temperatur." This method of express- 

 ing the relation of temperature and humidity 

 is followed out for several different stations 

 and climates, and is found to give an excellent 

 indication of the temperature which we actu- 

 ally feel. E. DeC. Ward 



TWO REGENT INTERNATIONAL SCIEN- 

 TIFIC CONGRESSES^ 



In two congresses composed of members of 

 such dissimilar outlooks as were the con- 

 gresses at Heidelberg and Amsterdam the dif- 

 ferences in the conduct of the congresses were 

 very noticeable. It is generally admitted that 

 in all scientific congresses there are two ele- 

 ments of value, the intellectual and the social. 

 Both elements are to be combined in proper 

 proportion to make the mixture most agree- 

 able and profitable to the individual. In the 

 congress of physiology most emphasis was 

 placed on the presentation of papers; in the 

 congress of psychiatry, neurology and psychol- 

 ogy more time and opportunities were given 



'Physiology, at Heidelberg, August 13-16; Psy- 

 chiatry, Neurology and Psychology, at Amsterdam, 

 September 2-7, 1907. 



