March 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



391 



atlas wliich is now in the hands of the pub- 

 lisher. The bureau is also unique in that it 

 is probably the only national service which 

 attempts to forecast the weather for one 

 month in advance. This feat is rendered 

 somewhat simple, however, by the uniform 

 character of the climate of Mexico. 



The weather service of Argentina under the 

 direction of its chief, Mr. Walter G. Davis, a 

 native of the United States, has expanded con- 

 siderably within the past year. At present the 

 stations at which simultaneous meteorological 

 observations are made and communicated to 

 the central office in Buenos Ayres form a net- 

 work which covers all of the republic. Aside 

 from this a beginning has been made toward 

 the carrying on of research work. Mr. George 

 0. Wiggin, the subdirector, also a native of 

 the United States, recently was sent to this 

 country for the double purpose of engaging a 

 number of capable men to enter the service, 

 and also to study the methods of investigating 

 the upper atmosphere as practised by the Blue 

 Hill Observatory and by the Mount Weather 

 Observatory. He spent several weeks at each 

 place, as did also several of the men whom he 

 had obtained to assist in this work when it is 

 begun in Argentina. Mr. S. P. Fergusson, of 

 the former observatory, is now preparing a 

 complete set of kite-flying apparatus for this 

 part of the research work. When this equip- 

 ment reaches its destination it is the hope of 

 the director to have daily kite flights, similar 

 to those now being carried on at Mount 

 Weather. Such real progress must indeed be 

 gratifying to all interested in the advance- 

 ment of meteorology. 



During the week beginning December 6, 

 kites and balloons have been sent up simul- 

 taneously, for meteorological purposes, from 

 about forty selected stations scattered through- 

 out the world, including two in the United 

 States — the Mount Weather Observatory and 

 the Blue Hill Observatory. After the results 

 obtained have been computed, they will be 

 sent to the International Commission for 

 Scientific Aeronautics in Strassburg, Ger- 

 many, and it is expected that much will be 

 learned from them concerning the movements 



of the upper atmosphere and their relation to 

 conditions at the earth's surface. At the 

 Mount Weather Observatory the work con- 

 sisted of the usual daily kite flights, as no 

 sounding balloon experiments were possible on 

 account of a delayed consignment of balloons 

 from abroad. At the Blue Hill Observatory 

 pilot balloons were used on Monday and Tues- 

 day, while sounding balloons were sent up 

 from Pittsfield, Mass., under the personal 

 direction of Professor A. Lawrence Botch, the 

 director of the observatory, on Friday, Satur- 

 day and Sunday. The pilot balloons are made 

 of rubber and when filled with hydrogen gas 

 expand to a diameter of about 75 cm. When 

 one of these is liberated its altitude in degrees, 

 together with its azimuth, are observed simul- 

 taneously, at the end of each minute, by means 

 of transit instruments placed about a mile 

 apart. From these observations the velocity 

 and direction of the wind for all heights 

 reached by the balloon while it remains vis- 

 ible, can be calculated. Occasionally such a 

 balloon can be seen at both stations for over 

 an hour, and the heights known to have been 

 reached have exceeded ten miles in several 

 instances. As no recording apparatus is at- 

 tached to it, no attempt is made to recover the 

 balloon, which either rises to a height where 

 it bursts, due to the increased expansion as it 

 rises, or is carried by the prevailing westerly 

 winds aloft far out to sea. The sounding bal- 

 loons, also made of rubber, are somewhat 

 larger, being about 200 cm. in diameter when 

 expanded, and carry a meteorograph which re- 

 cords the temperature and pressure of the air 

 for all heights reached. They also carry a 

 parachute, which, after the balloon bursts, 

 brings the instrument safely to the ground. 

 The basket covering the instrument bears a 

 message to the finder asking him to return the 

 apparatus intact to the Observatory, for which 

 service he receives the sum of two dollars. 

 Of the three balloons sent up from Pittsfield 

 in the international series, only one of the 

 recording instruments had been returned up 

 to the time of this writing (January 1). 



In the investigation of the upper atmos- 

 phere Germany has always been the most ac- 



