January 15, 1904.] 



- SCIENCE. 



115 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 

 METEOROLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



To the ' Note on Meteorological Bibliog- 

 raphies,' published in Science for December 

 18, p. 795, there should have been added a 

 reference to one other publication which con- 

 tains a valuable list of titles in physics and 

 meteorology. This is the Fortschritte der 

 Physik, Halhtnonatliches Litter aturverzeich- 

 niss, an octavo publication, issued twice a 

 month, now in its second year. The Fort- 

 schritte der Physik, already well known in 

 this country, contains reviews of publications 

 in astrophysics, meteorology and geophys- 

 ics, but the Fortschritte necessarily appears 

 some time after the date of the books and 

 articles reviewed therein. The object of the 

 new HaTbmonatliches Litteraturvereeichniss is 

 to publish the titles of all physical books and 

 articles immediately after their issue, and 

 without reference to the later reviews in the 

 larger volumes of the Fortschritte. The mat- 

 ter is in the hands of the Deutsche Physi- 

 kalische Gesellschaf t, the editor for ' Cosmical 

 Physics ' being the- well-known meteorologist, 

 Dr. Assmann. No one can fail to appreciate 

 the advantage of this bibliography, which ap- 

 pears frequently, is well edited, and will prove 

 of the greatest service to meteorologists. It is 

 altogether the best current meteorological bib- 

 liography published, although one could wish 

 that an author catalogue were included, and 

 that the same classification of subjects were 

 used as in the ' International Catalogue ' (or 

 a better one). The price of the Litteraturver- 

 zeichniss is four Marks yearly. 



CLOUD observations in INDIA. 



Observations of the movements of the up- 

 per clouds were made at six stations in India 

 during the period 1895-1900, and the results 

 are now discussed by Sir John Eliot in Vol. 

 XV., Pt. , I., of the Indian Meteorological 

 Memoirs (pp. 112, Pis. XII., Calcutta, 1903). 

 Nephoscopes of the Pinemann pattern were 

 used. No observations of altitude are in- 

 cluded. The discussion concerns the direc- 

 tions of movement of each cloud type at each 

 station,, during dry and wet seasons. These 

 being the first considerable Indian contribu- 



tions to the study of the upper air movements 

 as shown by cloud directions, the results are 

 especially noteworthy. The movement of cir- 

 rus and cirro-stratus clouds is remarkably 

 steady at the four northern stations (Simla, 

 Lahore, Jaipur and Allahabad) during the dry 

 season, being from almost due west, i. e., in 

 accordance with theory. The number of ob- 

 servations at Vizagapatam and Madras is 

 small, but the indications are that the upper 

 air movement recurves from southeast through 

 south to southwest in the southern portions 

 of India, also in general accordance with 

 theory. The lower as well as the upper air 

 movement is from west over the whole of 

 northern and central India during the dry 

 season, the direction of movement of the alto- 

 cumulus, cumulus and cumulo-nimbus being 

 almost as regular as that of the upper clouds, 

 but more southerly. During the rainy season 

 there is great variability and unsteadiness 

 in the cloud movement up to the elevation 

 of the highest cirrus at Allahabad, which is 

 in the center of the Indian trough of low pres- 

 sure at that season. Photogrammetric obser- 

 vations at Allahabad in 1898-1900 showed that 

 the mean altitude of the cirrus in the rainy 

 season is 32,654 feet. Hence it appears that 

 the unsteady movement in the monsoon trough 

 extends up to 30,000 feet at least, and perhaps 

 even to 40,000 feet. The regular movement 

 in the higher atmosphere (from west to east) 

 is then suspended, or else occurs at a greater 

 elevation than in the dry season. 



air pressures in INDL4. 



Vol. XVI., Pt. I., of the 'Indian Meteor- 

 ological Memoirs ' contains the ' Normals 

 of the Air Pressure Reduced to 32° F. and 

 Constant Gravity, Lat. 45,' by Sir John Eliot. 

 The memoir includes the monthly and annual 

 means of the barometric observations at all 

 observatories in India which have been in 

 operation at least twenty years. At most of 

 the observatories, the observations date from 

 18Y5, when the department was ' imperialized.' 

 In June, 1878, the government of India sanc- 

 tioned arrangements for the publication of a 

 daily weather report, which included observa- 

 tions made at 10 a.m., at about 100 stations. 



