354 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 478. 



the Weather Bureau. Over half of the ' Bul- 

 letin ' is taken up with local weather signs 

 for different Weather Bureau stations, these 

 signs being such as the following: winds 

 which bring precipitation; relation of pressure 

 changes to precipitation; directions of high 

 and of warm winds; conditions for frost, etc. 

 In other words, these are type local weather 

 conditions, which will doubtless prove useful 

 to many persons. These local weather signs 

 are illustrated by a series of seasonal charts, 

 showing, for the United States, the directions 

 of the rain winds; the direction of movement 

 of cirrus or cirro-stratus clouds before rain, 

 and the number of hours they appear before 

 rain; the barometer heights preceding precipi- 

 tation, and the wind direction during periods 

 of high and of low temperature. 



E. DeO. Ward. 

 Habvakd Univeesitt. 



ELIZABETH THOMPSON SCIENCE FUND. 



The 29th meeting of the board of trustees 

 was held at the Harvard Medical School, Bos- 

 ton, Mass., on February 5. The following 

 officers were elected: 



President — Henry P. Bowditeli. 



Treasurer — Charles S. Eaekemann. 



Secretary — Charles S. Minot. 



The report of the treasurer, showing a bal- 

 ance of income on hand of $1,788.29, was read 

 and accepted. 



The secretary presented reports of progress 

 from the holders of various grants, the work 

 for which is not yet completed, as follows: 



No. 27. E. Hartwig. No. 98. J. Weinzirl. 



60. F. Kruger. 99. H. S. Grindley. 



65. 0. Lubarsoh. 100. H. H. Field. 



71. A. Nicolas. 101. T. A. Jaggar. 



73. J. von Kennell. 102. E. 0. Jordan. 



94. A. M. Reese. 103. E. Anding. 



96. H. E. Crampton. 104. W. P. Bradley. 



97. P. W. Bancroft. 106. W. Valentiner. 



Professor Belopolsky having completed and 

 published the work under grant No. Y6, it 

 was voted to close the record of that grant. 



The secretary reported that 59 applications 

 had been received for the consideration of the. 

 board, the total amount asked for being nearly 



$10,000. Under these circumstances it be- 

 came necessary to decline, not only applica- 

 tions of minor interest, but also several which 

 in the opinion of the board were of exceptional 

 merit and highly deserving of encouragement 

 and support. 



It was voted to make the following new 

 grants : 



No. 107. $300 to Professor Morris W. Travers, 

 London, England, for researches on the' absolute 

 scale of temperature, by experiments with liquid 

 hydrogen. 



No. 108. $150 to Professor Benjamin L. Sea- 

 well, Warrensburg, Missouri, for study of the 

 taxonomy and ecology of the organisms of fresh- 

 water lakeSj in relation to fish foods and water 

 supplies. 



No. 109. $40 to Professor A. Nicolas, Nancy, 

 France, for studies on the embryology of reptiles. 



No. 110. $250 to Professor H. S. Grindley, 

 Urbana, 111., for the separation and purification of 

 the nitrogenous substances of meats. 



No. 111. $200 to Professor R. Hiirthle, Bres- 

 lau, Germany, to determine the relation between 

 pressure and the obliteration of circulation. 



No. 112. $143 to Professor W. J. Moenkhaus, 

 Bloomington, Ind., for studies on the individuality 

 of maternal and paternal chromatin in hybrids. 



No. 113. $50 to S. P. Fergusson, Esq., Hyde 

 Park, Mass., to measure the errors of absorption 

 hygrometers. 



No. 114. $300 to Dr. Werner Rosenthal, 

 Erlangen, Germany, for researches on the Lom- 

 bardy chicken pest. 



No. 115. $300 to Professor Henry S. Carhart, 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the preparation and 

 study of Clark and Weston standard cells. 



Charles S. Minot, 



Secretary. 



THE ANNUAL REPORT OP THE DIRECTOR 

 OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

 The twenty-fourth annual report of the 

 director of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, which is now ready for distribution, 

 shows that the several branches of that organ- 

 ization greatly enlarged the scope of their 

 work and increased their activities during the 

 last fiscal year. The period covered is from 

 July 1, 1902, to July 1, 1903, for the work of 

 which congress had appropriated the sum of 

 $1,377,470. 



