274 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXllI. No. 581. 



right temperature and pressure are present, 

 then, as hydrogen is but one ninth of water, 

 the amount of hydrogen used to form the 

 water of the earth would be 1/45,000 of the 

 mass of the earth. If we add the amount of 

 carbon dioxide which went to form limestone 

 and carbonaceous substances'" we will add one 

 fourth the amount of the water, i. e., 1/20,000 

 of the mass of the earth. The sum of these, 

 1/14,000 of the mass of the earth, will be the 

 amount of gas which has been driven out 

 from the original material by pressure and 

 heat, and which is now represented by our 

 present water and atmosphere and the carbon 

 dioxide which has been from time to time 

 withdrawn from the latter. If the planetesi- 

 mals had on an average a density of three, this 

 being the density of the average rock of the 

 earth's surface, and contained on an average 

 two times (Chamberlin above says 'several 

 times ') their own volume of gas of the average 

 density of water vapor, then the amount of 

 gaseous substances mentioned above (1/14,000 

 of the mass of the earth) would be about one 



of which a reprint has lately been received, 

 Mr. A. Lawrence Eotch reported upon the 

 results obtained by means of kites at Blue 

 Hill Observatory regarding the temperature 

 of the free air in cyclones and anticyclones. 

 Thirty-four ascents showed a vertical decrease 

 of temperature in cyclones and anticyclones 

 at a much lower rate than the adiabatic rate 

 of cooling in ascending air, and also showed 

 almost the same rate of decrease in low and. 

 high pressure areas up to 3,000 meters. In 

 view of this latter fact, as Teisserenc de Bort 

 pointed out, the temperature of these two col- 

 umns of air, up to height of say 4,000 meters, 

 depends to a large extent on the season and 

 upon geographical conditions, as well as upon 

 the relative position of the pressure system. 

 The thirty-four cases were distributed equally 

 among cyclones and anticyclones, and among 

 different seasons. Yet the mean sea-level 

 temperature at a mean pressure of 29.646 ins. 

 was 48.4°, and at 30.157 ins. the temperature 

 was 48°. The following table summarizes the 

 results. 



Meters Above Sea Level. Mean. 



500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 — 3,000 



Mean Pressure 29.646", Temp. 48.4° 44.2° 39.2° 34.3° 31.5° 28.0° 22.6° 35.4° 



Meaji Pressure 30.157", Temp. 48° 43.7° 38.7° 35.2° 31.3° 27.1° 21.7° 35.1° 



seventh of the mass of the gas contained by 

 the planetesimals from which the earth was 

 formed. This may be shown as follows: An 

 average gram of material contained in a 

 planetesimal would contain two thirds of a 

 cubic centimeter of gas (density taken as 

 18/32 of that of oxygen), weighing .00051 

 gram at 15°. If it gave off only the amount 

 mentioned above, 1/14,000 of its mass, it would 

 give .00007 gram, which is about one seventh 

 of .00051 gram, the amount it is capable of 

 giving off. 



Ralph H. McKee. 

 Lake Forest University, 

 January 6, 1906. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



TEMPERATURES IN CYCLONES AND ANTICYCLONES. 



In tlje Ai'chives of the Imperial Academy 

 of Sciences of St. Petersburg for June, 1905, 

 " Dana, loo. cit. 



A better method, first used by Mr. Clayton 

 in connection with kite ascents in 1899 and 

 1900, is to determine the temperatures at the 

 same heights for several days in succession 

 while changes of pressure and temperature 

 are taking place at the earth's surface. By 

 this method it was found that the maximum 

 temperature at all heights up to about 4,000 

 meters nearly coincided with the minimum 

 pressure at sea level, but was somewhat ahead 

 of it, and that the minimum temperature at 

 all heights coincided with a sea-level pres- 

 sure above normal, but preceded the latter at 

 a considerable distance. 



A LABORATORY MANUAL. 



A VERY convenient form of laboratory note- 

 book is found in Professor Frank W. Dar- 

 ling's ' A Laboratory Manual in Physical 

 Geography ' (Atkinson, Mentzer & Grover, 

 Chicago and Boston, 1905). All teachers who 



