June 1, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



853 



far reduced that the air finally became as free 

 from dust as any that Mr. Aitken ever tested 

 on the mountain tops of Switzerland. This 

 increase in purity is ascribed to the ' dragging 

 down ' of the upper air to the level of the top 

 of the Eiffel Tower, for the reason that ' rain 

 can not wash the air to anything like that 

 purity.' 



KITE-FLYING AT BARBADOS. 



The Quarterly Jourrml of the Royal Me- 

 teorological Society, XXXIL, 1906, 29-32, 

 contains an account of some kite flights car- 

 ried out last year at Barbados by C. J. P. 

 Cave, the results having been discussed by 

 W. H. Dines. The humidity traces generally 

 show about 60 per cent, at the surface, rising 

 to 80-90 per cent, at 1,000-2,000 feet, and then 

 falling again in some cases to 50 per cent, 

 or less as the height increases. It is inferred 

 from this that there is some descent of the 

 atmosphere over the region of the smaller 

 West Indian islands in April and May. 



RAIN-MAKING IN THE YUKON. 



The Toronto News of March 23 contains 

 notice of a contract made by the Yukon 

 Council with one Hatfield, a ' rain-maker,' 

 whereby Hatfield is to receive the sum of 

 $10,000, provided he makes rain to the satis- 

 faction of a board of seven men. If he fails, 

 he is to receive his traveling expenses. Com- 

 menting on this matter, the Ottawa Evening 

 Journal of March 23 says editorially : " There 

 is no questioning the details * * * as the 

 unique document is on file in the government 

 offices in Dawson." 



NOTES. 



Photographs of the aurora borealis, taken 

 by the Eusso-Swedish expedition to Spitz- 

 bergen in 1899-1900, are reproduced in the 

 Memoirs of the St. Petersburg Academy of 

 Sciences (phys. math, class). Vols. XI., XIV., 

 Nos. 9 and 5, 8th series. 



The aquameter, a new instrument for 

 measuring the amount of aqueous vapor in 

 the atmosphere by measuring the reduction 

 of volume produced by the absorption of the 

 water vapor by phosphoric anhydride, is de- 



scribed in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society, XXXII., 1906, 11-13. 

 E. DeC. Ward. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



AN ALPINE BOTANICAL LABORATORY. 



For some years an alpine botanical labora- 

 tory has been growing from small beginnings 

 into considerable importance on the easterly 

 slope of Pikes Peak, Colorado. The first 

 serious work was done in 1899, although pre- 

 liminary work and reconnaissances date back 

 half a dozen years further. As finally estab- 

 lished, it stands on the southeasterly slope of 

 Engelmann's Canyon, a mile and a half from 

 Manitou, at an altitude of 8,500 feet above 

 the sea. As the altitude of the treeless plains 

 (seven to eight miles away to the eastward) 

 which extend to the foot of the mountains 

 is nearly 6,000 feet, the laboratory is fully 

 2,500 feet above them, while westward about 

 the same distance the Peak itself rises more 

 than 5,000 feet higher (14,147 feet), far above 

 timber line. The lower mountains and the 

 near-by foothills of the neighborhood afford 

 intermediate altitudes, while marsh and lake 

 vegetation is found in abundance in and 

 about Lake Moraine and the Seven Lakes. 

 The sides of Engelmann's Canyon and its 

 branches are covered with spruce forests and 

 their accompanying vegetation. A hundred 

 feet below the laboratory is the dashing moun- 

 tain stream, Euxton Brook, and by its side is 

 the cog-railway from Manitou to the summit 

 of the Peak. 



In such surroundings for seven years. Dr. 

 Frederic E. Clements, of the University of 

 Nebraska, has carried on his study of the 

 vegetation of the region. The laboratory 

 proper consists of a single house, large enough 

 to shelter the instruments, apparatus, etc., 

 and if need be, several persons also. More 

 room is needed, but the narrow quarters have 

 not yet seriously inconvenienced those who 

 have worked at the laboratory. Some have 

 taken rooms in the summer cottages in the 

 neighborhood; some have clubbed together 

 and hired a cottage for the summer, taking 

 their meals at the Halfway House, or making 



