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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 600. 



tion which is suggested by the decrease of 

 the Antarctic ice and by the retreat of the 

 glaciers in various parts of the world. 



About forty questions had been sub- 

 mitted to the conference and most of them 

 were considered by special committees 

 formed of persons interested in the follow- 

 ing subjects: first, international compari- 

 sons of normal barometers; second, a new 

 edition of the standard cloud-atlas; third, 

 reduction of the barometer reading's and 

 weather telegraphy; fourth, international 

 cooperation in the study of squalls. The 

 reports of these committees were generally 

 accepted by the conference. Among the 

 subjects considered directly by the confer- 

 ence were observations of solar and terres- 

 trial radiation, which Avere recommended 

 to be made with Angstrom's compensation 

 actinometer; the causes of heavy rainfall 

 over large areas and historical investiga- 

 tions relating to extraordinary meteorolog- 

 ical phenomena ; the designation of the shift 

 of wind in cyclonic storms and the study of 

 small dust-whirls, especially in the south- 

 ern hemisphere ; also the importance of 

 homogeneous observations at certain secu- 

 lar stations in each country. The follow- 

 ing matters were referred to the interna- 

 tional committee, viz., the classification of 

 meteorological stations and the definitions 

 of the different kinds of frost-formation; 

 the establishment of rules governing the 

 international and subcommittees and the 

 convening of meetings, which rules are to 

 be presented to the next conference for 

 ratification. It was voted to codify all 

 the resolutions that had been adopted by 

 the conferences and to publish them in 

 German, French, English and Spanish. 

 Besides the discussions and resolutions, 

 several scientific communications that re- 

 quired no action were presented. Chief 

 among them were descriptions of the or- 

 ganization of the meteorological services in 



Brazil and China, by Mr. Silvado and 

 Father Froc, respectively, and of the new 

 aeronautical institute near Moscow by Gen- 

 eral Rykatchef ; preliminary results of the 

 exploration of the high atmosphere over 

 the tropical Atlantic, obtained by the expe- 

 dition of the Pi-ince of Monaco and Pro- 

 fessor Hergesell and by that of M. Teis- 

 serenc de Bort and Mr. Eotch. 



The conference elected the following 

 members of the International Committee : 

 Messrs. Chaves (Portugal), Davis (Argen- 

 tine), Eliot (India), Hellmann (Germany), 

 Hepites (Roumania), Hildebrandsson 

 (Sweden), Lancaster (Belgium), Mascart 

 (France), Mohn (Norway), Moore (United 

 States), Nakamura (Japan), Palazzo 

 (Italy), Paulsen (Denmark), Pernter 

 (Austria), Russell (Australia), Rykatchef 

 (Russia) and Shaw (Great Britain). 

 Three of the subcommittees had their 

 powers renewed by the conference, namely : 

 the commission for terrestrial magnetism 

 and atmospheric electricity, with General 

 Rykatchef, of St. Petersburg, as president 

 and Dr. A. Schmidt, of Potsdam, as secre- 

 tary, whose special duty is to coordinate the 

 magnetic and electrical observations over 

 the globe ; the commission for scientific aero- 

 nautics, under the presidency of Professor 

 Hergesell, of Strassburg, which undertakes 

 the study of the free air by simultaneous 

 ascensions of balloons and kites; and the 

 commission for solar radiation, which, 

 under the leadership of Professor Ang- 

 strom, of Upsala, promotes measurements 

 of solar radiation and centralizes the re- 

 sults. In 1904 the solar commission was 

 formed, with Sir Norman Lockyer, of 

 London, as president, and Sir John Eliot 

 as secretary, for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the relations between meteorology 

 and solar physics. The same officers were 

 reelected at Innsbruck and the membership 

 was enlarged. The establishment of ob- 



