74 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 680 



nual Eeport of the U. S. Geological Survey, 

 references are made to Milieu, Green's Cut, 

 Waycross and Doctortown as being localities 

 where the Lafayette might be seen. The beds 

 at the localities mentioned can undoubtedly 

 be correlated with the Altamaha. 



Otto Veatoh 

 Geological Sdevey of Geokgla 



GVRBENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY 

 AND CLIMATOLOGY 



LIGHTNING VAGARIES 



In the Quarterly Journal of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society for October, 1907, there 

 is an account, given by Professor A. Herschel, 

 of a remarkable excavation made by lightning 

 in peat earth in a moorland district of North- 

 umberland. A large hole, four or five feet 

 in diameter, was found on a flat part of the 

 moor, radiating from which there were six 

 or seven furrows, and pieces of turf were 

 thrown in various directions. The largest 

 turf, about three feet in diameter and one foot 

 thick, was lying 26 yards away, and other 

 pieces were lying around within 20 yards of 

 the hole. On excavating the hole it was 

 found that a number of small holes radiated 

 to various depths. Col. J. E. Capper gives an 

 account of a captive balloon being struck by 

 lightning. 



CLOUD CLASSIFICATION 



Professor Willis I. Milham, of Williams 

 College, has published a useful pamphlet on 

 Cloud Classification, intended for the use of 

 his students in meteorology, as a guide in 

 their practical work on cloud classification and 

 origin (Svo, pp. 9). This pamphlet considers 

 very briefly (1) the early history, (2) the in- 

 ternational system, (3) the causes of clouds 

 and (4) the thirteen cloud forms. The dis- 

 crepancy between the usual ten forms of the 

 International Classification and the thirteen 

 here referred to comes from the fact that 

 Professor Milham counts fracto-stratus, 

 fraeto-cumulus and fracto-nimbus each as one 

 form. Together with the description of the 

 individual types, reference is made to the 

 methods of formation. 



meteorological formulae and tables 

 Professor Paul Schreiber, director of the 

 Meteorological Service of Saxony, publishes 

 a series of " Formeln und Tabellen " as a 

 Vorarleit to his Annual Eeport for 1903 

 (Dresden, 1907, fol.). These formulae and 

 tables deal chiefly with the thermodynamics 

 of the atmosphere, and are designed for prac- 

 tical use in meteorology. The formulag are 

 given at the beginning. A discussion on their 

 use follows, and a series of diagrams at the 

 end illustrates the various physical conditions 

 and processes concerned. 



A " STEP " anemometer 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Meteor- 

 ological Society {Quart. Journ. Boy. Met. Soc, 

 October, 1907) Mr. Walter Child exhibited 

 and described his " step " anemometer, which 

 he has designed to obviate the " sheltering 

 error." This instrument is a Robinson 

 anemometer, with the cups so placed on the 

 spindle that the arms are in different hori- 

 zontal planes. Thus one cup does not shelter 

 another, and the system comes to rest more 

 rapidly when the wind drops. 



R. DeO. Ward 



THE MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL 

 SEISMOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 



The first general assembly of the Interna- 

 tional Seismological Association since its 

 formal inauguration in 1905, and the second 

 meeting of its permanent commission, were 

 held at the Hague from September 21-26, last. 



Twenty-two states are now members of the 

 association, England, Austria and Canada 

 having joined since last year. Although 

 Prance has not formally joined, preliminary 

 steps have been taken for this purpose and it 

 is hoped that she will soon be a regular mem- 

 ber. Chile, the Congo, Norway, Portugal and 

 Roumania are the only countries, members of 

 the association, which were not represented at 

 the meeting. There were about fifty persons 

 present either as delegates or as invited guests, 

 and this included a majority of the leading 

 seismologists of the world. Professor van der 

 Stok and his assistants made all the arrange- 



