OCTOBEB 21, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



561 



a number of other considerations that seemed 

 to point to a connection between what may 

 be called the main arterial circulation of the 

 atmosphere as represented by the trade wind 

 and the meteorological consequences of that 

 circulation in other parts of the world." 

 Guided by this suggestion, Commander M. 

 W. C. Hepworth has endeavored to trace, in 

 the first paper in the present volume, the ef- 

 fect of variations in the trade winds upon the 

 temperature of the water in the North At- 

 lantic. The second paper is a lengthy discus- 

 sion by Mr. J. S. Dines of all the data for St. 

 Helena which the Meteorological Office pos- 

 sesses, especial attention having been paid to 

 the anemograph records. The third paper 

 consists of a mathematical demonstration, by 

 Mr. E. Gold, of the relation between the 

 variation of wind velocity and barometric 

 fluctuation, one of the few meteorological 

 problems amenable to direct mathematical 

 treatment. Here again application of the 

 general theorem to the particular case of St. 

 Helena has been made. 



The first number of the " Monthly Meteor- 

 ological Report of the Australian Common- 

 wealth " has recently been distributed. This 

 publication will doubtless serve the same pur- 

 pose in Australia that the Monthly Weather 

 Eevieiv does in the United States. Under the 

 direction of its meteorologist, Mr. H. A. 

 Hunt, the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteor- 

 ology has had a remarkable growth, and now 

 ranks with the weather services of older coun- 

 tries. As an example of its work note should 

 be made of its latest bulletin, " On the Possi- 

 bility of Forecasting the Approximate Winter 

 Rainfall for Xorthem Victoria," by Mr. E. T. 

 Quayle, an assistant in the bureau. The au- 

 thor has found a close agreement between the 

 winter rains of that country and the preced- 

 ing monsoonal depressions. The practise of 

 forecasting even the approximate rainfall of 

 a coming season by a government service is 

 not common. The same bureau has also pub- 

 lished an average rainfall map of Xew South 

 Wales, the first of a series, now in the course 

 of preparation, which will include all the 

 states. 



The relation between free air conditions 

 and those prevailing at similar heights on 

 mountains has received considerable atten- 

 tion in Europe within recent years. Berson 

 found from a comparison of the temperatures 

 observed in balloons with those obtained on 

 the Brocken (3,740 feet) that the mountain 

 was 0.9° C. colder than the free atmosphere. 

 Hann deduced from mountain observations 

 that the mean temperature gradient up to 

 10,000 feet is 5.7° to 5.8° per kilometer, 

 whereas balloon ascents gave a mean of 4.9° 

 to 5.0°, while kite ascents gave 4.7°. Accord- 

 ingly, air in contact with a mountain 10,000 

 feet high will be 2° to 3° C. below that at the 

 same height in the free atmosphere. Shaw 

 and Dines found that the results obtained in 

 twenty-eight kite ascents showed that the 

 temperature on Ben Nevis (4,406 feet) was 

 in all cases lower than that in the free atmos- 

 phere at the same height over the sea to the 

 west of the mountain, the mean difference 

 being 2.6° C. In comparing the simultaneous 

 values observed on Zugspitze (9,728 feet) and 

 those recorded at the same height in balloon 

 ascents from Munich, 56 miles distant, 

 Schmauss found a mean difference of 1.6° C. 

 between the synchronous temperatures, and 

 1.1° C. between the temperature recorded in 

 the free air and the mean temperature of the 

 day at Zugspitze. The same investigator also 

 deduced, from a comparison of the tempera- 

 tures on Zugspitze and Sonnblick, that the 

 latter was 0.6° C. colder than the former at 

 the same height, indicating that a mountain 

 in the middle of a mountainous district is 

 colder than one on the edge of such a district, 

 and offering further evidence that the atmos- 

 phere is cooled by the mountain. Shortly be- 

 fore he went to Reno, Nevada, where he is 

 now observer at the University of Nevada, 

 Mr. S. P. Fergusson completed an investiga- 

 tion of this nature which had been carried on 

 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

 Simultaneous observations at similar heights 

 were obtained by means of kites in the free 

 air, and recording instruments in a standard 

 shelter upon the summit of Mount Washing- 

 ton. A brief summary of the results found 



