782 



SCIENCE 



[S. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 831 



prominences are taken only on the edge of 

 the disk; but similar phenomena over the 

 entire face of the sun should be studied 

 systematically every day at enough observ- 

 atories to escape terrestrial cloudiness; 

 direct radiation measures are still too en- 

 cumbered with meteorological conditions 

 not fuUy eliminated, as vapor contents and 

 diist in the upper levels, and transported 

 heat in all levels, to be of primary value at 

 present ; the indirect measures of the solar 

 radiation through the magnetic field, 

 whereby the amplitudes change with the 

 variable solar energy, promise the most 

 simple and effective method of observation, 

 as soon as the subject of ionization can be 

 more fuUy developed in the earth's atmos- 

 phere ; the temperature, pressure and wind 

 effects at different localities must be studied 

 by practical forecasters, who fully under- 

 stand this complex train of causes and ef- 

 fects. It may be stated in passing that no 

 important improvements have been made 

 in daily forecasting for 30 years, and the 

 same methods continue in vogue. A change 

 in the scale of verifications, a more or less 

 flexible margin of allowances for errors 

 and successes, present different percent- 

 age figures for comparison, but on reduc- 

 tion to the same scale there has been no 

 improvement for many years. We pre- 

 pared tables for constructing daily pres- 

 sure charts on the sea level, the 3,500-foot 

 level, and the 10,000-foot level and the 

 mutual relations of the three respective 

 systems of isobars are exceedingly instruc- 

 tive and suggestive. The trend of the 

 upper isobars shows the coming course of 

 the storm tracks in a remarkable manner, 

 and the closed isobars of sea level are 

 usually entirely drawn out on the 2-mile 

 level. Similarly, it is possible to prepare 

 approximate isotherms on these two upper 

 levels, after suitable preliminary studies 

 have been made, and the close relations of 



these isobars and isotherm upper level 

 charts to the areas of precipitation already 

 studied in part will form the only possible 

 basis for an improved method of forecast- 

 ing. 



TJie Circulation of the Solar Mass. — 

 The model of the circulation of the earth's 

 atmosphere is the proper analogue for the 

 analysis of the circulation of the matter 

 constituting the body of the sun, if the ap- 

 parent difficulties in the way of securing 

 the thermodynamic constants in the gen- 

 eral equations of motion can be overcome. 

 It is quite evident that the solar circiila- 

 tion is an obverse picture of the terrestrial 

 circulation. If the maximum tempera- 

 tures in the earth's atmosphere occur in 

 middle latitudes, on the sun the maximum 

 temperatures are probably over the equa- 

 tor and over the poles with a minimum 

 near the sun spot belts. If in the earth's 

 atmosphere the westward drift is in the 

 tropics, in that of the sun it is in the polar 

 regions; if in the earth's atmosphere the 

 eastward drift is in the temperate zones, in 

 the sun's atmosphere it is in the equatorial 

 regions. It will require much labor to 

 work out the problem which is thus stated, 

 but conforming to the probable action of 

 the general equations of motion. It is my 

 purpose to pursue these higher problems 

 in solar physics so far as conditions per- 

 mit me to do so. 



Frank H. Bigelow 



washi^'gto^', t>. c, 

 August, 1910 



A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT MONTEGO 

 BAY, JAMAICA, B. W. I. 



When in 1891 Professor W. K. Brooks 

 removed the zoological laboratory of the 

 Johns Hopkins University to Port Hender- 

 son, near Kingston, Jamaica, he deputed 

 the present writer to visit all the other 

 sites on the coast in search of the best. 



