Mat 19, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



719 



On the whole, however, it seems clear that 

 this instrament is of great value in measuring 

 the actual influence of air conditions upon the 

 body and is greatly superior to the ordinary 

 thermometer for this purpose. Compare for 

 instance observations 8 and 9, both made out- 

 doors on a cloudy day, with an air tempera- 

 ture of 75°. In 8 the Kata thermometers and 

 the observers were protected from the wind, 

 while in 9 they were at the end of the porch in 

 a breeze. The dry bulb times at these two 

 points were 196 seconds and 105 seconds, respec- 

 tively, and the comfort votes 3.7 and 2.7. In 

 the first case it was uncomfortably warm, in 

 the second too cool, with nothing in the read- 

 ing of the ordinary thermometer to indicate 

 any change. Again contrast observations 13 

 and 19, the first taken out of doors in a strong 

 breeze, the second indoors before a fire. The 

 ordinary thermometer registered 72° in each 

 case, but in one instance the time for the fall 

 of the Kata dry bulb was 115 seconds and the 

 comfort vote 2.2; in the other case the dry 

 bulb time was 277 seconds and the comfort 

 vote 3.6. Out door conditions with ordinary 

 thermometer readings of 75° (ISTos. 5 and 9), 

 77° (No. 15), and 79° (No. 10) were more 

 comfortable and showed lower Kata thermom- 

 eter times than this room with a fire at 72°. 



Most significant are the readings and the 

 comfort votes in Table II., in which on each 

 day conditions were noted, first without, and 

 then with, the direct draft from an electric 

 fan. In each case the ordinary thermometer 

 either remained unchanged (or dropped one 

 degree in two instances) while the Kata times 

 and the comfort votes fell off enormously. On 

 six different days, with ordinary thermometer 

 readings varying from 69° to 79°, the comfort 

 vote showed uncomfortably hot conditions and 

 Kata dry bulb times over 170 without the fan 

 and too cool conditions, and Kata dry bulb 

 times under 120 with the fan turned on (ob- 

 servations 20-23 and 29-36). Even the condi- 

 tion of 87° on the 'ordinary thermometer (ob- 

 servation 26) was as comfortable and showed 

 about the same Kata thermometer readings as 

 were obtained without the fan at an air tem- 

 perature of 72° (observation 29). 



The curves as plotted suggest that the 

 optimum for comfort (represented by an aver- 

 age vote of 3.0) falls close to the lower, of the 

 points suggested by Dr. Hill (45-60 seconds 

 for the wet bulb and 150-180 seconds for the 

 dry bulb). Too much stress can not of course 

 be laid on a small number of observations such 

 as are here reported, but the general value of 

 the Kata thermometer seems sufficiently obvi- 

 ous to warrant its general use in the study of 

 atmospheric conditions as they affect bodily 

 comfort.^^ 



C.-E. A. WiNSLOw 



Yale Medical 'School 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY 



The general annual meeting of the American 

 Philosophical Society was held on April 13, 14 

 and 15 during which nearly fifty papers were pre- 

 sented on a great variety of topics. The address 

 of welcome was made by Dr. W. W. Keen, the 

 president, who, with vice-presidents W. B. Scott 

 and E. C. Pickering, presided at the various ses- 

 sions. 



On Friday evening a reception was held at the 

 hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 

 after which Dr. L. O. Howard, of Washington, 

 gave a lecture "On iSome Disease-bearing In- 

 sects." 



Saturday afternoon was entirely devoted to a 

 symposium on international law in its various as- 

 pects, five papers being presented. 



The program and some abstracts of the papers 

 follow : 



THUESDAT, APRIL 13 



Opening Session — 2 o'doclc 

 William W. Keen, M.D., LL.D., President, in the 



Chair 

 The Popes and the Crusades: Dana C. Munro. 

 The Common Folk of ShaTcespeare : Felix B. 



SCHELLING. 



A Hare Old-Slavonic Missal: J. Dyneley Prince. 

 On the Art of Entering Another's Body: A Theme 

 of Sindu Fiction: Maurice Bloomfield. 



iiHiU, Grifath, and Plaek (Phil. Trans. Boy. 

 Soc. Lond., series B, Vol. 207, pp. 183-220) have 

 recently published an important study in which 

 the Kata readings are translated into fundamental 

 physical units of milliealories of heat loss per 

 square centimeter per second. 



