OCTOBEE 10, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



519 



Local Forecaster, United States Weather 



Bureau. San Diego (Chamber of Commercej 



1913. Pp. xii + IIST, 



That a chamber of commence thinks it ad- 

 visable to publish such a volume as this speaks 

 well for the city represented. The book bears 

 little resemblance to the ordinary " boom 

 literature " of pushing cities, with which we 

 are too familiar. 



The book is distinctly readable and interest- 

 ing. The weather phenomena of the southern 

 California region are treated in a somewhat 

 popular, but thoroughly scientific manner. 

 The elements, which make up the complex 

 called climate, are considered separately; both 

 the conditions more or less peculiar to the re- 

 gion and those of more widespread occurrence 

 are considered from the standpoint of their 

 causes. The climate of San Diego, from the 

 records of the Weather Bureau and its prede- 

 cessor, the Signal Service, is shown by the 

 usual tables of data and is also described in 

 words. The record is uninterrupted from its 

 beginning, July 1, 1849, when meteorological 

 work was established in San Diego as a part 

 of the duties of the post surgeon of the army; 

 therefore the data form one of the longest rec- 

 ords in the United States. The book is well 

 illustrated with photographs of the region and 

 the meteorological instruments, as well as with 

 maps and diagrams. 



This volume may well serve not only as a 

 sample of the kind of thing which can and 

 ought to be done by a progressive chamber of 

 commerce or similar organization in a region 

 climatically favored, but it is also well suited 

 as an introduction to the whole subject of 

 meteorology and should give a better under- 

 standing to the processes which control the 

 weather. Both Dr. Carpenter and the city of 

 San Diego are to be congratulated on the ap- 

 pearance of this volume. It is to be hoped that 

 as interesting and accurate discussions of the 

 climates of particular places will become the 

 rule, instead of the exception as at present. 

 William G. Eeed 



University of California, 

 Bekkeley, Cal.^ 



NOTES ON METEOEOLOGT AND 



CLIMATOLOGY 



international meteorology 



The report of the secretary (Dr. G. Hell- 

 mann) of the meeting of the International 

 Meteorological Committee (composed, in gen- 

 eral, of the directors of national weatjier serv- 

 ices), held in Eome, April 7-12, 1913, has re- 

 cently appeared.' 



Assistance on the question of the influence 

 of weather on agriculture having been asked 

 by the president of the International Institute 

 of Agriculture, the Meteorological Committee 

 responded by appointing a permanent com- 

 mission consisting of Messrs. Angot, Born- 

 stein, Brounow, Louis Dop, Hergesell, Palazzo 

 and Stupart. 



The recommendations of the Commission on 

 Weather Telegraphy, which met in London in 

 September, 1912, were adopted with but few 

 changes. Thus on May 1, 1914, the long-de- 

 sired, uniform telegraphic code throughout 

 Europe will come into use. 



The report drawn up by Messrs. Palazzo, 

 Koppen and Lempfert showed that the mean 

 wind velocities equivalent to the numbers of 

 the Beaufort scale of wind force in use in dif- 

 ferent countries are widely variant. The 

 Meteorological Committee asked for a further 

 investigation, to consider gusts of wind as well 

 as mean velocities for the force equivalents of 

 the 10- or 12-point Beaufort scale. 



The proposal of the International Committee 

 for Scientific Aeronautics to have interna- 

 tional cooperation in upper-air observations in 

 many parts of the Arctic in 1915, during 

 Captain Amundsen's polar expedition, was 

 warmly supported and a small subcommittee 

 consisting of Messrs. Hergesell, Rykatchew, 

 Ryder and Stupart was appointed to deal with 

 the question. 



To have aerological data in convenient form 

 for the purposes of dynamic meteorology, Pro- 

 fessor V. Bjerknes, of Leipzig, at the meeting 



^"Bericht tiber die Versammlung dea Lnterna- 

 tionalen meteorologisohen Komitees Eom 1913," 

 No. 260, VerofiEentliehungen des Kgl. Preuss. Met. 

 Inst. Berlin. See also Nature, London, Vol. 91, 

 p. 198. 



