October 31, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



629 



CORONIUM 



The discovery of the new gas "coronium" 

 in the solar atmosphere from observations 

 taken during the total solar eclipse of April 

 lY, 1912, as announced in the London Daily 

 Citizen, August 5, 1913, marks a turning 

 point in the search for this long-suspected gas. 

 The periodic law of chemical elements, enun- 

 ciated by Mendeleeff more than forty years 

 ago, calls for this gas, giving it an atomic 

 weight much less than that of hydrogen. 

 From a study of the spectra of meteors and 

 the aurora Dr. A. Wegener' has attempted to 

 prove the existence of this gas (which he calls 

 " geocoronium ") in the earth's atmosphere. 

 He concluded that at a height of about 70 

 kilometers, this gas becomes an appreciable 

 percentage of the atmosphere; that it increases 

 to equality with hydrogen at about 200 kilo- 

 meters, and eventually becomes practically 100 

 per cent, at 400 or 500 kilometers altitude.' 

 Beyond this he considers interplanetary and 

 interstellar space filled with this light-trans- 

 mitting gas, inconceivably thin, but thicken- 

 ing locally around the planets, stars and sun 

 (solar corona). The actual chemical deter- 

 mination of the presence of this gas in our 

 atmosphere will be difficult, for at sea-level it 

 is present (hypothetically, after Wegener) in 

 but 0.00058 volume per cent. 



EXPLORATION OF THE INTERIOR OF GREENLAND 



Captain Koch and his three companions, 

 who have just returned to Denmark from 

 Greenland, were the first to accomplish the 

 difficult feat of traversing Greenland at its 

 widest part (lat. 72°). The head-blizzards 

 first encountered and later the dazzling sun- 

 light of the interior plateau correspond closely 

 with the meteorological conditions encoun- 

 tered on the rather similar antarctic continent. 

 Greenland was first crossed in 1888 by Nansen 

 at latitude 64° ; Captain Peary crossed the 



' ' ' Untersuchungen tlber die Nature der obersten 

 Atmospharenschichten, ' ' Fhysikalische Zeitsohrift, 

 Leipzig, 1911, pp. 170-178, 214-222. 



° Cf . W. J. Humphreys, ' ' Distribution of the 

 Gases in the Atmosphere, ' ' Bull. Mt. Weather Obs., 

 1909, n., 2. 



northwestern end three times, 1892-1895, and 

 A. de Quervain crossed at latitude 68° in 

 1912. Long trips into the interior from the 

 west coast were made in 1883 by Baron Nor- 

 denskiold at 68°, and in 1886 by Captain 

 Peary at 69°. 



EARTHQUAKES AND RAINFALL 



Although Ferdinand de Montessus de Bal- 

 lore after a study of the rainfall conditions 

 preceding 4,136 earthquakes, was unable to 

 find any connection. Professor Omori has 

 found an apparent relationship between the 

 annual frequency of earthquakes at Tokyo 

 and the amount of rainfall in northwestern 

 Japan. The periods when earthquakes were 

 infrequent but severe correspond in a striking 

 manner with those when rainfall was deficient 

 at Niigata and Akita on the Japan seacoast, 

 while in years of maximum earthquake fre- 

 quency at Tokyo, the amount of rain and 

 snow falling in the north was much above the 

 average." 



The great heat in the middle west this 

 summer broke all previous records for that 

 section, both in duration and degree. For in- 

 stance, the temperature at St. Joseph, Mo., 

 from June 14 until September 9 exceeded 90 

 degrees on all but fifteen days; on twenty-six 

 days it exceeded 100 degrees and on ten 

 days reached 104. The injurious eifect of 

 this heat spell was greatly accentuated by the 

 general drought prevailing throughout the 

 period. 



Daily wireless weather reports are being 

 received at Melbourne from Dr. Mawson, in 

 charge of the Australian Antarctic Expedition 

 now exploring the coast of Antarctica. 



Prince Galitzine on July 18 became di- 

 rector of the Nicholas Central Physical Ob- 

 servatory, St. Petersburg, succeeding General 

 M. Rykatchew, who retired. 



Dr. H. Mohn, director of the Meteorological 

 Institute of Norway since its foundation in 

 1866, and professor of meteorology in the Uni- 



^° Nature, London, Vol. 91, p. 65. 



