562 
Hargrave’s form but of Mr. Clayton’s construc- 
tion, left the top of Blue Hill at noon. Similar 
smaller kites were attached to the main wire 
at intervals, so that the 20,670 feet of wire un- 
reeled, which weighed 59 pounds, were sus- 
tained in the air by seven kites, having a total 
lifting surface of 218 square feet. Angular 
measurements at the windlass of the meteor- 
ograph enabled its height to be determined 
at definite times. The greatest height was 
reached at 4:17 p. m., when the meteorograph 
was 9,255 feet above Blue Hill, or 9,885 feet 
above the neighboring ocean. The meteoro- 
graph remained more than a mile above the 
sea during five hours. The reeling-in by 
means of the steam windlass occupied about 
two hours, and at 6:40 p. m. the meteoro- 
graph returned to the ground. 
The automatic records were found to be 
smooth and distinct, with the exception of a 
portion of the barometer and hygrometer tracey 
which was lost, owing, perhaps, to the tem- 
porary drying of the ink in the pens. The al- 
titudes given by the barograph agreed closely 
with those computed from the angular meas- 
urements, showing that the barometric heights 
were nearly correct for the mean temperature 
encountered. The thermograph showed the 
lowest temperature to have been 38° at 9,255 
feet above the hill, whereas on the hill at the 
same time the temperature was 63°, giving a 
mean decrease of only 1° for each 870 feet of 
ascent. The relative humidity varied greatly 
with altitude, although on the Hill it remained 
near 50 per cent. of saturation during the first 
half of the flight, increasing to about 80 per 
cent. at the end. Up to approximately 3,000 
feet above sea-level the relative humidity in- 
creased, proving the existence of an invisible 
vapor stratum near the level of the cumulus 
cloud level. Higher it suddenly decreased, but 
increased to over 80 per cent. at the height of 
a mile, indicating the level of the alto-cumulus 
clouds. Above 8,000 feet the humidity was 
very low and probably less than 380 per cent. 
of saturation. The wind veered to west as the 
kites rose and became steadier, although its 
velocity was probably greater than near the 
hill top, since the pull on the windlass, which 
was counteracted in part by the weight of the 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vox. VI. No. 145. 
suspended wire, exceeded 150 pounds when all 
the kites were high in the air. 
A. LAWRENCE ROTCH. 
BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, 
September 27, 1897. 
‘THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN.’ 
THE discussion of my review of his work, 
which is given by Mr. Archdall Reid on pp. 
368-872 of your issue of September 3d, deserves 
some sort of reply. Yet I write with some re- 
luctance, because I can only make such com- 
ments as must already have suggested them- 
selves to many readers, without attempting an 
adequate treatment of the matters in dispute, 
which would require a book. 
As regards Mr. Reid’s theory of retrogres- 
sion, I certainly have to say that I think it is 
wrong. The general statement ‘ that the ontog- 
eny recapitulates the phylogeny’ was a brill- 
iant generalization when first made, and with- 
in reasonable limits accorded with the facts. 
But surely it has since been made a fetish of, 
and the version of it accepted in some quarters. 
reminds one of the not uncommon popular no- 
tion that all animals are descended from one 
another in a direct line! According to Mr. 
Reid’s view, I do not quite see how a female 
can transmit male characters, or vice versa, as 
undoubtedly occurs. If, for example, the 
beard is a comparatively new character, a wo- 
man, having no beard, is so far atavistic. Yet. 
that beardless woman will have bearded male 
offspring, independently of the hairiness of the 
the father. But if such illustrations are ob- 
jected to as being different from those intended 
by Mr. Reid, we may take the case of a season- 
ally dimorphic butterfly, which alternately 
loses and gains a set of characters. Here we 
have aseries ABABAB, ete. If A is the old- 
est phase, then B reverts to A, and the opposite 
process should not be possible. When we con- 
template the primary and secondary sexual 
characters and all the phenomena of dimor- 
phism and polymorphism, I do not see how we 
can avoid the conclusion that germinal selec- 
tion is a reality. At all events, the writer, af- 
ter carefully reconsidering the matter in the 
light of Mr. Reid’s new statement, is more than 
ever convinced of the validity of his former ar- 
gument, 
