124 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XITI. No. 31; 



ological Survey, but is constructed on the same scale. These maps 

 are sold at the cost of paper and printing. A somewhat similar plan, 

 requiring five to eight sheets, might perhaps be adopted with ad- 

 vantage in this State. Each city, town, and village should, so far 

 as possible, be found entire upon some one sheet ; but to secure 

 this, the original plates must be combined and re-arranged, and ad- 

 joining sheets must be made to include the same territory to some 

 extent. 



"It is desirable that a wall-map of the whole State should be pub- 

 lished, in addition to the atlas form just mentioned. A map about 

 3^ feet by 5 feet in size would include the whole State, with Block 

 Island in its true position. This could be easily arranged, pro- 

 vided the State authorize some arrangement for such publication." 



The three States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jer- 

 sey have thus been the first to secure, by a wise co-operation with 

 the United States Geological Survey, good topographical maps of 

 their whole territories. It is one of the most important objects of 

 this institution to make a good map of the United States, without 

 the aid of which no geological work can be carried on satisfacto- 

 rily. On account of the wide extent of our country, this enterprise 

 is enormous, and requires a long time for its accomplishment. By 

 the co-operation of States the work which is of the greatest impor- 

 tance can be accelerated, and it is to be hoped that other States 

 will follow the example set by three of their number, the good re- 

 sults of which may be seen from the map of New Jersey, so far 

 the only one published. 



THE GREAT STORM OF MARCH, 18S8. 



It is only after a long period has elapsed that it is possible to de- 

 scribe accurately the meteorological conditions that prevailed at a 

 certam time over a large area, particularly over extensive parts of 

 the ocean : therefore it has not been possible until recently to write 

 the history of the great blizzard that visited the Atlantic States 

 from March 11 to 74, 1888. Lieut. Everett Hayden, who is in 

 charge of the Division of Marine Meteorology of the Bureau of 

 Navigation, has undertaken this work, and presented the results of 

 his interesting study in the fifth of the " Nautical Monographs." 

 The book, which contains the original observations made by masters 

 of vessels in full, is bound in leather to enable it to stand the rough 

 handling incident to use aboard ship, where books in ordinary cloth 

 bindings are quickly ruined. The list of observations shows how 

 valuable is the aid that voluntary observers aboard ships give to the 

 work of the Hydrographic Office. The history of this memorable 

 storm is based almost exclusively on their reports : therefore the 

 endeavors of the Hydrographic Office to enlist as great a number 

 of masters as possible as voluntary observers, and to increase the 

 general interest in marine- meteorology among mariners, deserve 

 the greatest possible success. It is well known how much more 

 readily a man will undertake such observations if he knows that 

 they are actually used, than if he believes that they are buried 

 among a vast amount of material : therefore the plan of publishing 

 a monograph of a remarkable gale, with a complete list of observa- 

 tions appended, will, aside from its scientific value, instigate many a 

 mariner to continue or to take up meteorological observations at 

 sea. 



Lieut. Hayden represents the meteorological conditions over the 

 Atlantic coast and the adjoining parts of the ocean in four charts, 

 showing lines of equal pressure and of equal temperature. In order 

 to make the maps clearer, temperatures above freezing are repre- 

 sented in pink ; those below freezing, in blue ; the depth of shade 

 increasing with the departure from this point. In this way the ad- 

 vance of the cold wave from the interior towards the seacoast is 

 shown with admirable clearness, and the meteorological events are 

 easily understood. In the text, the history of the storm is traced 

 from March 11, 7 A.M., when a long trough of low barometer, ex- 

 tending from the west coast of Florida up past the eastern shore of 

 Lake Huron, and far northward, was advancing eastward, causing 

 strong north-westerly winds on its western side. At 10 P.M. this 

 line had advanced eastward as far as the 74th meridian. The cold 

 north-westerly gale, as it is now sweeping over the great warm 

 ocean-current, carrying air at a temperature below the freezing- 

 point over water above 75°F., is rapidly gaining strength, and be- 



comes a fierce hurricane. An area of high barometer, which was 

 at Newfoundland the previous day, is slowing down, blocking the 

 advance of the rapidly increasing storm, and about to hold the cen- 

 tre of the line in check to the westward of Nantucket for days, 

 while a terrific north-west gale plays havoc along the coast from 

 Montauk Point to Hatteras, and until the right flank of the line has 

 swung around to the eastward far enough to cut ofi^ the supply 

 of warm, moist air pouring in from the north-east. The special 

 value of Lieut. Hayden's description lies in his clear treatment of 

 the influence of the warm, moist Atlantic air upon the development 

 of the storm. He sums up the observations on this argument as 

 follows-: " The storm has called attention anew to the sudden 

 deepening of depressions upon reaching the coast, and the corre- 

 sponding increase of energy to be expected, — a lesson that should 

 be borne in mind by every navigator leaving port with a falling 

 barometer, and other signs of a storm. It has reminded us of the 

 vitally important influence of the Gulf Stream in causing such in- 

 crease of energy, and to the necessity of closely watching this great 

 warm ocean-current, and noting any abnormal conditions of vol- 

 ume, velocity, temperature, and position ; especially so during the 

 spring and autumn months, — the periods of most rapid change in 

 the conditions of oceanic and atmospheric circulation. The storm 

 has established in most unmistakable terms the importance, not 

 only to our extensive shipping interests, but to the people of all our 

 great seaboard cities, of the establishment of telegraphic signal 

 stations at outlying points off the coast, — at St. Johns and Sable 

 Island, to watch the movement of areas of high barometer, upon 

 which that of the succeeding ' low ' so largely depends ; and at 

 Bermuda, Nassau, and various points in the West Indies and Wind- 

 ward Islands, that we may be forewarned of the approach and 

 progress of the terrific hurricanes which, summer after summer, 

 bring devastation and destruction along our Gulf and Atlantic 

 coasts." Discussions like the present will contribute largely to 

 arousing and keeping alive an interest in these researches, the 

 practical and scientific value of which cannot be overestimated. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar. Revised by J. B. Green- 

 OUGH and G. L. Kittredge. Boston, Ginn & Co. i2~^. 

 $1.35. 



Advantage has been taken of the opportunity offered by the 

 necessary recasting of the plates of this book to have such improve- 

 ments made in it as the advance of grammatical knowledge and 

 the experience of the schoolroom have shown to be advisable. 

 The revisers have simplified the statement of principles, so far as 

 a preservation of strict correctness would admit, but without any 

 approach to a mechanical method of treating the science of lan- 

 guage. Many explanations and suggestions, in text and footnotes,' 

 have been added to those given in previous editions, for the benefit 

 of teachers and advanced scholars. 



In the revision of this work, the needs of the classroom have 

 evidently been kept constantly in view, resulting in great accuracy, 

 combined with clearness and simplicity of statement. Although 

 the matter of the book has been simplified, the size of the book has 

 been increased, for simplification sometimes necessitates expansion. - 

 Many things taken for granted or merely suggested in the old 

 edition have been expressly stated in this revision. Much new 

 matter will be found, marking, in many particulars, a substantial 

 advance. Thus, the chapter on word-formation has been entirely 

 rewritten, many new points being presented ; the treatment of the 

 temporal particles has been recast ; the section on reflexive pro- 

 nouns has been rewritten ; and the chapter on words consists in 

 great part of new matter. 



Some other subjects, in the treatment of which the new edition 

 will be found more satisfactory than the old, and to which the 

 especial attention of both student and teacher may be called, are 

 included in that part of the book between Sections 248 and 332.- 

 There is also much new philological matter, which is nearly all 

 printed in small-type notes, being intended more for the advanced 

 student than the beginner. 



Very numerous cross-references have been furnished in this- 

 edition, by means of which the ramifications of a construction^ 



