June 14, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



459 



higher grades of his profession. An examination is necessary be- 

 fore every promotion ; so that he must not only teach well, but 

 must keep up with what is going on in the branches which he is 

 required tO' teach. He teaches about thirty hours a week for ten 

 months of the year, receiving a salary ranging from twenty-five 

 dollars to ninety dollars per month, and a house free of rent. Con- 

 sidering the price of living, this is better compensation than the 

 average American teacher gets. The average salary of the 23,681 

 teachers in Pennsylvania is $34.35 per month, and the report from 

 which these figures are taken does not give the lowest salary paid. 

 In some instances it is probably not more than ten dollars a month. 

 As showing the transitory nature of the teacher's occupation in this 

 country, it may be stated, that, of the above twenty-three thousand 

 teachers, over eight thousand had been in the work less than five 

 years. To judge from a statement made some years ago by a 

 prominent Ohio educator, the tenure in that State is still more un- 

 stable. Besides, the German village schoolmaster is socially the 

 equal of any of his neighbors, and he and the pastor are the most 

 important personages in the place. 



After the German teacher has served ten continuous years, his 

 salary is increased by a small yearly pension ; and if he should, on 

 account of age or for any other reason, be unable to continue his 

 labors, his pension is so increased as to afford him a comfortable 

 living. If he dies and leaves a widow, she is pensioned, as are also 

 all children under the age of twelve years whom he may happen to 

 have. The State thus recognizes the teacher in the public school 

 as being of equal value with the soldier; for, if either is disabled in 

 the service, he is pensioned ; and if he dies, his family is provided 

 for. 



It must not be inferred, fro.-n what has been said above, that it is 

 advocated to transfer, as a whole, the German public-school sys- 

 tem to the United States. We must make our own system, not 

 borrow one already made. The only object has been to show that 

 in the way of public schools we have more to learn of some Euro- 

 pean countries than they of us. While it is freely admitted that we 

 have many schools quite as good as any that can be found else- 

 where, yet one need only keep his eyes open in order to become 

 fully aware that we have many schools and school-teachers that 

 could not exist under the system sketched above. 



DO WARM SUMMERS FOLLOW WARM WINTERS ? 



Almost every newspaper of Boston has recently had something 

 to say about what the weather is to be during the coming summer ; 

 and it seems to be an almost unanimous conclusion that the fol- 

 lowing summer is to be warm because the winter and spring have 

 been warm, or because last summer was cool. This has led Mr. 

 H. H. Clayton to examine the temperature observations made in 

 Milton during the last forty years by Mr. Charles Breck. These 

 observations have been made twice daily from the same thermome- 

 ter, hanging in the same place since the beginning of the observa- 

 tions in January, 1849. During the forty years, nineteen winters 

 have been warmer than the average, and eight of the following 

 summers have been warmer than the average. There have been eleven 

 cases in which both the winter and spring have been warmer than 

 the average, and following these there have been five summers warmer 

 than the average. There have been six decidedly warm winters, 

 that is, winters whose mean temperature was three degrees or more 

 above the average ; and four of the following summers have been 

 warmer than the average. It is seen, then, that only about half of 

 the warm winters were followed by warm summers ; or, in other 

 words, cool summers have followed warm winters as often as the 

 reverse. The number of times warm summers have followed cool 

 summers is nine, while the number of times cool summers have 

 followed cool summers is twelve. 



In the above, what has been called a warm winter is one in which 

 the mean temperature of the three winter months — December, 

 January, and February — has been higher than the average of forty 

 years ; and what has been called a cool summer is one in which 

 the mean temperature of the three months of June, July, and Au- 

 gust has been lower than the average of forty years, etc. This, 

 however, is evidently not the definition adopted by people generally 

 in deciding whether a winter or summer is colder or warmer than 



usual, for a decided departure of the temperature of a single month 

 in any direction may determine the impression people retain of 

 the entire season. Thus it will surprise most people to learn that 

 the mean temperature of last summer was slightly higher than the 

 average of the last forty years. Both June and August were 

 warmer than usual, and only July was very cool. It will probably 

 be a still greater surprise to learn that the winter of 18S7-88, which 

 was generally thought to be a cold winter, was really slightly 

 warmer than usual. December and February were both warmer 

 than usual, and January alone was very cold. Thus people's 

 opinion of a season seems to be largely moulded by the special 

 character of what is usually the most extreme month of the season. 

 If in winter January happens to be exceptionally warm or cold, the 

 winter is decided to be of the same character ; or if July happens 

 to be decidedly warm or cool, the summer is thus characterized. 

 It seemed, then, worth while to ascertain from Mr. Breck's record 

 how many warm Julys followed decidedly warm Januarys. There 

 were eight Januarys during the forty years whose average tempera- 

 ture was above 30°, and following these were five Julys warmer 

 than the average of forty years ; which indicates but a slight ten- 

 dency for warm Julys to follow warm Januarys, since the law of 

 chance would indicate that four warm Julys ought to follow eight 

 warm Januarys. The number of times warm Julys have followed 

 cool Julys is twelve ; and the number of times cool Julys have fol- 

 lowed cool Julys is eight. 



Another method frequently used in predicting the weather of a 

 coming season js based on the conclusion that during every year the 

 average conditions remain about the same ; and if the first part of 

 the year is very warm, the latter part must be cool. This assump- 

 tion, however, appears to be entirely unsupported. Mr. Breck's 

 observations show that the mean temperature of one year may 

 differ as much as five degrees from another. Eleven months of 

 1877 were observed to be warmer than usual, and nearly as great 

 departures in the opposite direction were found in other years. 



All of these facts indicate that no conclusion of any value greater 

 than could be gained by mere guessing can be formed in regard to- 

 the character of a coming season, merely by knowing the character 

 of a past season, until some law connecting these is worked out. 

 This has been demonstrated over and over again in different parts of 

 the world ; but since, of course, people generally cannot keep posted 

 in meteorological literature, there will probably continue to appear 

 such forecasts of coming seasons, based on apparent scientific 

 conclusions. Mr. Clayton feels sure there is a law of recurrence 

 of meteorological phenomena besides the daily and annual periods, 

 and also that it is not of the character usually supposed and dis- 

 cussed above. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 In an account of the Widdifield & Bowman Company's elec- 

 tric and automatic car-brake, in Science of May 31, p. 412, second 

 column, 10 lines from the bottom," in 11 seconds" should read 

 " in 77 seconds." This company now have an office at Room 125, 

 Temple Court, this city. 



— Dr. Hellmann has published, in the Ccntralblalt dcr Bauvcr- 

 waltimg, a brief study of a cloud-burst, Aug. 2 and 3, 1SS8, in the 

 Riesengebirge, in Silesia. The storm was on the west side of a 

 storm area which was moving northward from Galicia. The rain 

 fell from fifteen to eighteen hours, and in some parts of the Oueiss 

 valley its depth reached 200 millimetres, or 7.9 inches. Such a 

 rainfall had not been knov/n there before since 1S04. A similar 

 cloud-burst occurred in the region just south-east of this, in the 

 Sudeten and Beskiden Mountains, in 1884, accompanied by a simi- 

 lar unusual progression of a storm area northward over Galicia 

 and Polen. 



— The governing committee of the Nineteenth Century Club of 

 New York reports, that, notwithstanding the shadow cast over the 

 club by the death of its founder and president, the last season has 

 been a successful one. The meetings have been marked by a full 

 and sometimes a crowded attendance, the membership is substan- 

 tially unimpaired, and, so far as the committee caii judge, the in- 

 terest in the club's work remains unabated. The committee be- 

 lieves that nothing more is necessary than to continue on the same 



