98 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 186. 



much reduced. This has been nowhere 

 better shown than in the case of the British 

 troops in India and of the French troops in 

 Cochin-Chiua. Second : The great majority 

 of the best authorities are agreed that com- 

 plete acclimatization of Europeans (and 

 hence, we may add, of North Americans) 

 in the tropics is impossible. By exercising 

 the greatest care, they may live in tropical 

 countries, but, as has been well said by a 

 recent writer, to tolerate a climate is one 

 thing ; to be independent of it is quite an- 

 other. Tliird : The Anglo-Saxons are uni- 

 versally acknowledged to be the least fitted, 

 the Mediterranean nations the best fitted, 

 to colonize in the tropics. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW FOR APRIL. 



The April number of the Monthly Weather 

 Beview contains several articles of general 

 interest. In an account of 'A Visit to the 

 Highest Meteorological Station in the 

 World,' R. DeC. Ward describes his ex- 

 periences on two trips to the summit of El 

 Misti (19,200 ft.), near Arequipa, Peru, 

 where the Harvard College Observatory 

 maintains a meteorological station which is 

 at present, and is likely to be for some time 

 to come, the highest in the world. In ' Me- 

 teorological Work in Alaska,' A. J. Henry, 

 Chief of the Division of Eecords and Me- 

 teorological Data of the Weather Bureau, 

 gives an account of the recent observations 

 that have been made in that Territory. 

 Two papers by A. Lawrence Eotch con- 

 cern ' The International Aeronautical Con- 

 ference,' recently held at Strassburg, and 

 ' The Eighth General Meeting of the Ger- 

 man Meteorological Society.' Professor 

 Cleveland Abbe, the editor of the Review, 

 contributes articles on ' The Eainfall and 

 Outflow of the Great Lakes,' 'Lightning 

 on the Kite Wire,' and other matters. 



SONNBLICK VEREIN. 



The sixth Jahreshericht of the Sonnblick 



Verein, a society which has for its object the 

 maintenance of the now famous meteoro- 

 logical observatory on the Sonnblick, con- 

 taius an appreciative account, by Dr. von 

 Obermayer, of Dr. Jacob Breitenlohner, who 

 had much to do in the original planning of 

 the observatory on the Sonnblick ; an ac- 

 count of the medal given to Dr. Hann on 

 his retirement from active service in Vi- 

 enna ; the meteorological summaries for 

 1897 (for Sonnblick and Kauris), and a re- 

 port of the annual meeting of the Verein. 

 Several changes and improvements have 

 been made during the year, the most im- 

 portant of which is the establishment of a 

 new base station, connected by telephone 

 with the summit and with the Rauris sta- 

 tion. At this new station observations 

 were begun on January 1st of this year. 



Dr. Hann contributes another note- 

 worthy publication to the valuable series 

 of meteorological discussions which have 

 appeared in the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna 

 Akademie der Wissenschaften. The pres- 

 ent report is entitled Weitere Beitrdge zu dem 

 Grundlagen fiir eine Tlieorie der tiiglichen Os- 

 cillation des Barometers, a subject to which 

 the author has already given much study. 

 The data used in this investigation com© 

 from many different sources, and from 

 widely scattered regions, and are analyzed 

 with Dr. Hann's customary accuracy and 

 care. 



On the Pilot Chart of the North Pacific Ocean- 

 for July there is reprinted, from the Re- 

 port of the Director of the Hongkong Ob- 

 servatory for 1897, a classification of ty- 

 phoons, based on the seasons of the year 

 and the regions in which these disturbances 

 occur. This classification is of special in- 

 terest at the present moment. 



R. DeC. Ward. 



Hakvaed Univeesity. 



