December 2, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



785 



point of ozone cannot be below — 125°. 

 According to Troost it is —119°, while 

 earlier, Olszewsky had placed it at —106°. 

 J. L. H. 



CUBBENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 

 AUGUST HOT WAVE IN CALIFORNIA. 



The August number of the California 

 Section of the Climate and Crop Service 

 contains an account of the hot wave of that 

 month, by George H. "Wilson. This hot 

 wave lasted one week, and was the most 

 severe on record, throughout the Sacra- 

 mento and portions of the San Joaquin 

 Valleys. Maxima up to 120° were noted, 

 and the temperatures were about 20° above 

 the normal in the great valleys on August 

 11th. In the Sacramento Valley it is stated 

 that birds flew into the houses, seeking 

 shelter from the withering heat, and in a 

 few cases they are reported to have fallen 

 dead from the trees. During the hot wave 

 there was a marked absence of northerly 

 vrinds in the interior valleys, and as the 

 ground was very dry, owing to a drought, 

 the surface was effectively heated. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 



The August number of the' Monthly 

 Weather Review is one of unusual interest. 

 Among the papers it contains are the follow- 

 ing : ' The Effect of Approaching Storms 

 upon Song Birds,' by C. E. Linney ; ' Prog- 

 ress in the Exploration of the Air with 

 Kites at the Blue Hill Observatory,' by A. 

 Lawrence Eotch ; ' Destruction by Light- 

 ning in New York State during the month 

 of August, 1898,' by E. G. Allen ; ' The 

 Measurement of the Wind,' ' Sensible 

 Temperatures or the Curve of Comfort,' 

 and 'Waterspouts on the Lakes,' by Pro- 

 fessor Cleveland Abbe. 



NOTES. 



The Southern Pacific Railroad Company 

 has recently supplied ordinary meteorolog- 

 ical instruments to 181 of its stations be- 



tween Ashland, Ore.; Ogden, Utah, and 

 El Paso, Texas. The state of the weather, 

 direction of wind, temperature and rainfall 

 are included in the daily record, and at 

 nine important points pressure readings are 

 made. Daily telegraphic reports are for- 

 warded from each point to San Francisco. 

 Weekly crop reports are also sent from 52 

 important producing centers. The Com- 

 pany forwards over its own wires, without 

 charge to the government, warnings of 

 frosts and hot northers. The meteorolog- 

 ical observations thus collected are placed 

 at the disposal of the Weather Bureau. 



In the September number of the Monthly 

 Review of the Iowa Weather and Crop Ser- 

 vice it it noted that of 266 head of live 

 stock killed in Iowa by lightning during 

 the past summer 118 were found in close 

 contact with wire fences. 



R. De C. Ward. 



Haevaed Univeesiiy. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 SOME MORE ATROCIOUS BOTANY. 



It is quite bad enough that we have text- 

 books on elementary botany that are so full 

 of error that teachers have to be warned 

 not to use them, but now we find a new 

 source of confusion and erroneous infection 

 in an unexpected quarter. Our attention 

 has just been called to a recent book, ' Ap- 

 plied Physiology,' by Dr. Overton, pub- 

 lished by the American Book Company, 

 in which the author manages to bring in 

 more than the usual number of misrepre- 

 sentations and misleading statements re- 

 garding plants, commonly found in such 

 books. The following examples will give 

 an idea of the botanical pabulum which the 

 Doctor supplies to his pupils : 



' ' The greater part of all young plants is 

 starch" (p. 26) . " Each grain [of starch] is 

 made up of layers of pure starch separated 

 by an exceedingly thin layer of a substance 

 like cotton, called cellulose" (p. 26). "As 



