July 31, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



155 



especial emphasis being laid on the relation of 

 the staple products of the soil to climatic 

 conditions. Argentina is not unlike the re- 

 gion between the Missouri and Mississippi 

 river systems and the watershed of the Rocky 

 mountains. The rainfall decreases towards 

 the interior in' both regions, with a correspond- 

 ing change in vegetation. Argentina essen- 

 tially duplicates the United States in having 

 in the northeast a rainy forest belt; then a 

 corn belt and a wheat belt; then a wide 

 stretch of semi-arid and arid plain, and at 

 the base of the Andes, agricultural settlements 

 depending upon irrigation supplied by water 

 from the Andean snowfields. In the north, 

 with heavy rainfall, dense tropical forests are 

 found. Cattle extend north even into the dis- 

 trict of heavy rainfall in the northeastern 

 territories, while horses do not thrive in a 

 rainfall of more than fifty-five inches in the 

 Argentine, and sheep are found south of the 

 isohyetal line of forty inches. Being able to 

 endure cold and hunger, sheep succeed as far 

 south as the southern shores of Patagonia, 

 and even of Tierra del Fuego. The north, 

 west and soutli, because of excess or deficiency 

 or unfavorable distribution, of rainfall, are 

 not adapted for wheat, the wheat district be- 

 ing a rough parallelogram in the eastern cen- 

 tral part of the country. Corn, owing to its 

 requirement of summer rains and its ability to 

 withstand higher relative humidity, finds fav- 

 orable conditions in the eastern part of the 

 wheat region, and in the more humid north- 

 east. In the valleys of western Argentina, 

 where water is available for irrigation, crops 

 are grown more independently of rainfall. 



KITE-FLYIXG IX SCOTLAND .^XD THE CYCLONE 

 THEORY. 



Under the auspices of the Eoyal Meteorolog- 

 ical Society, for seven weeks during the 

 Bummer of 1902 kites were flown with great 

 regularity from a tug off the west coast of 

 Scotland. The suggestion of flying kites in 

 this way came originally, it will be remem- 

 bered, from Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, of Blue 

 Hill Observatory, ^r. W. H. Dines, in a 

 brief account of the work (Nature, June 18), 

 states that, although the evidence from the 



summer's work was not sufficient to be con- 

 clusive, so far as it went it tended to show 

 that as a cyclone approaches the decrease of 

 temperature with altitude becomes less. Every 

 cyclone that passed while the kite-flying was 

 in progress showed this condition. This 

 ' leads to the conclusion,' says Mr. Dines, ' that 

 the upper air in the neighborhood of a cyclone 

 is relatively warm, and that the cyclones are 

 convectional effects.' And thus we have an- 

 other contribution to the cyclonic theorj' dis- 

 cussion, which has of late somewhat flagged. 



CARBON DIOXIDE IN LONDON RAILWAY C.VRRIAGES. 



The examination of the air in the carriages 

 and stations of the Central London Railway, 

 carried out by Drs. Clowes and Andrewes 

 (Nature, Vol. 68, p. 591) showed in the car- 

 riages a maximum amount of carbon dioxide ■ 

 of 14.7 volumes, and a minimum amount of 

 9.6 volumes, in 10,000 volumes of air. In an 

 elevator, on one occasion, 15.2 volumes of CO, 

 were found in 10,000 volumes of air. Dr. 

 Clowes is of opinion that standard air at any 

 point on the railway should not contain more 

 than eight volumes of COj in 10,000 of air. 

 R. DeC. Ward. 



RADIUM A^D CANCER. 



We are permitted to print the following 

 letters : 



B.\DDECK, N. S., July 21, 1903. 

 Dr. Z. T. Sowers, 



1707 Massachusetts Avenue, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Dear Dr. Sowers: 



I understand from you tli.it the Roentgen 

 X-Rays, and the rays emitted by radium, have 

 been found to have a marked curative effect upon 

 external cancers, but that the effects upon deep 

 seated cancers have not thus far proved satisfac- 

 tory. 



It has occurred to me that one reason for the 

 unsatisfaetoiy nature of these latter experiments 

 arises from the fact that the rays have been 

 applied externally, thus having to pass through 

 healthy tissues of various depths in order to 

 reach the cancerous matter. 



The Crookcs tube from which the Roentgen 

 rays arc emitted is of course too bulky to be 

 admitted into the middle of a mass of cancer, but 

 there is no reason whv a tinv fragment of radium 



