346 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. VoL.XVIII. Xo.4o4. 



' northerly winds seem most prevalent during 

 the summer months, and I do not think they 

 were ever recorded in winter.' Another point 

 concerns the direction of the upper currents, 

 which was determined hy watching the drift 

 of the smoke from Mt. Erebus. It appeared, 

 from these observations, that the upper winds 

 were usually southwesterly or westerly, i. e., 

 they showed a marked tendency to blow out 

 from the circumpolar region. A third char- 

 acteristic phenomenon noted was the decided 

 rise in temperature during southerly ' bliz- 

 zards ' in midwinter; a fall in temperature 

 coming with a change in the wind direction to 

 the eastward. As Dr. Mill points out, this 

 rise in temperature should not be taken as an 

 indication of higher temperatures farther 

 south, but rather as a fcehn effect, resulting 

 from the mechanical warming of descending 

 air currents. 



SCINTILLATION OP STARS AND WEATHER 

 CONDITIONS. 



Some attention has of late years been paid 

 to the scintillation of the stars, especially from 

 the point of view of the bearing of this scintil- 

 lation upon the upper air currents. A recent 

 ■ study of these scintillations by Rosenthal, of 

 the Central Observatory of St. Nicholas at 

 St. Petersburg (Meteorolog. Zeitsch., XX., 

 1893, 145-156), is directed towards the rela- 

 tion which these ' twinklings ' have to weather 

 conditions. As the basis for the investigation 

 the writer takes the numbers (1 to 5) which 

 indicate the quality of the seeing as noted in 

 the observations of double stars through a 

 refracting telescope at Domkino, 130 kilo- 

 meters south of St. Petersburg, and at St. 

 Petersburg. The observations were made on 

 142 evenings, from September, 1894, to No- 

 vember, 1900, and usually at about 9 o'clock. 

 It appears that the least good seeing is noted 

 on evenings with cyclonic conditions, while 

 the best seeing is under neutral weather types. 

 The relation of the seeing and the weather 

 conditions has been so carefully determined 

 by Eosenthal that he has been able to tabulate 

 the probable seeing under a large number of 

 different weather types at Domkino. It ap- 



pears that the curve of the isobars is an im- 

 portant determining factor in this problem. 

 The investigation is an interesting one, and is 

 likely to lead to similar detailed studies else- 

 where. 



TIIUNDERSTORJIS OVER MOUNTAINS AND LOWLANDS. 



In the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for May, 

 Hegyfoky points out that his observations of 

 thunderstorms, carried on for a number of 

 years in Hungary, show an earlier occurrence 

 in mountainous districts than over lowlands. 

 In mountains the maximum hours of occur- 

 rence were 11 A.M.-2 p.m., while, over the low- 

 lands the period of maximum was 2-5 p.m. 

 The studies of Hejas, on the thunderstorms of 

 1871-1895, in Hungary, brought out similar 

 facts. 



E. DeC. Ward. 



THE BRAIN OF PROFESSOR LABORDE. 



Professor Paptllault* has published pre- 

 liminary notes on the brain of the late Pro- 

 fessor Laborde, the eminent French physiolo- 

 gist and anthropologist. The brain-weight 

 was low, 1,234 gms., but whether this was due 

 to atrophy from old age (seventy-three years) 

 or disease is not stated. Dr. Laborde's not- 

 able powers of speech led Papillault to ex- 

 amine the subfrontal gyres of the two sides 

 with especial care, and he found that the area 

 in question was demonstrably larger and more 

 differentiated on the left side (where the motor 

 speech-centers lie in right-handed persons) 

 than on the right. The same feature char- 

 acterized the brain of Gambetta. Unfor- 

 tunately, Papillault makes no mention of the 

 degree of development of the left insula as 

 compared with the right, for it is this region 

 which is most concerned with the association 

 of the receptive and emissary centers of the 

 cortex and so constitutes the true psychic 

 speech-center. 



Papillault adds that, in general, the cou- 

 volutions show an average degree of com- 

 plexity. 



E. A. Spitzka. 



* Rev. de I'Ecole d'Anihropol., 190.3, p. 142. 



