492 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 459. 



work of Angot on the diurnal variation of 

 the barometer and the reduction of baro- 

 metric observations for height that form 

 conspicuous features among the many valu- 

 able memoirs of the Central Bureau of 

 Paris. 



Of the monumental work of Hilde- 

 brandsson in association with Teisserenc de 

 Bort on clouds, which culminated quite 

 recently in a most important addition to 

 the pure kinematics of the atmosphere, I 

 hope the authors will themselves speak. 

 Professor Willis Moore's presence recalls 

 the advances which Bigelow has made in 

 the kinematics and mechanics of the at- 

 mosphere under the auspices of Professor 

 Moore's office, and reminds us of the debt 

 of gratitude which the English-speaking 

 world owes to Professor Cleveland Abbe 

 of the same office, for his treatment of the 

 literature of atmospheric mechanics. 



If General Rykatcheff had only the mag- 

 nificent climatological 'Atlas of the Rus- 

 sian Empire' to his credit he might well 

 rest satisfied. Professor Mohn's contribu- 

 tions to the mechanics of the atmosphere are 

 examples of Norwegian enterprise in the 

 difficult problems of meteorology, while Dr. 

 Paulsen maintains for us the right of 

 meteorologists to share in the results of the 

 newest discoveries in physics. Davis's en- 

 terprise in the far south does much to bring 

 the southern hemisphere within our reach, 

 while Chaves places the meteorology of the 

 mid-Atlantic at the service of the scientific 

 world. Need I say anything of Billwiller's 

 work upon the special effect of mountains 

 upon meteorological conditions, or of the 

 immense services of the joint editors of the 

 Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Professor 

 Pernter, of Vienna, and Dr. Hellmann, of 

 Berlin ; of Palazzo 's contributions to ter- 

 restrial magnetism. The mention of 

 Eliot's Indian work, or of Russell's organi- 

 zation of Australian meteorology, will be 



sufficient to show that the dependencies 

 and colonies are prepared to take a share 

 in scientific enterprise. And if I wished 

 to reassure myself that even the official 

 meteorology of this country is not without 

 its scientific ambitions and achievements, 

 I would refer not only to Scott 's many ser- 

 vices to science, but also to Strachey's pa- 

 pers on Indian and British meteorology 

 and to the official contributions to marine 

 meteorology. 



There is another name, well known in 

 the annals of the British Association, that 

 will forever retain an honored place among 

 the pioneers of meteorological enterprise — 

 that of James Glaisher, the intrepid ex- 

 plorer of the upper air, the Nestor of 

 meteorologists, who has passed away since 

 the last meeting of the association. 



I should like especially to mention Pro- 

 fessor Hergesell's achievements in the or- 

 ganization of the international investiga- 

 tion of the upper air by balloons and kites, 

 because it is one of the departments which 

 offer a most promising field for the future, 

 and in which we in this country have a 

 good many arrears to make up. I hope 

 Professor Hergesell will later on give us 

 some account of the present position of that 

 investigation, and I am glad that Mr. 

 Rotch, to whose enterprise the development 

 of what I may call the scientific kite in- 

 dustry is largely due, is present to take 

 part in the discussion. 



Yet with all these achievements it must 

 be confessed that the progress made with 

 the problems of general or dynamical me- 

 teorology in the last thirty years has been 

 disappointing. When we compare the po- 

 sition of the subject with that of other 

 branches of physics it must be allowed that 

 it still lacks what astronomy found in New- 

 ton, sound in Newton and Chladni, light in 

 Young and Fresnel, heat in Joule, Kelvin, 

 Clausius and Helmholtz, and electricity in 



