182 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 7. 



complete and rigorous as the ' Celestial 

 Mechanics ' of La Place, and this will 

 necessarily be a treatise on the application 

 to the atmosphere of the general laws of 

 force, or what is technically known as the 

 dynamics and thermo-dynamics of gases 

 and vapors. Such a work cannot be written 

 now, nor when written can it be studied 

 successfully unless accompanied by an 

 introductory ' Laboratory manual of physics 

 and hydro-dynamics.' 



But the preparation of this latter work 

 demands appropriate laboratory arrange- 

 ments. I will, therefore, invert the order 

 and say that further progress in meteorology 

 demands a laboratory and the consecration 

 of the physicist and the mathematician 

 to this science. Something like this was 

 started in 1881, by G-eneral Hazen, in es- 

 tablishing a ' Study Room,' but it was ruled 

 out by the report of a committee of Con- 

 gress, and since that daj' meteorology has 

 more than ever looked to the universities 

 for its higher development. The applica- 

 tions of climatology to geology, physiogra- 

 phy, hygiene, irrigation and other matters 

 have been developed, but meteorology it- 

 self, the most important and the most com- 

 plex of all the physical sciences, still re- 

 mains to be provided for. 



The crying need of this science is a home, 

 a domicile, a meteorological laboratory, and 

 full recognition as a course in university 

 study. 



Without experimentation there is no true 



progress in the physical sciences. 



Cleveland Abbe. 

 Washington. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

 A CAED CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERA- 

 TURE. 



Editor of Science, Dear Sir : The efforts 

 which students of the l^atural Sciences are 

 constantly making to provide themselves 

 with more complete summaries of the 



literature of their various departments all 

 testify to the existence of a wide-spread 

 feeling of dissatisfaction with the existing 

 methods of cataloguing scientific papers and 

 reporting upon the results of scientific re- 

 search. That this dissatisfaction is felt by 

 none more keenly than by those engaged in 

 the work is shown by the appeal made last 

 spring by the Eoyal Society to various 

 universities and leai-ned societies for advice 

 as to the feasibility of maintaining by in- 

 ternational cooperation a complete catalogue 

 of current scientific literature. 



The following circular of the Society, to- 

 gether with the reply of Harvard Univer- 

 sity to the same, will doubtless be of inter- 

 est to your readers, and by opening the col- 

 umns of j^our journal to a discussion of the 

 subject you will not fail to elicit valuable 

 suggestions with regard to the details of the 

 plan. 



In adopting the recommendations of the 

 committee as printed below, the University 

 Council voted " that the Secretary of the 

 Council be instructed to transmit to the 

 Roj^al Societj' a letter stating the opinion 

 of this Council, that the expression ' scien- 

 tific literature ' as used in the above recom- 

 mendation ought to receive a very broad 

 interpretation . ' ' 



Yours very trulj', 



H. P. BOWDITCH. 



LETTER FROM THE SECRETARIES OF THE ROYAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The Royal Society, 

 Burlington House, March 22, 1894. 



Sir : The Roj'al Society of London, as yon 

 are probably aware, has published nine 

 quarto volumes of ' The Catalogue of Scien- 

 tific Papers,' the first volume of the decade 

 1874-83 having been issued last year. 



This Catalogue is limited to periodical 

 scientific literature, i. e., to papers published 

 in the Ti-ansactions, etc., of Societies, and in 

 Journals ; it takes no account whatever of 



