March -i-i, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



321 



ARGENTINE METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS. 



Among the most elaborate discussions of 

 meteorological observations published in 

 America are those of the Argentine Meteoro- 

 logical Ofbce, under the direction of Walter 

 G. Davis, whose headquarters are at Cor- 

 dova, in the middle of the pampas. The 

 latest volume issued, number IX., is in two 

 parts ; the first giving the original observa- 

 tions at Cordova since 1872, the second giv- 

 ing the mean values determined from this 

 important series of records. A notable 

 climatic feature is the occurrence of a wet 

 summer, October to March, and a drj- 

 winter, April to September, The summer 

 rains are chiefly supplied by thunderstorms, 

 yet curiously enough the rains exhibit both 

 in quantity and in number of occurrences a 

 distinct afternoon minimum and an early 

 morning maximum : but the scale of cloudi- 

 ness has its maximum toward midday, and 

 in January in mid-afternoon. High baromet- 

 ric pressure confirms the continental qual- 

 ity of the winter dry season. Westerly 

 winds are rare; northeast and southeast are 

 common, the latter flowing feebly through 

 the night, the former actively through the 

 afternoon ; and thus indicating the left- 

 handed or austral deflection that might be 

 expected with increased velocity in the 

 southern hemisphere. The strong diurnal 

 winds last fi-om ten to five o'clock in late 

 summer, but only from noon to three in 

 midwinter ; whUe the duration of the quiet 

 winds of night plainly varies with the period 

 from sunset to sunrise. Although the text 

 and tables are most elaborate, the treatment 

 of the subject is local, numerical and clim- 

 atic, rather than giMieral, descriptive and 

 meteorological. 



THE SPECIOUS TEEM, ' REFORESTATION.' 



The hard times lately reported as afflict- 

 ing some of the Western States in the 

 debatable belt, where agriculture is an un- 

 certain occupation, recall by contrast the 



over-confident opinions, so freelj' uttered 

 by ' experts ' before Congressional commit- 

 tees, concerning the improved climatic con- 

 ditions that might be expected over the 

 Great Plains as settlement advances. Gov- 

 ernmental science wUl, we fear, suffer 

 severely when the inaccuracies of this quasi 

 scientific testimony are understood. Hardly 

 less misleading than the loose phrases con- 

 cerning ' the underflow,' from which an in- 

 exhaustible water supply has been looked 

 for, is the term ' reforestation,' used with 

 the impUcation that the barren plains of 

 to-day have been forested in the past. One 

 ofi&cial has testified : •' By the destruction 

 of the forest which originally covered this 

 region, the verj- condition of its existence 

 and of its natural recuperation was de- 

 stroj'ed ; and thus, in a reverse manner, re- 

 forestation of parts by artificial means may 

 make natural reforestation over the whole 

 area possible by and by. . . . Reforestation on 

 the plains and forest preservation on the 

 mountains is of greater national concern 

 than the location of irrigation reservoirs." 

 There is no shadow of evidence that the 

 Plains have ever been forested since their 

 geographical surroundings were like those 

 of to-day. It is a most gratuitous assump- 

 tion to use the term 'reforestation' in vnit- 

 ing of the Plains, It does harm to those 

 who are tempted to settle there by these 

 and other over-favoralfle views concerning 

 the climate of the sub-arid region ; and it 

 discredits governmental science by exposing 

 it to so easy contradiction, 



W. M. Davis. 



Harvard University, 



ANXUAL RECEPTION OF THE XEW YORK 

 ACADEMY. 



The New York Academy of Sciences last 

 year instituted a series of annual receptions, 

 suggested by the famous conversazione of 

 the Royal Society of London. The firet 

 Reception was held in the Librarj' of Co- 



