166 



SCIENCE. 



[\roL. VIII., No. I85 



one carried from seven-tenths of an inch to one inch 

 per hour. In the latter case, with a very high wind 

 sometimes, but rather the exception, there will be 

 seen fine serrations, at intervals of one or two min- 

 utes, having the appearance of a very fine saw. 

 These serrations are quite regular, and are seen only 

 during the high wind. The greatest fluctuation can- 

 not be more than eight one thousandths of an inch 

 and seldom are above four one thousandths to six one 

 thousandths. It is probable that the wind influences 

 these fluctuations, but it is very diSicult to determine 

 just how. That a high wind doe.« not always produce 

 them is quite remarkable. Returning to our drawing 

 ■chimney, it would seem an interesting computation 

 as to how long a ?ust would need to last in order to 

 draw out of a chimney one foot square sufiBcient air 

 to produce the supposed depression. 



If we consider that the barograph is inclosed in 

 an almost air-tight case, we have still another addi- 

 tion to our problem. Even if there were a with- 

 Ar^w2L\ of air from the room, is it possible for the 

 influence to reach the inside of the case before the 

 lull has made a change? A partial answer to this 

 question may be had by experimenting with the case. 

 If the door be opened rather suddenly a partial 

 vacuum is formed, or a jar occurs, which moves the 

 float, and the pencil falls or rises according as the 

 barometer has previously had a tendency down or up. 

 This effect is only two one-thousandths of an inch ; 

 and it is very rare that an influence greater than that 

 can be brought to bear upon the apparatus under 

 these conditions. It would seem as though the effect 

 produced by opening or closing the case may be many 

 times greater than the utmost that can come from 

 an intermittent wind. 



If we turn to the original letter by Mr. Clayton 

 '(vol. vii. p. 484), we shall find these particular cases 

 given by him : 1". " On March 16 the wind's velocity 

 rapidly rose from five to thirty five miles, and the bar- 

 ometer suddenly fell five one hundredths of an inch ;" 

 '2°, " During a sudden gust attending a shower, last 

 summer, the barometer fell a tenth of an inch, and 

 immediatelv rose asrain as the gust ended ;"' 3% " It 

 [the pressure] fell as much as a tenth of an inch dur- 

 ing a seventy-mile wind in February." It will be 

 seen that each of these cases occurred under abnor- 

 mal conditions, and just at the time when we would 

 naturally expect such fluctuations ; but they can 

 hardly be due to the wind, as tbey are often noted 

 when there is no high wind. The wind's action is 

 intermittent, and there is no evidence whatever of 

 this most important fact making itself known. It is 

 a matter of regret that Mr. Clayton did not open and 

 shut his trap-door at intervals of five or ten minutes, 

 for an hour or so. He would have settled the ques- 

 tion beyond doubt if he had done this. 



Much has been written in regard to the evidence 

 of observations on Mount Washington. Mr. H. A. 

 Hazen has given a partial discussion of the Mount 

 Washington records in the ' Annual report of the 

 chief signal officer,' for 1882. He there has shown 

 that the effect of the wind upon the computed eleva- 

 tion changes sign at a velocity of twenty-five to 

 thirty miles per hour ; i.e., instead of the effect being 

 zero when there was no wind, it was really zero with 

 a wind of twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. This 

 is a fair indirect proof either that the wind does not 

 cause the fluctuation, or, if it does, that another force 

 is superposed upon it. 



It is hazardous drawing conclusions upon the facts 



thus far developed. It may be that the wind can 

 produce more than one effect, and that the serration 

 effect above alluded to is not the only one to be con- 

 sidered. The weight of evidence seems to be rather 

 against any great depression being produced. Mr. 

 Clayton will do meteorology a great service by trying 

 a few experiments. If his barograph, shut, is carried 

 along only two inches a day, opening the trap-door 

 ten minutes will give only one seventy- second of an 

 inch for the pencil to move in. The difficulty can be 

 obviated, however, by letting an attendant note the 

 movement of the pencil (if there be any) and carefully 

 take the time of the fluctuations, if the time of 

 manipulating the trap-door be also taken, a compari- 

 son of times will settle the question. 



Gan. 

 Aug. 10. 



A case of inherited polydactylism. 



,In the spring of 18831 saw and examined a case of 

 inherited polydactylism, which I think worth record- 

 ing. While enjoying the hospitality of a friend, in a 

 charming ravine opening into Napa Valley from the 

 mountains on the west side, my attention was drawn, 

 by my intelligent hostess, to the hands of a German 

 laborer at work in the garden. There were six well- 

 formed, usable fingers on each hand. The metacar- 

 pals were of the normal number, but the fifth bore 

 two fingers. The supernumerary little finger differed 

 from the true little finger only in being much smaller. 



I give a rude drawing of the left hand, made on 

 the spot, showing the size and position of the super- 

 numerary finger. 



I inquired concerning his family history in this re- 

 gard. His account is given in the following dia- 

 gram, in which I have italicized those who are or 

 were polydactylous : 



Maternal Grandfather. Maternal Grandmother. 



Father. 



Mother. 



I Sisters. Bro. 



Peter Weitner, a, b, c, d; a. 

 I 

 Children. 



It is seen that the deformity was inherited from 

 his mother's maternal grandmother ; that, besides 

 himself, it has affected one sister, out of four, and 

 one brother, and has been transmitted to the children 

 of the sister, thus affecting at least four generations. 



Joseph Le Conte. 



Berkeley, Cal., Aug. 5. 



I 



" Thumb marks." 



One of the anatomical characteristics recently 

 brought within the area of anthropological investiga- 

 tion is the marking on the skin of the hand, espe- 



