382 



science:. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 195 



ing the adoption of the report, some of the older 

 members of the board of education seemingly re- 

 garding the proposed innovation as a reflection on 

 the character of the education now given, and 

 therefore opposing it. 



Unfortunately the special committee vs-as de- 

 feated in its request for immediate action ; and, 

 as the report was referred to the standing com- 

 mittee on the course of study, it is hardly possi- 

 ble that, even if it is finally adopted, any thing 

 can be accomplished under it for another year. 

 But the report itself, the favorable reception it 

 has met with in the press and among all intelli- 

 gent citizens, and much of the discussion con- 

 cerning it in the board of education itself, clearly 

 indicate that this proposed advance in the com- 

 mon-school system of the metropolis will soon be- 

 come an accomplished fact. It is only a question 

 of time now, and we trust of a short time. 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NEW ENG- 

 LAND METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The third annual meeting of the New England 

 meteorological society was held at the Institute of 

 technology, Boston, Oct. 19. Prof. J. D. Whit- 

 ney read a paper on ' Eainf all statistics iu the 

 United States,' considering especially the state- 

 ments that have been made concerning the in- 

 crease of rainfall on the western plains as a result 

 of cultivation of the ground. These statements 

 are considered altogether untrustworthy. In dry 

 regions the amount of precipitation is generally 

 variable. The records kept in the west are seldom 

 of long enough period, of sufficient accuracy, or 

 of sufficient uniformity, to decide so large a 

 question. Moreover, in the eastern part of the 

 country, where long records have been kept, no 

 definite variation in the precipitation is found. 



Mr. S. A. Eliot read an essay on the ' Relations 

 of forests to rainfall and water -sujjply.' The com- 

 mon opinion that forests increase and clearings 

 decrease the rainfall was traced to the authority 

 of eminent writers, based, not on well-kept obser- 

 vations of rainfall under these contrasted con- 

 ditions, but chiefly on the well-known diminution 

 of stream-flow in cleared districts. This, how- 

 ever, may be due to increased evaporation 

 rather than to decreased rainfall. Forests un- 

 doubtedly retard evaporation of fallen water, 

 but it is very problematic if they increase the 

 amount that falls. Mr. Fitzgerald commented on 

 this by referring to a statement, apparently on the 

 authority of DeLesseps, that the rainfall along the 

 Suez canal had increased since trees were planted 

 there. On writing directly to DeLesseps, answer 

 was received that he had made no such statement. 



and that there were no facts to support it. Mr. 

 Davis added, that, if the causes controlling rain- 

 fall be separated into those dependent on and in- 

 dependent of forests, we find that the latter are 

 now powerless to produce forests in forestless 

 countries, such as those around the eastern Med- 

 iterranean, and therefore could not have origi- 

 nated the forests once there, unless formerly of 

 different value from now ; but, if it be admitted 

 that these non-forest causes vary, the deforesting 

 may be due to natural changes, not to the hand 

 of man. 



Several seism osco pes and a series of photo- 

 graphs illustrating the effects of the Charleston 

 earthquake, lent by the U. S. geological survey, 

 were exhibited and explained at the meeting. 



In the absence of the director. Professor Upton, 

 an informal report on the work of the year was 

 presented by the secretary. Members now num- 

 ber 110, against 95 last year, and include well- 

 known meteorologists outside of New England. 

 The monthly bulletin has been regularly issued, 

 and recent numbers include reports from 140 to 

 151 observers, against 123 last year. More atten- 

 tion has been devoted to improving the character 

 of the observations than to increasing the number 

 of stations. Free tests of instruments belonging 

 to observers reporting to the society have been 

 begun by Prof. S. W. Holman. Three valued 

 observers have been lost by death, — Hon. Hosea 

 Doton, Woodstock, Vt. ; Dr. B. F, Harrison, Wal- 

 lingford. Conn. ; and Mr. R. H. Gardiner, Gar- 

 diner, Me. The records of the last two will be 

 continued. Special investigations, supported by 

 grants from scientific funds, have been under- 

 taken : a report on thunderstorms in New Eng- 

 land in 1885, by the secretary, is thus already dis- 

 tributed to members ; and a report on the distri- 

 bution of rain in cyclonic storms, by the director, 

 is now in press. While such special studies are 

 generously supported, the society still needs to 

 increase its membership for the support of its 

 regular work. 



PARIS LETTER. 

 M. Ch. Zengee recently m^de known, at a 

 meeting of the Academy of sciences, some in- 

 teresting facts concerning the singular property 

 that different substances have of giving luminous 

 rays in darkness after having been exposed to 

 solar or even diffused light. M. Zenger remarked 

 that Mont Blanc emits, till about half-past ten 

 in the evening, a peculiar blue-green light, very 

 similar to that given by Lake Leman ; and he be- 

 lieved that this light originates in the ice of the 

 glaciers as well as in the lime of the rocks. Think- 

 ing it might be possible to take a photograph of 



