December 31, 1886. 



SCIElSrCE, 



635 



with their transitory causes ; diurnal variations, 

 when not controlled or destroyed by importation 

 of external conditions in the winds of strong 

 gradients, are always significant of local geographic 

 surroundings, and cannot be too closely examined 

 for every separate station. Such local character- 

 istics are, without doubt, known to many of our 

 signal-service observers, but they have not often 

 found their way into print. The annual reports 

 of the chief signal ofiicer hardly have room for 

 them ; the regrettable cessation of the ' signal- 

 service notes ' withdraws a fitting medium for 

 their publication ; scientific journals and local 

 health or engineering reports may well open their 

 pages to such material , when adequately prepared. 

 Three general papers should also be mentioned, 

 — ' The climatology and diseases of southern Cali- 

 fornia,' by H. S, Orme, M.D., of Los Angeles, 

 president state board of health ; ' Report on the 

 . . , climatology ... of Surprise and Goose 

 Lake valleys,' by Dr. G. M. Kober, U. S. A., 

 stationed at Fort Bid well ; and 'The coast cli- 

 mate of California,' by J. W. Robinson, M.D., 

 of Crescent City. Dr. Orme mentions the pro- 

 nounced control of the sea-breeze over the coast 

 temperatures. During hot days, when thermom- 

 eters in the interior rise to 115° to 125°, a stiff 

 sea-breeze blows inland all along the southern 

 coast, and prevents the littoral temperature from 

 rising over 90°. He briefly mentions also a hot 

 and dry wind, usually confined to limited locali- 

 ties a fe^v miles inland, and frequently issuing 

 from the Santa Ana pass in the Coast range, 

 whence it takes its name. This is of particular 

 interest, as it suggests the physical identity of the 

 wind with the Foehn of Switzerland ; and further 

 details of its occurrence will therefore be im- 

 patiently awaited by those who are already tired of 

 having to quote so largely from foreign sources 

 for illustration of phenomena that certainly only 

 need intelligent and discriminating observation 

 for their discovery in our own country. The same 

 expectation is raised by Dr. Kober's brief report 

 on Surprise valley, — a flat depression in the 

 north-eastern corner of the state, sixty miles north 

 and south by eight east and west, with elevation 

 of 4,600 feet, enclosed by an ascending barren 

 plateau on the east, and separated from Goose 

 Lake valley on the west by the Warner range, 

 6,000 to 8,000 feet high. The valley is well 

 described in its geological relations by Russell in 

 the ' Fourth annual report of the geological sur- 

 vey,' and shown to be the dried bed of an old 

 lake, whose highest shore-line forms a conspicuous 

 feature on the valley slopes, 550 feet above the 

 present shallow alkaline lakes on the valley floor. 

 Dr. Kober's figures give a characteristic great 



diurnal range of temperature, not uncommonly 

 amounting to 50° ; a relative humidity of 83 per 

 cent in November, 1885, January and February, 

 1886, when 9".09 of the total 19". 15 of precipi- 

 tation occurs, according to a twenty-year record, 

 contrasting strongly with the nearly absolute dry- 

 ness of the summer : in September, 1885, the 

 mean relative humidity was only 24.1 per cent, 

 with a mean temperature of 64°. The winds show 

 two diurnal maxima, indicating local control of 

 their flow, — a west wind from the Warner range, 

 with highest velocity shortly after midnight ; 

 and a southerly wind from the centre of the val- 

 ley basin towards the high northern divide, with 

 greatest strength just after noon. These directions 

 clearly indicate the rhythmical flow of the cool, 

 mountain, down-cast wind at night, and the 

 warm, valley, up-cast wind by day. Winds of 

 the Foehn species — commonly known in the 

 north-west as the Chinook — ought to be felt here 

 with much distinctness ; and a comparison of 

 records at Fort Bid well, in Surprise valley, with 

 others at some of the settlements in Goose Lake 

 valley, on the western side of the Warner range, 

 would doubtless lead to their accurate definition. 

 Dr. Robinson's paper is of especial value in its 

 desire to discriminate between the good and poor 

 records of the various coast stations. We fear 

 that his criticism on observations at military posts 

 may be only too just. These observations are in 

 many cases merely perfunctory, in obedience to 

 orders from headquarters, and are here described 

 as too often made, not by the post-surgeon, but 

 by the hospital steward, " who, from the recesses 

 of his inner consciousness, draws up a report that 

 reads vpell, but which has not the slightest foun- 

 dation in fact." But in other cases great differ- 

 ences appear in neighboring records, where both 

 observers are conscientious and painstaking : so 

 that the variation must be laid, as it commonly 

 may well be, to the instruments and their ex- 

 posures. For example : Crescent City, on the 

 coast, in latitude 42°, has two gauges : one is a 

 five-inch square gauge, placed near the shore, at 

 low level, and in line with a depression that 

 leads an indraught of rainy winds from the sea ; 

 the other is a two-inch circular gauge, half a mile 

 away at the lighthouse on a promontory, sixty 

 feet over the ocean. From September, 1885, to 

 May, 1886, inclusive, the first gauge collected 

 105".28, and the second only 57".69. Along with 

 critical comparisons such as these, we regret to 

 see the author's belief in the forest-control of 

 rainfall. Rain-records have not yet been quoted 

 in sufficient confirmation of this unwarranted 

 conclusion ; and even here we read, in regard to 

 Crescent City, that the rainfall has diminished, 



