Maech 19, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



469 



being derived from this work. We venture 

 to say, however, that very few persons in- 

 deed have had any idea of the extent or 

 the value of the deductions which were be- 

 ing drawn from the vast body of material 

 thus collected. No one who looks over 

 this volume of 230 quarto pages can fail to 

 be struck with the thoroughness, the exact- 

 ness and the eminently scientific quality of 

 the whole work. It is obviously impossible 

 to attempt to discuss the publication in 

 these notes. It is our desire simply to call 

 attention to it and to recommend a careful 

 study of it to all meteorologists. Blue Hill 

 Observatory has certainly given us a piece 

 of work which will be a lasting credit to 

 American science. 



SOME CLIMATIC FEATURES OF THE AEID 

 REGIONS. 



A PAPER on ' Some Climatic Features of 

 the Arid Regions,' prepared by the Chief of 

 the Weather Bureau for the National Irriga- 

 tion Congress,whose fifth session was held at 

 Phoenix, December 15-17, 1896, is published 

 by the Weather Bureau. It deals with 

 the general climatic characteristics of the 

 southwestern portion of our country, and 

 lays especial emphasis on the amount of 

 wind movement, with a view to determin- 

 ing to what extent the wind may be used 

 as a motive power in driving the mills to 

 be used for irrigation purposes. Sensi- 

 ble temperatures, which have come into 

 prominence recently, and are now reg- 

 ularly noted on our daily weather maps, 

 come in for some share of attention, and 

 two charts illustrate the average actual and 

 sensible temperatures for summer, and the 

 mean actual and sensible temperatures for 

 July, 8 p. m. These charts show very 

 clearly that it is in the regions of the West 

 and Southwest, where the relative humidity 

 is low, that there is the greatest difi'erence 

 between the sensible, or wet bulb, tempera- 

 ture and that of the dry bulb, while in the 



East, especially in the Northeast, where the 

 relative humidity is much higher, the tem- 

 peratures as shown by the wet and dry bulb 

 readings are most nearly the same. It ap- 

 pears that there is an abundance of effec- 

 tive wind on the plains east of the Eocky 

 Mountains in all months of the year, and 

 no special adaptation of the ordinary wind- 

 mill is necessary. The amount of effective 

 wind decreases with approach to the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



CLIMATIC ZONES ON THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN. 



An interesting fact regarding the relation 

 of the floral zones and meteorological con- 

 ditions on the island of Sakhalin is noted 

 in del et Terre (Jan. 1, 1897). This island, 

 lying oflf-shore from the eastern coast of 

 Siberia, is surrounded by cold currents and 

 is further exposed to the cold northwest 

 winds from the mainland. At sea-level 

 snow falls in May and lasts till the end of 

 that month, and the coast is very cold. 

 The climate becomes milder with increasing 

 distance from the sea and with increasing 

 altitude, the cold air accumulating on the 

 lowlands near sea-level. In consequence of 

 this distribution of temperature the low- 

 lands have an Arctic flora, while the high- 

 lands and the intermediate heights have a 

 temperature and, in some cases, a sub-trop- 

 ical flora. This is a curious reversal from 

 the ordinary condition of things, which 

 gives more and more boreal vegetation with 

 increasing altitude. 



E. De C. Ward. 

 Harvakd University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 STATURE AND WEIGHT. 



These anthropological elements are dis- 

 cussed in a highly satisfactory manner by 

 Dr. Buschan, of Stettin, editor of the Cen- 

 tralblatt fiir Anthropologie, va. the ' Eeal-En- 

 cyclopadie der Gesammten Heilkunde,' 

 now publishing in Berlin. 



