Maech 26, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



509 



a course in meteorology and climatology, 

 suitable for medical schools, is given, and 

 reference is made to the books which will 

 be found most useful in the work. The 

 writer believes that the subject of climatol- 

 ogy is of sufficient importance to stand by 

 itself, as an independent course in the 

 medical curriculum, and that every medical 

 student should have a general knowledge 

 of it. The special relations of climate in 

 the different branches of medicine can be 

 discussed by the instructors in hygiene, or 

 therapeutics, or bacteriology, after the stu- 

 dents have the general knowledge just re- 

 ferred to. Correspondence has shown that 

 a large number of the deans of our medical 

 schools favor the giving of some such in- 

 struction in climatology in the medical 

 course, and there can be no doubt that all 

 the most progressive schools of medicine 

 will provide such instruction before long. 



STJNSTBOKE WEATHER OF AUGTTST, 1896. 



We are reminded of the exceptionally 

 tot weather which prevailed over the east- 

 -ern two-thirds of the United States early 

 last August, by a paper by Dr. W. F. E. 

 Phillips, entitled ' Sunstroke Weather of 

 August, 1896,' in the November Monthly 

 Weather Review. The opportunity which 

 this extraordinary heat wave offered, of 

 studying the relations of meteorologic con- 

 ditions and the occurrence of sunstroke, 

 was made good use of by our Weather Bu- 

 reau, and, as a result of a careful study. Dr. 

 Phillips has been able to draw some inter- 

 esting conclusions from the large body of 

 hospital and official city statistics collected. 

 The most important results are as follows : 

 (a) the number of sunstrokes follows more 

 closely the excess of temperature above the 

 normal than it does that of any other me- 

 teorological condition ; (b) the number of 

 sunstrokes does not appear to sustain any 

 definite relation to the relative humidity ; 

 !(c) although the absolute humidity was 



greatest during the maximum of sunstrokes, 

 yet it does not appear that the variations 

 influenced the number of cases ; (d) the 

 liability to sunstroke increases in propor- 

 tion as the mean temperature of the day 

 approaches the normal maximum tempera- 

 ture for that day. It is rather striking to 

 find no decided connection between the hu- 

 midity of the atmosphere and the occur- 

 rence of sunstroke. So far as can be 

 ascertained, the whole number of deaths 

 during August, 1896, directly attributable 

 to sunstroke was 2,038. 



DEFORESTATIOK AND RAINFALL. 



Nature for January 28th contains a note 

 on the much vexed question of the influ- 

 ence of forests on rainfall. According to a 

 recent Bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, the rainfall on that island is 

 slowly but surely decreasing. The average 

 rainfall for the decade 1862-71 was 66.715 

 inches; for 1872-81, 65.993 inches, and for 

 1882-91, 65.037 inches. The cause of this 

 decrease is said to be the disappearance of 

 the forests. It would be well, however, to 

 wait a good many years more before com- 

 ing to that conclusion. Records for only 

 thirty years, even if they are absolutely 

 comparable and reliable, are hardly suffi- 

 cient to warrant holding such a belief at 

 the present time. 



E. DeC. Ward. 



Haevaed University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE EUROPEAN ' QUATERNARY ' MAN. 



Our geologists rarely use the term ' qua- 

 ternary.' By European writers it is un- 

 derstood to mean the period which followed 

 the Tertiary and includes the present time, 

 Archseologically it is divided into two 

 epochs, the older including the pre-glacial, 

 the glacial and the post-glacial ages, all 

 characterized by a chipped-stone industry; 

 the later beginning with the neolithic cul- 

 ture and continuing till now. 



