182 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 501. 



QUOTATIONS. 



THE GERMAN YELLOW-FEVER EXPEDITION. 



We recently referred in our news columns to 

 the fact that not long ago the Institute for 

 Ship and Tropical Diseases in Hamburg sent 

 a fully equipped expedition to South America 

 to study yellow fever in particular. The re- 

 sults already obtained by American, English 

 and French observers will now be subjected to 

 thorough tests, and further reports from the 

 expedition will be awaited with much interest. 

 We see in expeditions of this kind the strong- 

 est evidence of the great interest now felt in 

 tropical diseases and hygiene. This move- 

 ment seems to date back only a few years. 

 The epochal discoveries of Patrick Manson 

 and Eonald Ross were followed by the estab- 

 lishment in Liverpool of a school for tropical 

 medicine by means of funds contributed by 

 wide-awake and philanthropic business men. 

 This school has sent out several investigative 

 expeditions, the results of which have been im- 

 portant in the fight against malaria, and more 

 recently in clearing up the etiology of sleep- 

 ing sickness. In addition, this school gives 

 courses in tropical medicine. Other seaports 

 have followed the example of Liverpool, and 

 similar, institutions have been started in Lon- 

 don, Hamburg, Bordeaux and elsewhere for 

 teaching and research, location in seaport 

 towns being necessary in order to gain access 

 to the proper clinical material. The German 

 expedition, which also is to study and report 

 on sanitary conditions in South American 

 harbors, is supported financially by the mer- 

 chants of Hamburg. Whether viewed from the 

 philanthropic or commercial point of view, the 

 study of tropical diseases and maritime sani- 

 tation is so important that we can only re- 

 joice because it is fast becoming a matter of 

 international competition. It may not be out 

 of order to ask what is being done in this field 

 in the great seaports of the United States, in 

 addition to guarding against the importation 

 of infectious diseases. So far as we know 

 there is now no place in America where a 

 physician may receive special instruction of 

 the proper kind in tropical diseases and allied 

 subjects. We look for the establishment of 

 an institution of this kind in Manila before 



long, but it is quite evident that there is room 

 and need for one or more such institutes in 

 the United States, proper. — Journal of the 

 American Medical Association. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



MONTHLY WEATHIiR REVIEW. 



The Monthly Weather Review for March, 

 1904 (dated May 23), contains the following, 

 among other articles: Professor R. F. Stu- 

 part, of the Canadian Meteorological Service, 

 writes on the ' Origin of American Cold 

 Waves,' stating his belief that cold waves may 

 originate almost anywhere over the more 

 northern portions of the continent, and also 

 expressing a doubt in regard to the cold being 

 due entirely to radiation. Rev. Chas. H. Lee, 

 of Racine, Wis., reports that in winter clouds 

 may often be observed gathering on the eastern 

 horizon over Lake Michigan, and moving land- 

 ward. These clouds are usually seen about 

 noon, after a clear, cold morning, with a tem- 

 perature of about 0° F. At first the surface 

 of the lake steams ' like a boiling kettle.' 

 Later the steaming ceases, and clouds break 

 off and slowly float shoreward from a great 

 mass of accumulated vapor over the lake to 

 the east. A paper on ' Precipitation for 

 Twenty-nine Years at Dodge City, Kansas,' 

 by E. D. Emigh, leads to the conclusion that 

 there is no foundation for the assertion that 

 the rainfall in western Kansas is increasing 

 from year to year. Rev. Marc Dechevrens, 

 of the Observatory of St. Louis, Island of 

 Jersey, contributes a description of the ob- 

 servations made by him on ' The Vertical 

 Component of the Wind ' on the island of 

 Jersey, by means of the Dechevrens universal 

 anemometer. To this article are appended 

 notes by Professors Abbe and Marvin. H. H. 

 Clayton, of the Blue Hill Observatory, con- 

 tributes ' A Study of Some Errors of Kite 

 Meteorographs and Observations on Moun- 

 tains,' this being the result of the careful kite 

 work done at Blue Hill since 1894. 'The 

 Winter of 1903-04,' which was characterized 

 by unusual cold east of the Mississippi River, 

 is discussed by W. B. Stockman. The editor 

 of the Review considers ' Uniformity in Meth- 



