September 21, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



137 



official demands, almost daily calls for information have been re- 

 ceived from parties not connected with the service. The result of 

 this work is the collection of special bibliographies, which insures 

 those consulting it a complete index of what has been accomplished 

 in each special line of meteorology. As has been well said, the 

 progress of meteorology is retarded, and labor therein wasted, 

 •owing to the impossibility of ascertaining what has been done in 

 its various branches, — an experience which, as scientific men well 

 know, is by no means confined to this science. The cost of time 

 and labor to the government for the preparation of this \vork can- 

 not be less than from twelve to fifteen thousand dollars ; and the 

 result of these labors has been the completion of a work which is 

 •of great value, both practically and scientifically, to the entire 

 world. The catalogue in its present condition is valuable, and 

 sufficient for the pressing needs of this service ; but to view it in 

 this light would evince a narrow and selfish disposition not in keep- 

 ing with the scientific spirit of the age. At a cost of probably eight 

 or ten thousand dollars, this work can be printed and distributed 

 to the world as a monument and evidence of the growing scientific 

 tendency of this nation. If such action is taken by Congress, the 

 •chief signal-officer has no doubt, from the willing spirit and hearty 

 co-operation shown by leading scientists of other countries, that 

 future international co-operation will secure by a system of rotation, 

 from the various European governments, the publication of a series 

 of supplements which will keep the world abreast of the steadily 

 increasing volume of meteorological publications. A large number 

 •of American and foreign meteorologists and librarians have given 

 ■largely of their time and energy in the compilation of this bibliog- 

 raphy, as is shown by the fact that over one-half of the material 

 has been contributed from foreign countries ; so that the bibli- 

 ■ography represents not only a large expenditure on the part of the 

 United States, but also many years of additional gratuitous labor. 

 The material could not be duplicated, and it would seem but a re- 

 spectable reciprocity of exchange that the government should print 

 the catalogue, so as to enable the voluntary contributors to avail 

 themselves of the complete work. This fulfilment of obligations to 

 •contributors by a public catalogue is an act of justice ; but, in addi- 

 tion, it should be considered that this bibliography will be of great 

 practical value to the agricultural, commercial, engineering, and 

 medical interests not only of the United States, but of the world." 



The plan of this bibliography originated with Prof. Cleveland 

 Abbe, who, in 1S72, began a systematic collection of works bearing 

 upon meteorology. Later on, he brought the matter to the atten- 

 tion of the leading European meteorologists ; and at the meeting 

 of the first meteorological congress, as well as at those of the in- 

 ternational meteorological committee, it was indorsed, and steps 

 were taken to carry out the plan. Dr. Hellmann and G. J. Symons 

 were engaged in similar work; and at the Berne meeting of the 

 international meteorological committee in August, 1880, letters of 

 Dr. Hellmann were read, dated Jan. 20 and July 20, 1880, giving a 

 detailed scheme for combining the various works and for the prep- 

 aration of a catalogue, and embodying Mr. Abbe's proposal of 

 August, 1879, 'IS well as a similar one from Mr. G. J. Symons of 

 London. The committee, however, resolved that each country be 

 requested to furnish lists of observations, and that Messrs. Scott 

 and Hellmann be a sub-committee to consider the means of carrying 

 out Dr. Hellmann's scheme. 



In the fall of 18S1, Mr. Abbe wrote to Mr. Symons for more de- 

 tails as to his work. General Hazen, chief signal-officer, then 

 •decided to purchase the catalogues of both these gentlemen, with a 

 view to their combination and completion by the Signal Office in 

 oase the international committee did not do this. In November, 

 1 88 1, Mr. Symons was authorized to prepare, at the expense of the 

 Signal Office, a copy of all meteorological titles in his collection ; 

 and in December, iSSi, Mr. Abbe's cards were purchased. 



Mr. Symons's catalogue was received in October, 1SS3; and on 

 March 4, 1884, Mr. C. J. Sawyer, librarian of the Signal Office, was 

 relieved from the care of the library, and, as bibliographer, ordered 

 to devote his whole time to the completion of this work, which was 

 then transferred from the library to the study-room division of the 

 Signal Office. 



At the second meeting of the international meteorological com- 

 mittee at Copenhagen, in August, 1882, Messrs. Scott and Hell- 



mann reported that the Meteorological Office could not print the 

 proposed catalogue, and that subscriptions were not practicable. 

 They therefore recommended each meteorological service to publish 

 a national bibliography, for which Hellmann's ' Repertorium der 

 deutschen Meteorologie,' prepared in accordance with the ideas of 

 the committee, and now just about to be published, should serve 

 as a model. It need only be added that since 1882 the international 

 meteorological committee have, with other meteorologists, acqui- 

 esced in the arrangement by which the Signal Service has under- 

 taken to complete, and if possible publish, for its own and for gen- 

 eral use, a general index to the literature of meteorology. 



Up to April 12 of this year, Mr. Sawyer has been engaged on 

 this bibliography, and his estimate of the number of independent 

 titles, including the year 1881 (which date was adopted as the close 

 of the bibliography), is fifty thousand. At that time he had finished 

 the classification of these titles by subjects, and most of the sub- 

 classification, the author-index, etc. 



Publications later than 1881 and prior to 1887 have been indexed, 

 and will form a supplement, the work on which is almost com- 

 pleted. 



So far, no provision has been made for the publication of this 

 valuable work. The scientific as well as the practical value of the 

 bibliography is so great, that its speedy publication is very desir- 

 able, even setting aside the danger of its being lost by accident to 

 the building in which it is deposited. Once prmted, it will result 

 in a saving of time many times as great in value as the money re- 

 quired for its publication. Professor Abbe's endeavors have suc- 

 ceeded in making it a work of great magnitude, and one that will 

 reflect the greatest credit upon the scientific and practical value 

 of the work of our Signal Service. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 



Phenomenal Hot Wave and Mortality in Egypt. — Supplementary 

 Reading in Public Schools. — The Annual Ring in Trees. — Tem- 

 perance-Instruction in the United States. 



Phenomenal Hot Wave and Mortality in Egypt. 



The United States consul-general at Cairo, in a despatch dated 

 July 23, describes a condition of affairs, meteorologically, in Egypt 

 this summer, that is really remarkable. He says, " On the night 

 of the 1 5th of June a heat-wave spread itself over Egypt, and it 

 has since remained continuously. In a residence of three sum- 

 mers here I have experienced nothing comparable to it. The days 

 have given air like that from the blast of a fiery furnace, while the 

 nights have been intolerable from heat. The death-rate through- 

 out Egypt, which was already very high, suddenly mounted to- 

 wards figures of decimation, and the destroyer has been reaping a 

 great harvest of the dead. For the first week of this very hot 

 weather the death-rate rose in Cairo from a little over 40 to 76.8. 

 The next week it was 71.6 ; the next 79.1, succeeded for the fourth 

 week by 77.7. These figures present the average. In Bodlac and 

 Darb-el-Ahmar, two quarters of the city, the death-rate was re- 

 spectively 103 and 86.5, in one case more than decimation, in the 

 other very nearly decimation. Truly no Indian death-rate, except 

 in periods of widespread and most fatal epidemics, reaches the 

 present record in the Egyptian capital. 



" For five years past the health of Cairo has been growing worse, 

 and yet during these years a special detail of English sanitary ex- 

 perts has been supervising a khedival sanitary department, the 

 main object of which has been to look after the health of the most 

 crowded Egyptian communities. The sanitary- administration costs 

 the Egyptian Government annually about two hundred thousand 

 dollars,- not inclusive of publications and police ser\-ice. The health 

 of the large cities grow-s worse every year. The hea\-y summer 

 death-rate begins earlier in Cairo than in Alexandria. Just now a 

 decidedly increased mortality is prevalent in the latter, and, follow- 

 ing precedent, it will be much greater in August. Last year the 

 death-rate at one time in Alexandria was about equal to what it 

 now is in Cairo. In some of the smaller cities the mortality has 

 this year been greater even than the Cairo average, and about 

 Damietta there has been typhus-fever of a very fatal character. 

 The rise of the Nile produces great humidity, and during August, 



