June 6, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



347 



single fact is suflScient to disprove all these finely spun theories of 

 Dr. Hann. 3d, The evidence of our own storms is absolutely con- 

 clusive on this point, and I kindly turn Professor Davis's atten- 

 tion to this. Fortunately we have a mountain in this country 

 which lifts its head sixty-three hundred feet directly into the 

 centre of more than half our storms and a great number of our 

 high areas. We cannot ask for better evidence than Mount 

 Washington furnishes us with so lavish a hand. Observations 

 are given us for eighteen years from this most remarkable van- 

 tage-ground, and these give no uncertain sound on this question. 

 When a storm approaches within five hundred or six hundred 

 miles of this almost perpendicular and isolated height, the tem- 

 perature begins to rise, and, when the centre passes, the average 

 temperature of its central core is more than ten degrees higher 

 than that of the air five hundred miles in advance. As the storm 

 passes off, the temperature rapidly falls, and is fifteen degrees 

 lower five hundred miles after it than at the centre. When a 

 high area passes, the temperature begins falling, and the diminu- 

 tion and subsequent rise follow each other in almost exactly the 

 manner and to the degree of the reverse operation in a storm. 



The evidence on this point is absolutely conclusive; and, since 

 the seeming contradiction in the Alps can be easily explained, we 

 see that there is no need of changing theories on this account. 

 It will be understood that the ordinary theories of storm- genera- 

 tion are none the less utterly worthless, even though this sup- 

 posed proof of their worthlessness is itself worthless. It is highly 

 probable that Dr. Hann has been misinterpreted in this presenta- 

 tion of his views, and no one will be more shocked than he at this 

 outcome. Dr. Hann found in a certain October storm the aver- 

 age temperature nearly eight degrees below the thirty years' nor- 

 mal for the height in consideration, and in this storm the air was 

 colder than in a high area nearly two months later. Surely this 

 proves nothing whatsoever. The temperature in a vertical direc- 

 tion in a storm is not fixed, but may be ten degrees, or even more, 

 lower than the average, and yet be many degrees above that of 

 the surrounding region. That the temperature in an October 

 storm was lower than in a November high area is not in any wise 

 remarkable. 



Professor Davis makes this remarkable statement: "The cy- 

 clonic air does not rise because it is warm, but, according to Dr. 

 Hann, it is lifted in spite of becoming cool." I doubt if there is a 

 sadder example of bowing down to authority than this. Where 

 is the jack-screw by which this air is lifted? If the air becomes 

 cooler than the surrounding air, does not its specific gravity at 

 once cause it to descend? Is the law of gravity so easily over- 

 come, and swept away by a single stroke? If there is some 

 mighty force pressing down the air in our cold waves, and caus- 

 ing it to warm up the lower it gets, why does it not warm up clear 

 down through? Where is this plane of demarcation, and change 

 from a warm region to one just the opposite and bringing us the 

 coldest period of the winter? There are millions who will thank 

 Professor Davis if he will prove to them that they will not need 

 to buy coal next winter, because, by a newly discovered law, our 

 cold waves hereafter are going to be really warm waves, to use 

 an Irishism. 



Professor Davis says, further, "In this country, Hazen has 

 drawn attention to the absence of indication of the 'neutral plane,' 

 called for deductively; and for this and other reasons he has dis- 

 carded pretty much all parts of the cyclonic theory, following 

 Faye more closely than any other." It seems to me this is an ex- 

 ceedingly unfortunate allusion, if the intention is to support 

 Dr. Hann in his views. The only reason why this so-called "neu- 

 tral plane'" was discarded was because in the centre of a storm it 

 was found that the temperature continually rose, the higher up 

 one went. It is easy to see that this condition is absolutely con- 

 trary to that presented by Dr. Hann. Faye has not been followed 

 in this country, but his view that there was a downrush in a gen- 

 eral storm has been denied. I am sure that no one will be as 

 much pleased at this corroboration of his views by Professor Da- 

 vis, and this proof of a downrush in a storm carrying in the cooler 

 air of the upper regions, than M. Faye himself. It readers of 

 Science are led to the belief that, after all, we know next to noth- 

 ing of the real cause of a storm, and that the great and crying 



necessity that is pressing upon the meteorologic world at present 

 is reliable observation in the storm region, it will be a great ad- 

 vance. H. A. Hazen. 



Washington, D.C., June 2. 



The Winnebago County (Iowa) Meteorites. 



A FRAGMENT of the 104-pound "meteorite" found in the north- 

 ern part of Kossuth County has been examined by us, and we are 

 perfectly well satisfied that it is not of meteoric origin at all. In 

 outward appearance it is suspicious at first sight. The color is 

 darker than that of the other pieces. There is no distinct crust, 

 and no metal present. The gravity taken on a piece weighing 

 about half a gram was 2.83, which is nearly a unit lower than 

 that of the well-established specimens. Under the microscope the 

 crushed minei'al shows by reflected light a mass of colorless, 

 transparent particles mingled with dark green particles resem- 

 bling pyroxene. The analyses given below, together with the 

 appearance of the chip furnished us, strongly suggest diorite or 

 some closely allied rock. 



Silica 71.63 



Oxides of iron and aluminum 14.39 



Lime 6.80 



Magnesia — 



Soda 5.55 



Water , 1.63 



Total 100.00 



Some circumstances connected with the finding of this piece have 

 made us slightly suspicious from the first, and such examination 

 as we have given thus far seems to be conclusive. 



Joseph Torret, Jr. 



Erwin H. Barbour, 



Iowa College, Grinuell, lo.. May 24. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Village Community, with Special Reference to the Origin and 

 Form of its Survivals in Britain. By George Laurence 

 GOMME. New York, Scribner & Welford. 12". $1.25. 



The special object of this work, which is the latest volume of 

 the Contemporary Science Series, is to present the author's theory 

 as to the origin of British village communities. He rejects the 

 view most commonly held, that they are exclusively Aryan insti- 

 tutions, and particularly repudiates the theory of their Roman 

 origin, and endeavors to show that they date back to prehistoric 

 times, when the British Isles were peopled by Iberians. He ad- 

 mits, of course, that there is no direct evidence to support this 

 view, but attempts to prove it by reference to India, where village 

 communities are known to have existed before the advent of the 

 Aryan conquerors. He adduces a number of facts relating to the 

 British communities in historic times, and shows that they have 

 parallels more or less close in those of India; and from these facts 

 he draws the conclusion that the origin of the two systems must 

 have been similar. "Over and over again," he says, "the certain 

 evidence of these race distinctions which is forthcoming from the 

 unamalgamated elements in Indian villages finds a parallel among 

 the existing archaeological and traditional facts of Enghsh villages; 

 and my contention is that the parallel must be true all along the line 

 — must therefore tell us of the old race origins of the English vil- 

 lage life" (p. 115). The evidence he adduces in support of this view 

 is by no means sufficient to make it an established theory, though 

 it does show that such an origin of the British communities is 

 possible. The subject, as ever^' one who has even a slight knowl- 

 edge of it knows, is a difficult one, and it will probably be some 

 time before a general agreement is reached in regard to it. But 

 meanwhile it is necessary to consider the question in all its as- 

 pects, and for this reason students of the subject will take a good 

 deal of interest in reading Mr. Gomme's work. He marshals a 

 great array of facts in support of his theory, though he ackno%vl- 

 edges that some of them admit of other interpretations than those 

 he gives; and both the facts and his reasonings on them will be 

 useful to other investigators. 



