316 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 269. 



ceptionally warm spring or summer following 

 an abnormally cold winter is found to be the 

 exception rather than, as is generally believed, 

 the rule. The conditions with respect to pre- 

 cipitation are much more variable than those 

 connected with the temperature. Notably dry 

 or wet seasons are more likely to be followed 

 by nearly normal ones, than by seasons having 

 compensating, or opposite, characteristics. 



In Nature for January 25th, MacDowall con- 

 tributes a further note to this discussion. The 

 subject of this inquiry is the sort of relation 

 subsisting between the cold of a given winter 

 and that of the 30 winters preceding. The 

 cold of the winter seasons is measured by the 

 number of frost days from September to May. 

 The results of the study are as follows : (1) 

 The six mildest winters (since 1871) were each 

 preceded by a 30-year group having more than 

 the average of frost days. (2) The six coldest 

 winters were each preceded by a 30-year group 

 having less than the average of frost days. (3) 

 Of fifteen 30-year groups with excessive cold 

 (t. «., over the average), as many as 12 were 

 followed by mild winters, and only 3 by severe 

 winters. 



Studies of the sort here referred to are always 

 interesting, but it must be remembered that the 

 results, so far as they go, relate only to a limited 

 area in each case, and that no definite general 

 conclusions can be reached in this matter with- 

 out much longer and much more accurate series 

 of observations than we now have. 



MONTHLY CLIMATE AND CROP BULLETIN. 



The Climate and Crop Bulletin of the Weather 

 Bureau for January contains a new feature. 

 This is the addition of a diagram indicating the 

 average daily departure from normal tempera- 

 ture for each day during the month at certain 

 selected Weather Bureau stations east of the 

 Rocky Mountains. These stations are St. Paul, 

 Galveston, Boston, Jacksonville, and Cincin- 

 nati. These five cities are believed to represent 

 the general temperature conditions prevailing 

 east of the Rocky Mountains as well as any 

 other like number of stations. Simple graphic 

 representations are always welcome additions 

 in discussions of meteorological phenomena, 

 and this new diagram is certain to meet with 



approval on the part of all who make use of 

 the Climate and Crop Bulletin. 



R. Dec. Ward. 

 Haevaed Univbesity. 



THEODORE POESCHE. 



On December 27, 1899, died in Washington, 

 D. C, Theodore Poesche, one of that coterie of 

 scholars of whom Professor Henry said, no one 

 has ever asked me a question that some of them 

 could not answer correctly. Poesche was born 

 at Zoeschen, near Merseburg, graduated at the 

 University of Halle, and was driven to England 

 for participating in the revolution of 1848. 



Coming shortly after to America, he published 

 with the cooperation of Carl Copp, a little book 

 entitled 'The New Rome,' in which a com- 

 parison is drawn between the hereditary enmity 

 between Rome and Carthage on the one hand 

 and between England and America. In 1857 

 Poesche came to Washington, where during 

 forty years he served as statistician in the 

 Treasury. In this capacity he was sent in 1872 

 to advise Bismarck about the working of our in- 

 ternal revenue system. In 1878 appeared his 

 masterpiece, ' Die Arier,' iu which the origin of 

 the blonde Aryans, of whom Poesche was a 

 splendid example, is found in the Rokitno 

 marshes of White Russia. The book is a pro- 

 test against the Asiatic origin of the blondes and 

 contributed no little at the time to change the 

 prevailing opinion. In all his work Mrs. 

 Poesche was the amanuensis of her husband 

 and occupied a prominent place in the Wash- 

 ington literary circle. 



O. T. M. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geological So- 

 ciety on February 16th, Mr. Henry White, Sec- 

 retary of the United States Embassy, received 

 on behalf of Mr. G. K. Gilbert, the WoUaston 

 Medal. 



Lord Rayleigh, Professor Ramsay, Dr. W. 

 Hittorf and M. Moissan have been elected 

 honorary members of the German Chemical 

 Society. 



The polling for the election of a member to 

 represent the University of London in Parlia- 



