ManrEx.— Comparative Atmospheric Pressure. 218 
4. First, let us understand clearly Dr. Newman's arguments on this 
head. As I understand him, his contention stated in syllogistic form is as 
follows :— 
Major premiss—Children born in countries where the atmospherie pres- 
sure is less, have a tendency to be inferior to those born where the atmos- 
pherie pressure is greater. 
Minor premiss—In New Zealand the atmospheric pressure is less than in 
Great Britain. 
Conclusion.— Ergo, children born in New Zealand should be inferior to 
those born in England. 
5. There is also an implied argument 4 priori, that inasmuch as this 
last condition has been observed to exist in certain cases, and as such an 
effect would be produced by the cause stated in the major premiss, ergo, such 
cause exists. This last argument it is unnecessary to notice on the present 
occasion. 
6. The object of this paper is, simply, to disprove the minor premiss of 
Dr. Newman's implied syllogism, and this I hope to be able to do, by show- 
ing on indisputable evidence that so far from the atmospheric pressure in 
New Zealand being less than that of Great Britain, it is in reality appreci- 
ably greater. 
7. In support of his theory, Dr. Newman correctly states, on the 
authority of Captain Maury, Dr. Buys-Ballot, and other undoubted author- 
ities in meteorology, that the mean barometric pressure is generally lower 
in the Southern Hemisphere than in corresponding latitudes of the Northern 
Hemisphere. This is a fact well known to meteorologists, and thoroughly 
recognized. At least, if not a “fact” strictly speaking, at any rate all 
the trustworthy observations hitherto taken tend to prove this to be 
the case. Mr. Buchan, the Secretary of the Scottish Meteorological 
Society, in his very able and valuable treatise on this subject,* a 
standard work which gives the results of observations at 500 dif- 
ferent places, situated in almost every part of the globe. From these 
observations he has constructed a series of yearly, half-yearly, and 
monthly isobaric charts. In these charts the marked discrepancy between 
the barometric conditions of the two hemispheres is shown very clearly. 
In the Northern Hemisphere the isobars follow a most irregular and 
eccentric course, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere they flow almost in 
straight lines. It must be remembered, however, that owing to the greater 
* «The Mean Pressure of the Atmosphere over the Globe,” ** pre ME of the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh," Vol. XXV., 
