1870.] Meteorology. 415 



very uncertain, but on the whole much less fell on the Pass of St. 

 Theodule than might have been expected. The heaviest fall of 

 snow recorded was only 2 feet deep, while in many of the Alpine 

 valleys a depth of 6 or 7 feet is not uncommonly known to fall in 

 the space of twenty-four hours. 



The same journal contains a paper by Dr. Dellman, " On the 

 Electricity of Clouds," being one of a series of papers on atmo- 

 spherical electricity. Our space will only allow us to give some of 

 the most important conclusions. They are as follows : — 



All clouds are electrified, and oppositely so in different parts of 

 the cloud. 



As far as the observations at Kreuznach go, they prove that all 

 clouds have a negative centre surrounded by positive bands or zones. 



The density of the electricity diminishes towards the circum- 

 ference, but the maximum density is not at the centre. 



A cloud can only give rain by the occurrence of an electrical 

 discharge. 



With reference to meteorology in Eussia, a report has been 

 drawn up by a Committee of the Academy of St. Petersburg on the 

 organization of the system. The most important suggestion which 

 it contains is, that the empire should be divided into separate dis- 

 tricts, with a central observatory furnished with self-recording 

 instruments in each. Three of these establishments are now in 

 existence. St. Petersburg; Helsingfors, for Finland; and Tiflis, 

 for the Caucasus. Taschkend is designed as the central station 

 for Turkestan. To these thirteen others are to be added. These 

 institutions are to be quite independent of each other, each being sur- 

 rounded by its own auxiliary stations, and publishing its own results. 



Professor Mohn, of Christiania, has brought out a paper " On 

 Sea-temperatures between Iceland, Scotland, and Norway," based in 

 part on the observations of the Scottish Meteorological Society, and 

 illustrated by charts for the four seasons and for the year. The 

 isothermal curves, at all seasons except the summer, exhibit very 

 sharp bends pointing north-eastwards. Professor Mohn calls the 

 line joining the summits of these curves the thermal axis of the dis- 

 trict, inasmuch as on either side of it the temperature decreases. 

 This thermal axis lies parallel to the coast of Norway, at a distance 

 of about 120 miles, excepting in the summer months, when the 

 warmest water is found in the Cattegat, and the thermal axis is only 

 traceable along a line running from the North Cape towards Spitz- 

 bergen. This thermal axis indicates the course of the Gulf Stream 

 in these waters, which is rapidly cooled in its progress northwards, 

 on the one hand by the ice in the neighbourhood of Iceland, and on 

 the other by the cold mainland of Norway. 



The last number of the ' Journal of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society 5 contains a very suggestive paper by Dr. E. Angus Smith 



