252 Scientific Intelligence. 



violet portions of the spectrum." A new determination of the 

 temperature of the sun gives 5920° C. For the study of sun 

 spots, a horizontal reflecting telescope of 140 foot focus and 20 

 inch aperture, provided with a new form of coelostat, has been 

 constructed. 



2. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Quarterly Issue. 

 Vol. I, Pts. I and 2. — The Quarterly issue of the Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections is designed to afford a medium for 

 early publication of the results of researches conducted by the 

 Institution and for reports of a preliminary nature. The 

 Quarterly Issue will not supersede but will form part of the regu- 

 lar series of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. It will 

 be published about the first of January, April, July and October. 

 Each number will consist of about 144 pages and will be suitably 

 illustrated. The present number contains seventeen articles, 

 among them the description of the new telescope and coelostat, 

 by C. G. Abbott, mentioned in Secretary Langley's report (see 

 above). 



3. Weather Bureau, JJ. S. Department of Agriculture. — The 

 two following volumes have recently been issued : 



Bulletin L. Climatology of California ; by Alexander G. 

 McAdie. 261 pp., 31 figs., 12 pis. The great variety of climates 

 existing within California and the numerous abnormalities exhib- 

 ited, e. g., at San Francisco, makes the description of the meteoro- 

 logical conditions within the State of more than local importance. 

 Professor McAdie discusses the controlling climatic factors of 

 the Pacific* Coast region, after which come descriptions of condi- 

 tions prevailing in different parts of California. The chapter on 

 Fog is particularly valuable, as the conditions at San Francisco 

 are unusually favorable for the study of this phenomenon. 



Bulletin No. 33. Weather Folk Lore and Local Weather 

 Signs ; by Edward B. Garriott. 183 pp., 21 pis. Many of the 

 everyday sayings regarding weather signs are true and have 

 come from careful observation on the part of sailors, farmers and 

 other men. Many weather proverbs, on the other hand, are 

 ridiculous. Professor Garriott has classified and discussed these 

 sayings and gives the true weather signs for 143 stations within 

 the United States. 



4. /Scientia, No. 22. — The latest addition to this valuable 

 series is entitled : Diagrammes et Surfaces Thermodynamiques, 

 par J. W. Gibbs. The translation was made by M. G. Roy of 

 the University of Dijon and an introduction is given by M. B. 

 Brunhes of the University of Clermont. 



Obituary. 



Dr. Charles Emerson Beecher, Professor of Paleontology in 

 Yale University, died suddenly of heart failure on February 14, 

 in his 47th year. A biographical notice will appear later. 



Professor Karl Alfred von Zittel, the eminent paleontolo- 

 gist of the University of Munich, died on January 6, at the age 

 of 65. 



