440 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 121. 



hind this the Japanese derivation of the word, 

 which, though possible, of course, in the way 

 the characters express it, may be possible also 

 in another way, and that other may really be 

 the true one. Following this course, Mr. 

 Chamberlain suggests that torii is not derived 

 from tori (' a bird') and i ('to be or rest '), 

 but from tori (' to pass through ') and i ('to 

 be'), which would 

 make it ' a place of 

 passing through.' 



To account for such 

 an improbable name as 

 'bird's rest,' it is cus- 

 tomary to instance the 

 well-known respect of 

 the Buddhist religion 

 for animals. The gate- 

 way is there, so it is 

 said, to afford a roost- 

 ing-place for the sa- 

 cred pigeons which fre- 

 quent many of the 

 Japanese temples. 

 But as we see, again 

 and emphatically, from 

 Korea, there is no ori- 

 ginal connection be- 

 tween Buddhism and 

 the torii; for the red 



arrow gate has, in the peninsula, nothing 

 whatever to do with Buddhist temples, and 

 its name there is simply explanatory of its 

 structure. This does not prevent birds roost- 

 ing on it, as one happened to do at the mo- 

 ment the accompanying photograph was taken, 

 for it must be for them an exceedingly conven- 

 ient place to roost. But its popularity in 

 Korea at least suggests, that, as regards the 

 custom of the Japanese pigeons, the name 

 probably followed the fact, rather than the 

 fact a dedication. Percival Lowell. 



of which are at elevations greatly above that 

 of Blue Hill. At the level of Pike's Peak, 

 the cyclonic rotation of the winds is hardly 

 observable, the observatory there being above 

 the strata of the atmosphere whose circulation 

 is seriously disturbed by passing storms. On 

 Mount Washington the winds whirl around 

 almost in a circle about the progressing storm- 



THE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 

 ON BLUE HILL. 



The meteorological observatory lately con- 

 structed by Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch on the 

 summit of Blue Hill, near Boston, at an eleva- 

 tion of six hundred and thirty-five feet, is now 

 in working order ; and two monthly bulletins 

 have been issued from it, containing summa- 

 ries of winds and weather for February and 

 March of the current year. The only other 

 observatories in this country, elevated dis- 

 tinctly above the surrounding region, are those 

 maintained by the U.S. signal -service on 

 Mount Washington and at Pike's Peak, both 



centre. At Blue Hill we may hope to discover 

 the true circulation of the lower air, unaffected 

 by the natural or artificial irregularities of sur- 

 face that modify the records of so many of our 

 signal-service stations. The value of observa- 

 tions taken at moderate elevations is attested 

 by the increasing number of mountain obser- 

 vatories in Europe. Ben Nevis is the latest 

 on the list, and its records have already afforded 

 material for several articles in Nature and 

 other foreign journals. Germany has a sta- 

 tion on the Brocken ; France, on the Puy de 

 Dome and the Pic du Midi ; while Switzerland 

 possesses several more. As Blue Hill has the 

 first private observatory of the kind in this 

 country, we shall look with especial interest 

 for the results of studies based upon its rec- 

 ords. The accompanying figure is from a pho- 

 tograph taken by the observer, Mr. W. P. 

 Gerrish. The large 'cold-wave' flag, when 

 displayed from the pole on the tower, accord- 

 ing to the signal-service predictions, can be 

 seen by a number of villages around the base 

 of the hill. An account of the building was 

 read at a recent meeting of the New-England 

 meteorological society, and published in the 

 December number of the American meteorolo- 

 gical journal. W. M. D. 



