December 25, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



557 



from the south-east, a very unusual direction for 

 tornadoes. The report concludes with a well- 

 emphasized note. 



Meteorology in New England. — The Bulletin 

 of the New England meteorological society for 

 the same month is based on reports from 136 

 observers. The precipitation is found to be 0.96 

 inch more than the average for ten or more No- 

 vembers at 31 stations, and the temperature is 

 2°. 5 above the average. Storms on the l-3d, 

 5-9th, and 22-29th, were the chief disturbances 

 of the month. Wind-velocities by anemometer 

 record are given for thirteen stations. Blue Hill 

 had a maximum velocity of 65 miles an hour from 

 the south-east duriug the storm of the 25-26th, 

 with a total run of 15,389 miles for the month. 

 The Eastport, Boston, and Block Island records 

 for the same are 45 and 8,513, 46 and 9,338, 47 and 

 13,344, respectively. The tides during the last of 

 the three storms were very high, owing to the 

 concurrence of strong easterly winds, with the 

 time of new moon and the moon's nearest approach 

 to the earth. An increase in the number of sta- 

 tions around Brattleborough, Vt., is noticeable on 

 the map. 



Prediction of tornadoes. — A lecture on ' Tor- 

 nado study' was recently delivered before the 

 Franklin institute in Philadelphia by Lieut. J. 

 P. Finley of the signal office. Probably no one 

 in the country is more conversant with the facts 

 and features of tornado occirrrence than Lieutenant 

 Finley, who has made a special study of these 

 destructive storms for a number of years past. 

 Their pecuhar characteristics were described, and 

 an account was given of the fifteen hundred 

 volunteer tornado reporters who observe and 

 report on these storms in all parts of the country, 

 according to a plan devised by Lieutenant Finley. 

 It was also announced that predictions of torna- 

 does are now attempted successfully, although 

 they are not yet pubhshed. A dangerous attitude 

 of weather conditions for the eastern middle 

 states was recognized in the morning of Aug. 3 

 last, and in the afternoon tornadoes occurred at 

 Philadelphia and thereabout. 



Cold waves. — A signal-service note, xxiii., is- 

 a preliminary study of ' Cold waves and their 

 progress,' by Lieut. T. A. Woodruff. They are 

 found to follow an area of low, and to precede an 

 area of high pressure, but their cause is not con- 

 sidered. Within our territory they nearly always 

 appear first at Helena, Montana, and it is con- 

 cluded that ' ' they have their origin in the vast 

 regions of ice and snow near the arctic circle far 

 to the north of our stations." It is possible that 

 records from the British north-west territory might 

 disprove this conclusion ; for in the winter, when 



the cold waves are most frequent, it is not always 

 the polar regions that are coldest. The waves 

 are found to move in different ways : 1^, directly 

 eastward, over the great lakes and across New 

 England, not being felt south of the Ohio valley ; 

 2°, south-easterly, covering the entire countrj^ in 

 their progress ; 3°, southerly, from Montana and 

 Dakota to Texas, thence through the Gulf states, 

 and finally north-eastward over the Atlantic 

 states, such waves being sometimes felt at St. 

 Louis and Shreveport before reaching St. Paul 

 and Chicago. The number of waves belonging to 

 the three classes during the first six months of the 

 years 1881 to 1884 was 22, 47, and 19. The second 

 class thus appears more frequently than the other 

 two combined. Fifty per cent of the waves 

 appeared simultaneously at Bismarck and Helena. 

 They generally reach Omaha eight to sixteen hours 

 after their appearance at Helena, the distance 

 being 880 miles ; St. Louis, 24 to 32 hours, dis- 

 tance 1,030 miles ; Galveston, 24 to 40 hours, 

 distance, 1,600 miles ; Nashville, the same : Buf- 

 falo, 24 to 48 hours, distance 1,750 miles ; Wash- 

 ington, 32 to 56 hours, distance 1,953 miles. The 

 difficulty in the prediction of the waves is the 

 same that embarrasses the prediction of storm- 

 centre tracks, for the former follow the latter. 

 There has as yet been no tabulation published by 

 the signal office of the conditions attending the 

 early appearance of areas of low pressure, which 

 afterwards take different directions in crossing the 

 country. A special description is given in the 

 note of the cold wave of March 18, 1883, in which 

 the fall of temperature in twenty-four hours was 

 generally 20° to 40° over the country. The most 

 marked falls of temperature follow well-developed 

 storms, and accompany an area of abnormally 

 high pressure. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Under the will of the late Henry N. Johnson, 

 and by the death of his widow in February. 1885, 

 the Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, 

 named as residuary legatee, has come into the 

 possession of his entire estate, valued at $51,- 

 761.40. The present annual income from the 

 productive portion, less taxes and water-rent, is 

 $1,434.82. 



— In many respects this is a golden age for 

 children. This is true in the matter of school- 

 books no less than in children's literature. In 

 the ' new eclectic series of geogTaphies,' Van 

 Antwerp, Bragg & Co. have attempted to make 

 the elementary study of geography attractive to 

 children, and presumably with success. Their 

 ' Complete geography ' is excellent in its fulness, 



