2 | SCIENCE. 
ous independent observers must first be notified, 
and their consent obtained. Correspondence 
has already been begun, and a circular letter 
sent to all who co-operate in the international 
work, asking consent to the proposed change. 
Favorable replies are being received ; and there 
is little doubt that the change will be. made, 
probably Jan. 1, 1885. It should be remem- 
bered that the international observation is 
made largely by observers who kindly co-oper- 
ate with the chief signal-officer, but who are 
not under his orders: a change of this kind 
cannot, therefore, be summarily ordered, but 
must be made by mutual consent. 
Ir would, of course, be easy to make the 
change in this country without waiting for the 
action of observers elsewhere; but this was 
thought inadvisable. Itis a mistake, however, 
to suppose that the observers are really gov- 
erned by local times. All observations are 
made at seven a.m., three p.m., eleven P.M., or 
other hours of Washington time, and have been 
so made ever since the establishment of the 
weather-service. Under Gen. Myers’s man- 
agement, it was thought that it would save 
confusion at the several stations if the observ- 
ers kept their clocks at local times instead of 
Washington time, and observed at the proper 
corresponding times. This arrangement con- 
tinues at the present day, though the observa- 
tions are in reality all made on Washington 
time. Now, in view of the proposed change 
in the time of the international observation, it 
was thought inadvisable to make any change 
- in existing arrangements until the whole change 
required could be made at one time. The 
chief signal-officer is in full accord with the 
reforms in standard time now being introduced, 
as he has shown in many ways; and he pro- 
poses to bring the whole work of the service 
into conformity with the new system as soon 
as this can be done without introducing con- 
fusion in the different departments of the ser- 
vice. 
For more than three hundred years, access 
to the sacred city of Villa Rica, in Araucania, 
We 
ie +o, “ 
has been prevented by the Indians. Its name_ 
indicates its importance and wealth in the days 
of Indian supremacy. Now it is a mere col- — 
lection of ruins, overgrown with herbage and 
shrubbery ; though the forms of antique monu- 
ments and buildings are still traceable, and — 
invaluable for archeological study. Very re- 
cently, Chile has taken possession of the terri- 
tory; and its treasures of antiquity are, or 
will soon be, accessible to ethnologists. 
A. scHEME for conveying brine by pipes from 
the Cheshire salt-fields to the Mersey, for manu- 
facture there, was started two yearsago. The 
pumping-works are erected, but so far with no 
results. The scheme was floated on the Lon- 
don exchange ; but no ‘ salt man’ joined there- 
in, the general opinion being, that in flowing 
through pipes for so long a distance the salt 
would cake, and the stopping-up and corrosion 
of the pipes would necessitate repairs sufficient 
to swallow up profits. This would apply to 
the western New York and Lehigh valley 
scheme. 
It is to be hoped that the state weather- 
services, of which several are now established, 
will give attention to questions apart from 
the ordinary statistical side of meteorological 
observation, which at present takes so much 
of their time. ‘Thunder-storms especially need 
detailed examination from many closely placed 
observers, such as the state services may pos- 
sess; for these storms are commonly so small 
that they often slip, unobserved, through the 
necessarily coarse meshes of the general sig- 
nal-service network of stations. 
There are as yet, in this country, no obser- 
vations — at least, none published — of dura- 
tion or detail sufficient to determine how many 
hours before its arrival a thunder-storm can be 
foretold. The antecedent conditions, the area, 
the average and abnormal tracks, and the du- - 
ration of these small storms, have yet to be © 
carefully studied. The blowing of the winds 
about them is imperfectly known. There are 
no data for determining the relation of the fre- 
an 
ey 
[Vou. IIL, No. 48, — mat 
