February 17, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



277 



Tire Brigade, at thirty of whose stations daily 

 temperature observations were made at fixed 

 hours. The majority of the fogs are found 

 to be due to radiation during calm, clear 

 nights. Others are due to the passage of 

 warm air over a cooled surface, and a third 

 group is identified as ' cloud ' fog. Some fogs 

 could not be included in any of these cate- 

 gories. These fogs were accumulations of 

 combustion products in an almost calm at- 

 mosphere, and were termed ' smoke ' fogs. A 

 fog scale, based on the extent to which traffic 

 is impeded by land, river and sea, has been 

 established as a result of this inquiry. As a 

 first step in the direction of greater precision 

 in fog forecasts, a night service at the Meteor- 

 ological Office is recommended. Forecasts is- 

 sued at 5 A.M. would have a much greater 

 chance of being verified than is the case with 

 those now issued at 6 P.M., for fogs are chiefly 

 caused by nocturnal radiation. Radiation 

 depends largely on the state of the sky, and 

 an observation of the state of the sky in the 

 early morning would make it possible to give 

 several hours' warning. The present fore- 

 casts rarely, if ever, contain any indication 

 of the intensity of the fog to be expected. A 

 detailed study of the distribution of tempera- 

 ture within the London area during fogs 

 shows that the thickest fog is usually to be 

 found in the coldest region. 



JIOSSES, TREES AND POINTS OF THE COMPASS. 



A RECENT number of Ciel et Terre (Decem- 

 ber 16, 1904) contains a note on the orientation 

 of moss growths on trees. It has been stated 

 that mosses grow so much more frequently on 

 the north sides of trees that a traveler who 

 has lost his way in a forest can by this means 

 determine the points of the compass. Lately, 

 further investigation of this matter shows that 

 the mosses grow by preference on the sides of 

 the trees which, for one reason or another, are 

 least likely to lose their moisture. On hori- 

 zontal branches, the mosses usually grow on 

 the upper side, because the water remains 

 there most readily. The bases of the trunks 

 are more moss-covered because they receive a 

 larger quantity of water. The unequal dis- 

 tribution of light also plays a part. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 



The October, 1904, Monthly Weather Re- 

 view (dated December 22) contains the fol- 

 lowing original articles and notes : ' Studies 

 of Raindrops and Raindrop Phenomena,' by 

 W. A. Bentley, illustrated by photographic 

 reproductions ; ' The Advancement of Meteor- 

 ology,' by T. H. Davis ; ' Thunderstorms at 

 Tampa, Fla.,' by J. Bily, Jr.; 'Mount Tsu- 

 kuba Meteorological Observatory,' by S. T. 

 Tamuz'a ; ' September Floods in the South- 

 west ' ; ' Royal Meteorological Society ' ; ' Long- 

 Range Forecasts,' by H. B. Wren ; ' Seasonal 

 Rainfall Regimes in the United States,' by 

 V. Raulin ; ' Tropical Storm of October 10- 

 20, 1900 ' ; . ' The Dechevrens Anemometer : 

 Cold Waves.' 



NOTES. 



The Bulletin of the Philippine Weather 

 Bureau for July, 1904, just received, gives 

 details of a remarkable rainfall which oc- 

 curred on the eleventh to the fifteenth of that 

 month. Between 8 a.m. of the twelfth and 

 11 A.M of the thirteenth the total fall at the 

 Manila Observatory was 17.19 inches, a quan- 

 tity much greater than the normal rainfall 

 for July (14.89 inches), which is also the 

 normal monthly maximum for the year. 

 Three half-tone views show the character of 

 the inundations in the city of Manila. 



R. DeC. Ward. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



At the meeting of the Society of American 

 Bacteriologists, held in Philadelphia on De- 

 cember 28, 1904, the following officers were 

 elected: President, Professor E. O. Jordan; 

 Vice-President, Professor S. C. Prescott; Sec- 

 retary and Treasurer, Professor E. P. Gor- 

 ham; Council, Professor F. G. Novy, Dr. 

 Erwin F. Smith, Professor F. D. Chester, 

 Dr. J. J. Kinyoun; Delegate to the Council 

 of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, Professor W. PL Welch. 



Officers for the Society for the Promotion 

 of Agricultural Science have been elected as 

 follows: President, Dr. H. P. Armsby, State 

 College, Pa.; Secretary and Treasurer, Pro- 

 fessor F. Wm. Rane, New Hampshire College, 

 Durham, N. 11. ; Executive Committee, Dr. J. 



