624 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 538. 



at the present time, and would be of more 

 real service to his country than many of 

 us are able to realize. 



Any one who has read the published 

 accounts of the copper sulphate method as 

 devised by the Department of Agriculture 

 can not but admit that a most conservative 

 stand has been taken regarding it. Over 

 and over again is the statement made that 

 it was not designed or intended to replace 

 efficient methods now in use. The only 

 claim made for it by its originators has been 

 that it in one case furnishes a remedy for 

 a condition previously considered hopeless, 

 and in the other case as an emergency 

 method, owing to the failure of means al- 

 ready in use, it offers the best way of 

 quickly, thoroughly and cheaply sterilizing 

 a large body of water that has yet been 

 devised. 



Copper sulphate is a remedy designed to 

 correct a specific difficulty of great impor- 

 tance from the standpoint of comfort and 

 public health. Each water supply requires 

 a specific prescription and, if properly 

 treated, I believe the evidence brought out 

 here to-night guarantees a cure. 



Contributions to the discussion were also 

 made by Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder, Dr. Geo. 

 M. Kober, Dr. Wm. C. Woodward, health 

 officer, and Hon. H. B. C. Macfarland, 

 president, Board of Commissioners, Dis- 

 trict of Columbia. 



HCIEVTIFIC BOOKS. 



RErORTS OF' THE BELGIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



ResvUats du Voyage du 8. Y. Belgica en 

 1877-8-0, sous le commandement de A. de 

 Oerlache de Gomery. Rapports Scien- 

 tifiques, publics aux frais du Gouvernment 

 Beige, sous la direction de la Commission de 

 la Belj?ica. Anvers, J. E. Busclimann, 

 1904. 4to, illustrated. 



Additional volumes of the reports of the 

 Belf/ica expedition have reached us as follows: 

 Jlydroiden von Professor Dr. CI. Ilartlaub 

 (Serttcmber 15, 1904, pp. 1-19, pi. I.-IV.) ; 



Nemertinen von Dr. Otto Burger (August 

 30, 1904, 12 pp., pi. I.-II.) ; Poissons par Louis 

 Dollo (October 15, 1904, 240 pp., pi. I.-XI.) ; 

 and Observations Meteorologiques horaires par 

 Henryk Arctowski (August 20, 1904, 201 pp., 

 pi. I.-XXIII.). 



The journal of the Belgica wintering among 

 the Polar floes has furnished the first meteoro- 

 logical record taken dm-ing an entire year 

 which has been obtained from the Antarctic. 

 It is true that observations, taken at an iso- 

 lated spot in a vast area of which the condi- 

 tions are unknown, have only a relative im- 

 portance, which however will grow with the 

 increase in reports from other stations. But, 

 as the pioneer in a virgin field, the observa- 

 tions possess intense interest to the meteorol- 

 ogist. 



The volume contains preliminary chapters 

 on the outfit, the special difficulties en- 

 countered, the general results, the complete 

 record of observations and plates showing 

 graphically the automatic records and the re- 

 sults displayed as wind-roses, etc. 



Space fails for a complete analysis of the 

 conditions encountered, but a few notes may 

 be given. The mean annual pressure of the 

 atmosphere was 744.4 mm., with a June maxi- 

 mum observation of 772.1 and a March mini- 

 mum of 711.7. The minimum monthly mean 

 occurred in February (735.68) and the maxi- 

 mum in June (750.55). The extreme maxi- 

 mum diurnal variation was 21.4 mm. in Sep- 

 tember, the minimum in the summer months, 

 8.6 mm. in December. In examining the 

 profile for the year two maxima (June and 

 December) and two minima are distinctly in- 

 dicated, corresponding to the solstices and 

 equinoxes. 



The mean temperature for the year was 

 minus 9°. 64 C. with a maximum of plus 2°.5 

 and a minimum of minus 43°. 1. The mean 

 diurnal variation was 7°. 57 and the maximum 

 for a single day 27°.4. 



The winds from the west and east predomi- 

 nate markedly over those from the north and 

 south. It is noticeable that the northeast and 

 and southeast winds were much more common 

 than those from the northwest and southwest, 



