SCIE.NTIFIC SUMMAllY. 
445 
Pimjaub and Scinde. Parts of Orissa Have been literally under water^ and 
tbe unfortunate people of that most unfortunate country Have been com- 
pelled to move over their fields and plantations in boats and rafts. Again, 
the frightful storms and typhoons which have of late years succeeded each 
other with extraordinary rapidity in various parts of India^ show apparently 
the unusual character of our present Indian seasons. He cannot accept 
these phenomena as natural or indigenous to the climate. Until recently, 
except at very long intervals, this country was not vexed with storms 
rivalling in strength and destructiveness the tornadoes of the West Indies, 
but of late these terrible visitors have been very common. The Govern- 
ment might wisely pay more attention to atmospherical phenomena in 
this country than it does at present ; and such attention would reap its 
reward, if not in obtaining the power of averting calamities, of at least 
alleviating them. 
The past Hot S 2 tmmer . — While we may leave meteorologists to decide as 
to the cause of the tremendously high temperature of the past summer, it is 
very interesting to turn over a file of the Times, and read the meteorological 
correspondence of the days of greatest heat (the Wimbledon encampment 
time, about July 21). Mr. J. H. Stewart, optician to the National Kifle 
Association,” wrote a letter to the Times to say^ that on July 21 the heat 
in the shade at Wimbledon was 101° Fahr. This was a very startling 
statement, and it naturally suggested questions as to the character of the 
thermometer, the position of the sun’s rays, &c. It would seem, from the 
observations (communicated to the Times) of Air. G. J. Symons and Air. 
R. H. Allnatt, two of our most emiirent practical meteorologists, that there 
were various sources of error in Air. Stewart’s mode of taking the tem- 
perature. Alluding to Mr. Stewart’s assertion that the heat at AVimbledon 
was 101°, Air. Symions says it was only^ 92° at Putney, 91° at Epping, and 
93*3° at Camden Town. The discrepancy^ between these returns and Air. 
Stewart’s can, he thinks, be only explained by supposing that the ther- 
mometer was not in true meteorological shade, which the inside of a 
tent certainly does not produce.” Air. Stewart's sun temperatures appear 
to Air. Symons to have been equally inaccurate, for he says, Air. Stewart’s 
sun temperatures are as much too low as his shade ones are too high. He 
reports 128° for the 21st. Solar radiation observations are not at present 
in a satisfactory state, but mine have been recording between 140° and 150° 
for a fortnight. Still I do not attach much weight to that, because the 
temperature in sun depends almost wholly on the form of mounting. I 
remember seeing on a lawn in Wiltshire a box with a glass lid and lined 
with black cloth, wherein was a small black metal can with a tube led 
through the side of the box ; the water in the can was boiling, and steam 
issuing from the pipe ; obviously a thermometer therein would have read 
considerably over 200°. At Greenvdch upwards of 160° has been recorded* 
by a black bulb thermometer lying on the grass. I therefore object to 
128° at Wimbledon, but in a far less degree than I do to the preposterous 
shade temperatures of 100° and 101°.” — A’ide Times, July 23. 
Synoptic Weather Xiharts . — At the meeting of the British Association, Air. 
Aleldrum read a paper on this subject, in which he stated that the object of 
the charts was to show the state of the winds, weather, &c., at the same 
