236 Modem Advances in Meteorology . [April, 
predictions of “ Old Bob ” out in the Far West — dates from 
the era when the preparation of daily weather-charts was 
rendered possible by the use of telegraphic signals. To a 
large section of the public, however, the process by which 
these deductions and predictions are arrived at is a complete 
mystery. They hear of cyclones and anti-cyclones, and 
areas of depression travelling over land or sea, and think 
that the invisible and intangible entities thus described are 
something quite beyond their comprehension. While it 
seems wonderful enough that Captain Saxby can predict a 
high tide in the Thames, or the American meteorologists 
“ cable ” us a storm-warning two or three days in advance, 
the occasional failure of a prediction or the unexpected and 
unannounced advent of a storm continues to puzzle the good 
folk, who once more take refuge in the notion that the 
governance of the weather has not yet been entirely handed 
over to the calculators, who must therefore be regarded as 
only one degree more entitled to respeCt in their predictions 
than are Zadkiel and Old Moore. 
Very wisely, therefore, it was determined some months 
ago, by the Council of the Meteorological Society, to arrange 
for the delivery of a course of popular leCtures by some of 
the most accomplished of modern meteorologists, who 
should, as it were, take the public into their confidence as 
to the method in which the observations of the weather are 
made all the world over, and how these records can be used 
for the benefit of mankind. These leCtures have recently 
been published in a handy little volume entitled “ Modern 
Meteorology.”* Anyone desiring to possess, in simple lan- 
guage and accessible form, an accurate and reliable account 
of the modern methods of weather-lore, cannot fail to be 
pleased with this little work. 
The first two leCtures of the series are of an introductory 
character, and deal with the Physical Properties of the Atmo- 
sphere, and with the Range and Distribution of Temperatures 
in the Air : they are by Dr. R. J. Mann and Mr. J. K. 
Laughton respectively. Admirably do they set forth the 
necessary bases of observation of climate and weather. 
The nature and composition of air, its compressibility, its 
expansion by heat, its weight and pressure, are all dealt 
with in turn, and the relation of the invisible water-vapour 
it contains to the production of mist and rain explained. 
The question of the temperature of the air at different 
* Modern Meteorology : a Series of Six Ledtures delivered under the 
auspices of the Meteorological Society. (London : Edward Stanford. 1879.) 
