PROGRESS OF METEOROLOGY IN 1889.

BY GEORGE E. CURTIS.

I.-INSTITUTIONS; INTERNATIONAL POLAR WORK; NECROLOGY.

U. S. Signal Office.-The work of the year has been prosecuted with no important change in the personnel of the office.

Professor Abbe has completed a report entitled "Preparatory Studies for Deductive Methods in Storm and Weather Predictions" which appears as appendix 15, annual report for 1889.

A limited number of lithographic copies of that portion of the bibliography of meteorology covering temperature and moisture have been issued under the editorship of Mr. O. L. Fassig, librarian and bibliographer.

New life has been infused into the river and flood service by Professor Russell, to whom the work has been intrusted, and it is now for the first time being conducted from the stand-point of scientific hydrology. The inter-relation of rainfall, evaporation, and discharge has been investigated, and the results, which are of as great value as the data now at hand admit, are published in appendix No. 14 of the annual report.

The instrument division, under the direction of Professor Marvin, has not only raised the standard of the instrumental work of the service by greater perfection in the details of operation, but has accomplished much valuable work, both theoretical and practical, in the perfecting of new instruments, and in the development of improved methods for the reduction and treatment of instrumental records.

Capt. H. H. C. Dunwoody has been in the charge of the weekly weather crop bulletin, and of the work co-operative with the State weather services, of which latter the field of operation and usefulness have been largely extended during the past few years.

A valuable compilation of the rainfall statistics of the Pacific slope has been made, largely by Lieut. W. A. Glassford, and is published as a Congressional document. (1888).

The weather forecasts during the year have apparently not increased in accuracy.

Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory.-The observations for 1887 and 1888 have been published in extenso in quarto form as parts I and II, vol. XX, of the Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard

College. The director, Mr. A. L. Rotch, by his own private munificence in the establishment and equipment of this observatory, has made it a model of its kind, comparable with the best observatories of foreign meteorological institutions. The personal inspection of European observatories made by Mr. Rotch has enabled him to incorporate their best features in his own methods and equipment, and in the form of publication of results. The staff of the observatory has remained unchanged, with Mr. H. Helm Clayton as observer, and Mr. Fergusson as assistant.

The present volumes contain, besides the more usual observations and their summaries, hourly precipitation; hourly wind azimuths and movements; number of hours of prevalence of each wind direction; days of visibility of western mountains; hourly sunshine; hourly cloud observations from 8 A. M. to 11 P. M.; appendices in the volume for 1887, containing comparisons of thermometer shelters; investigations of normal and abnormal temperature differences between the base and summit; and meteorograms illustrating special phenomena. Of the observations above enumerated, the hourly cloud observations deserve special mention because of the indefatigable industry and enthusiasm necessary to their prosecution, and because of the interesting and important results that promise to be developed from their discussion.

Indian meteorological service.-The Report on the Administration of the Meteorological Department of the Government of India in 1887-'88 describes the actual working of the department and the condition of the observatories, and contains extracts from the reports of the inspection of the stations. Mr. Eliot has discontinued solar and terrestrial radiation observations except at a few selected stations. The calculation of daily averages, and the extension and improvement of the methods of collecting rainfall data have been undertaken. An observatory has been opened at Bagdad, and the question of establishing one at Perim, at the entrance of the Red Sea, has been suggested by the English Meteorological Council.

The International Meteorological Committee held a meeting at Zurich, September 3-5, 1888, at which the following resolution was adopted: "The committee, in view of the circumstance that the assembling of an international meeting of the same character as the congress at Vienna and Rome presents great difficulties, considers that the commission it received at Rome is exhausted and that it ought to dissolve itself.

"At the same time, in order to continue the relations between the different meteorological organizations that have been productive of such good results during a series of years, the committee appoints a small bureau with the duty of using its best endeavors to bring about, at some convenient time, an international mecting of representatives of the different meteorological services."

By a subsequent resolution the bureau was made to consist of the president and secretary of the committee, Professor Wild and Mr. Scott. (Nature, XXXVIII, p. 491.)

The third general assembly of the Italian Meteorological Society, which is held every three years, met in Venice from 14th to 21st September, 1888.

The subjects of the programme were divided into four classes: (1) General meteorology; (2) agricultural meteorology and phenology; (3) medical meteorology and hydrology; (4) geodynamics.

Among others, papers were presented upon the following topics: General meteorology and climatology.-New studies and experiments of Prof. L. Palmieri on the origin of atmospheric electricity reported by Prof. Del Gaizo, of Naples. Results of the magnetic observations. conducted at one hundred and sixty-three stations by P. Denza. Results of the meteorological observations made at the suggestion of the Society upon two Italian steamers, the Generale and the Veloce, extending through forty-three voyages in 1887. The helio-photometric observations of Prof. Friedrich Craveri, at the observatory of Bra, conducted since 1874 with a helio-photometer of his own construction. Two papers by Professor Busin, of Rome, upon the distribution of temperature in Italy, and upon the high and low pressures of the northern hemisphere. Notes by Professor Galli and by Professor Golfarelli upon the hourly velocity of the wind and upon lightning conductors. Professor Roberto described a new hygrometer.

Agricultural meteorology.-P. Ferrari, of Rome, gave an exposition of the present applications of meteorology to the interests of agriculture. Medical meteorology and hydrology.-Discussion arose upon the disposition and classification of climatic stations. P. Siciliani, of Bologna, presented a paper on the relation between the height of water in wells and the air pressure. P. Bertelli took up the theories that assume electricity as the principal cause of earth tremors, and demonstrated their improbability. P. Denza had a paper on the more important earthquakes of 1887.

An Intercolonial Meteorological Congress was held at the Melbourne Observatory September 11-15, 1888, at which all the Australian colonies, New Zealand, and Tasmania were represented. The question of thermometer exposure was discussed at length. Mr. Todd considered it impossible for any one to say positively what is the best form of exposure, but had himself fully tested the Stevenson stand and should adopt it for his out-stations. Various other questions were discussed, including the relation of climatologic observations to hygiene, and the reduction of the barometer to sea-level.

International Meteorological Tables.-The International Meteorological Committee has published the collection of tables that have been in course of preparation for several years. They fill 400 quarto pages and the volume is sold for 35 francs. The tables include the reduction of both temperature and pressure to sea-level, conversion tables, units of measure, geodetic measures, hygrometric tables, and tables for the reduction of wind, rain, evaporation, magnetism, and electricity.

The sixth volume of the Reports of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures contains three papers of importance to instrumental meteorology in continuation of the valuable memoirs published in the preceding volumes, which include researches on the tensions of aqueous vapor, on the fixed points of thermometers, on the true weight of a litre of air, on the dilatation of mercury, on methods of verifying subdivided linear measures, on calibrating thermometers, and other thermometric studies. Of the papers in the new volume that are of meteorological intèrest, one (tome VI, pp. 620) is by Dr. René Benoît, on the measurement of dilatations by the method of M. Fizeau; one, on the comparison of mercurial thermometers with the air or hydrogen thermometer, by Dr. P. Chappuis; and a third paper, on practical formulæ for the transformation of thermometric co-efficients, by Dr. A. E. Guillaume.

Daily synoptic weather charts for the North Atlantic Ocean, Parts 1 to 5, September, 1883, to November, 1884, have been published conjointly by the Danish Meteorological Institute, and the Seewarte at Hamburg. Each volume contains a carefully prepared summary of the principal meteorological features. A novel point in the work is the introduction by Dr. Köppen of a new system of discussing the paths of storms in which their rate and direction of motion are shown to be dependent on surrounding conditions; so that the movement of cyclones is almost entirely dependent on their relation to existing anticyclones. Dr. Köppen finds one type of conditions to consist of an almost stationary anti-cyclone with a cyclone traveling along its borders. He then proceeds to represent all periods of this type on one chart, the number of such periods in the year ending with August, 1884, being fifty-seven, each ranging from three to eleven days each.

The movements of the cyclones during the type are represented by lines joining the ascertained positions each day, and by a simple arrangement the lowest pressure and the wind force are represented daily. The anti-cyclones are considered as stationary and the isobar of 30.12 inches has been adopted and plotted as the inclosing periphery of such areas; its position is the mean position of that isobar during the period; the maximum barometric readings are shown near the center, and the direction in which the highest pressures moved. By this method the representation of storm tracks has been greatly simplified. In some special cases one chart has been devoted to a single period showing conditions of marked interest. In the study of tropical cyclones the positions of neighboring anti-cyclonic areas is shown to govern the various paths pursued.

The publication of synoptic weather maps twice a day was begun by the Central Physical Observatory May 12, 1889. The map covers the whole of Europe, and a summary of the weather is given in Russian and French.

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition.-The official report of the Lady Frank