responding ones of the preceding year. The heading and discussion reads as follows:

"Weather conditions as they change from one year to another. Peaks and valleys in graphic representation of the variations of temperature from the mean daily average month by month. In the accompanying charts, compiled from the records of the United States Weather Bureau at Boston, the dotted line indicates the normal temperature for each day of the year, while the heavy black line shows the mean temperature and the light black lines show the extreme temperatures actually experienced on each day. The vagaries of the weather are illustrated by the marked differences in the charts as compared with one another. There are many months in which there is little variation from the normal. There are others which suggest mountain ranges with high peaks and deep valleys."

The St. Joseph News-Press (Mo.) is one of the few newspapers that continues to publish the daily weather map. Across the top of two columns, with weather summary, highway condition reports, and tables below it, the weather section presents an interesting appearance. In addition, the forecasts and local weather observations are published on the front page. In the issue for July 28, 1923, a half page including five photographs, the local U. S. Weather Bureau station and the work of the local officials, Messrs. W. S. Belden and J. R. Lloyd, are described. The Worcester Evening Gazette, by special arrangement with the Clark University Meteorological Observatory, has begun daily publication of local weather observations, including hourly temperatures. These are supplemented from time to time by special explanations of interesting features of the passing weather.

Reflection of Gas-Well Flame

A large gas well was ignited by lightning a few days ago at Louann, Arkansas. There formed a small cloud directly over the burning well. Otherwise the sky was cloudless. It is presumed that the cold wave was partly responsible for cloud.

Last night a wonderful phenomenon, high up in the sky directly over flame, was observed. An apparently living sheet of fire, as straight as an arrow, hovered motionless, midway between the horizon and zenith, projecting from the sky downward. When closely watched it could be observed that it bore no resemblance to a flame but rather had all the ear marks of a giant comet. The resemblance to Halley's Comet was striking, only the phenomenon last night being vastly more brilliant. It was difficult to ascertain the exact state of weather. Overhead and in the southern sky it was clear, while in the north the glow of the gas fire prevented observer from telling whether or not there were clouds in that direction. However, the same atmospheric conditions prevailed during the day as were observed several years ago when six monster solar halos appeared about 11 A. M. simultaneously.

It is the writer's opinion that the clouds were formed by the intense heat of the burning well, which, after rising to a great height froze, which, in turn, acted as a reflector. This condition commenced shortly after sundown and lasted until about 10 P. M., May 17th, 1923.—J. J. Babb, El Dorado, Ark., May 18, 1923.

Cumulus Cloud Over Prairie Fire

September, 1921, about noon one day, I saw to the southwest of Fort Worth about 5 miles a prairie grass fire, over which there hovered for at least an hour a stationary cloud that was decidedly cumulus in character and that was easily distinguishable from the smoke. The day was

sunny, the temperature about 80, and the atmosphere rather hazy. The stationary cloud was not near any of the few other clouds in the sky. -Newton Gaines.

St. Elmo's Fire

September the 3rd, 1922, I was on top of Pike's Peak, Colorado; a cloud surrounded the summit, and views into the valleys were few and far between. The time was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The cloud rapidly thickened, and a snow-like sleet began to fall. I was walking about halfway between the automobile station and the railway station, when I heard a buzzing sound and experienced a feeling under my cap as though some insect were buzzing there. The cap I quickly knocked off with my hand. A second afterward there was a clap of thunder. Evidently, because of static induction, I had experienced St. Elmo's Fire, with my own head substituted for the traditional ship's mast.Newton Gaines.

THE INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CONGRESS

AT UTRECHT

The sixth International Meteorological Congress will be held during the second week of September at Utrecht, Holland. These congresses are assembled at least once every six years, and to them are invited the directors of the various meteorological services, the directors of independent meteorological observatories and occasionally the directors of private observatories when these represent meteorological societies.

The Congress appoints a Meteorological Committee whose function it is to arrange for programs and places of meeting of future congresses. The Congress also appoints commissions to consider special subjects and to report their findings to the Meteorological Committee. For this purpose meetings of the International Committee occur at least once every three years.

The questions discussed by the Congress are those relating to administration, to methods of observation and calculation, to such work as might be undertaken in common and to the creation of the necessary commissions.

The coming Congress is held at the invitation of Professor E. van Everdingen, Director of the Meteorological Institute of Holland. Sir Napier Shaw is the head of the International Committee, and Dr. Th. Hesselberg the secretary.

Among the questions arranged by the Meteorological Committee for discussion at the next meeting of the Congress are the following:

(1) The best projections, scales and arrangements of meridians for international weather charts.

(2) The publication by each country of a monthly bulletin for aid in the preparation of long range forecasts, for assistance to industry or for the exigencies of public hygiene. It is suggested by the Committee that some arrangement might, perhaps, be made so that a summary of the data prepared by each country might be telegraphed to other meteorological services for immediate application to the affairs of life. (3) The acceptance by the various meteorological institutes of the recommendations of the Meteorological Committee which met in London in 1921 that observations on the temperature and salinity of sea water be collected by international co-operation and that the material be

worked up for climatological purposes, especially with the idea of drawing up long range forecasts.

(4) The acceptance by the Congress of the recommendations of Dr. Wallén on the control of storm warnings.

(5) The preparation in each country of meteorological guides for the aid of aerial navigation. This includes the question of making special surface observations and aerial soundings and the telegraphing of information and forecasts.

(6) The acceptance by the Congress of the telegraphic codes prepared by the Committee at the London meeting for the use of land stations and for aerological messages.

(7)

That countries receiving observations from ships make an effort to communicate these observations to neighboring countries as promptly as possible, especially where information is sent out to aviators. -H. H. Clayton.

The Minister of Agriculture of Argentina and the Director of the Argentine Weather Service, Prof. George O. Wiggin, have named H. Helm Clayton official representative of the Argentine Meteorological Service (Oficina Meteorologica Argentina) at the Utrecht meeting of the International Meteorological Committee.

CO-OPERATIVE OBSERVERS' DEPARTMENT

I see and feel much like suggested in some of the articles in the Monthly Weather Review, that there should be more detailed information given by the Co-operative stations on the daily weather, but I can see reasons why it cannot be done, i. e., most of the Co-operative observers are busy people, and cannot devote the required time. A good number are not of a class to take the matter up as a real study for various reasons-though I must admit that there are a large number making volunteer records that are very intelligent, capable people, and by no means the ignorant or trash of the land, and the expert, highly prepared publications of the Weather Bureau have done much to hold in line a high class of Co-operative observers, and if you were to investigate closely, you would find that this better class of observers are doing much good within the locality in which they live. They supply information to the benefit of their citizens. I have been able to save farm products, live stock, and help settle disputes and cases in court time and time again, and the longer I have stayed with the work and study, the more assistance I have been able to give.-J. A, Church, excerpt from letter to A. J. Henry, Oketo, Okla., Feb. 2, 1923.

A scanning of the U. S. maps of departures of mean monthly temperatures from the normals gives the following result for 1923, according to Mr. Herbert C. Hunter: January, 90 per cent of U. S. above normal; February, 15 per cent; March, 20; April, 20; May, 45; and June, about 55 per cent of the area of the U. S. above normal temperature. In the years 1920-1922, January, 1921, was warmer than normal over 98 per cent of the country. February and March, 1923, were both the coldest in 4 years. April, 1920, had only 4 per cent of the U. S. above normal; May and June are both second coolest of the four years.

Notes From Newspapers

An article on "Detector signals in advance of storm," by Rowland Thomas, describing the New York Edison Company's installation for providing adequate warning of approaching thunderstorm darkness, was published in The New York Herald magazine section, July 29, 1923, and discussed by J. W. Redway on the editorial page of the same paper Aug. 9, 1923.

As on other occasions after spring conditions in the North Atlantic such as obtained this year, the grain crops of France and central Europe are bountiful.

An A. P. dispatch from Berlin, dated July 27, says heat generated by lightning was enough to melt an iridium tip on a lightning rod. The melting point of this metal is said to be 2000 degrees centigrade.

The Oklahoman is quoted by The New York Herald to the effect that a farmer said: "I found seven hen eggs on top of a haystack. On breaking them I found that they had been cooked thoroughly by the heat of the sun, the yolks being the only soft portion of the eggs." I believe Chicagoans used to boast that their asphalt pavements got hot enough to fry eggs.-C. F. B.

"Heat wave causes family hostilities, Magistrate finds," so runs a front-page headline of the Springfield Republican over a July 24th dispatch from Peoria, Ill. "During the last 10 days, 28 women and two men have claimed their mates had threatened to kill them. The mercury has ranged in the 90's."

"The blazing North.

has its good points.

The climate of Alaska, in spots, anyway, But when the thermometer gets up into the 90's only a Salamander would think of it as a summer resort."-Springfield Republican, editorial, July 18, 1923.

remarkable thunderstorms raged in Europe as the sequel to the change from unseasonable cold to outrageous heat. In Germany an unprecedented number of people were killed by lightning, and in London, 7000 flashes were counted during one storm, 47 of them in one minute."-Springfield Republican, July 27, 1923.

The Providence Journal hails the return of the lightning rod. It has taken a long while for the endorsements of scientists to break down the people's fear of the lightning rod agent. Fearing him more than lightning the rods were not installed. Now one hears, "where can I find a lightning rod agent? I wish to protect my house and barn."-C. F. B. "Heat fells scores in Capital streets; 125 marines, 50 children and many others overcome at Harding ceremonies."-New York Herald. Crowds are hot-especially for children, and regular uniforms are almost insufferable in ordinary summer weather. A touch of hot weather added brought the trouble.

"Poconos claims purest air east of Rocky Mountains. Report of test by U. S. Weather Bureau submitted as proof."-New York Herald. This is a new line in boosting resorts. Resort promoters usually say what they think desirable and never bother citing proof. The pureness of the air is ascribed to the tableland forest 20 miles long. "Its coolness is not visited by any warm currents from lowlands, and it has no marshy depressions . . .”

The meteorology of the roof in city centers is surprisingly different from that of the surface, though few would suspect it. The government stations are always located at the tops of the highest buildings, and, as these are always being succeeded by higher, the records become useless for comparison. It is, however, the only way to get observations in "the free air," in most cities. The official thermometer on Boston Common almost invariably registers six degrees higher than the one used by the weather service on the tower of the federal building, for maximums. So, if it is "94 in Boston," that means 100 down where people live.

Then, too, the rains are always sweating out of the ground on the surface as "humidity," which may be carried away by wind before the rooftops are reached. To compensate, the heavy sea-breeze may cool off the streets hours before getting depth enough to submerge the roofs. In New York the rooftops are so high that the wind records in ordinary storms, measured “up there," make the city look like Hurricane Center; wind always increases with height, up to the miles. Rain and snow, however, fall on just or unjust, on rooftop or sidewalk.-A. D. Elmer, Springfield Republican, July 20, 1923.

"Rain insurance wins favor of Atlantic City merchants."-New York Herald. All indications are that rain insurance is on the increase, and it will probably continue to do so as long as the insurance companies continue to lose money on it. When rates become satisfactory to the company can an amusement park proprietor afford to insure every weekend? This would protect him against a wet season, but in the long run he would be bound to lose an amount represented by the cost of insuring. -C. F. B.

"Has Nature gone wrong?" "No," says the Springfield Republican. As long as we continue to improve our reporting service for all parts of the world and particularly for our western hemisphere, and as the population of the world increases, we are bound to note, not necessarily an increase of intensity of natural calamities, but, surely, an increase in the number of disastrous storms, eruptions, earthquakes, etc., reported. Drought in northern New Jersey has seriously threatened city water supplies. At New York City the rainfall from April 1 to August 21 was but little more than half the average.

PHYSIOLOGICAL METEOROLOGY

The Sun Cure

The sun is quite literally the source of our vital and mechanical energy, the sole support of all life and motion on the earth, as the ancient Egyptian hymn declares, and we are beginning to recognize, perhaps I should say re-recognize, that it may cure diseases, too.

For man has a poor memory. He forgets much that previous generations have learned. The Romans used to make great use of the sun for the healing of sores and the maintenance of health. Pliny, in writing about how his aged friend, Spurinna, keeps his youthful vigor, says:

"When the baths are ready, which in winter is about three o'clock and in summer about two, he undresses himself; and if there happens to be no wind, he walks about in the sun. After this he puts himself into prolonged and violent motion at playing ball; and by this sort of exercise he combats the effect of old age.'

But we northern races, having to wear thick clothing and stay in warm houses, got out of the habit of exposing our skins to sunshine. The invention of window glass led us astray, for glass lets through all the light that we can see, and we did not realize that it is opaque to the invisible ultra-violet rays which have the strongest effect upon the skin for good or ill. We thought if we had fresh air and sunlight (even though strained through glass) we had all that we needed from nature. The rediscovery of the curative power of direct sunshine came by accident. In a hospital for rickety children it was found that the child who had the luck to lie in a certain cot exposed to the rays of the sun recovered with amazing rapidity. Thorough experimentation, first on white rats, later on children, proved that rickets could be cured either by sunshine or cod-liver oil. There is no question which remedy the children will take if they have their choice.

Dr. Rollier set up a sanitarium on the sunny Alps of Switzerland where the children work and play all day in the sunshine almost naked, and he reports remarkable cures of tuberculous bones and skin troubles. Similar establishments for heliotherapy have been started in England and