turn out to mean, somewhere near 273 physical quantity and not simply an degrees of the Centigrade thermom- arbitrary index of the direction of flow eter or 500 degrees of the Fahrenheit of heat. If I had my time over again thermometer below the freezing point I should try to use McAdie's sugges- of water. From that zero all such tion. features of the effect of temperature Change of unit is of course incon- as the expansion of gases like air, the venient at the outset, but it is easy to pressure of water vapour and the radi- exaggerate present inconveniences and ation of a black body, have to be reck- thereby store up additional inconven- oned. At that zero the whole physical iences for the future for which we must nature of the world changes. contemplate common units of a sys- At the same time for many practical tematic character. The people who re- and domestic purposes the freezing- sisted the change from the Julian to point of water is as important to be the Gregorian calendar for 200 years aware of as the absolute zero. It is did not really make things easier for well marked as zero in the Centigrade the world. thermometer. McAdie's scale serves both purposes, dating originally from Sir Napier adds by letter, Feb. 6, the absolute zero and noting the freez- 1933: ing-point of water at 1,000; at the same time its scale has a very conven- "The question of units is always on ient step of about one-half a Fahren- my mind. I wish we could agree to heit degree, not far from a quarter of build on the primary c.g.s. unit already the Centigrade degree; and a whole accepted for electricity, which I sup- step is of the proper order of accur- acy of measurement for meteorologi- pose is going to rule the world before cal work without any decimal fraction. long. Actually the absolute zero depends "Temperature is the great difficulty on inferences from experimental work which is always liable to small errors. because, if I understand rightly, our My own practice has been to use the continental friends regard centigrade scale that corresponds with the ther- as truly 'metric' and I suppose the mal expansion of air or hydrogen over final unit has got to be molecular en- the range of meteorological tempera- tures and is made sufficiently near to ergy in ergs per gramme of gas, which the absolute scale by adding 273 to the makes entropy of unit mass a thing Centigrade reading. To avoid misun- of no dimensions, a mere signal like a derstanding I have called the scale ter- logarithm. And while we are arriv- centesimal and used it for its symbol without a degree sign because I want ing at general principles McAdie's Kel- to retain the idea of temperature as a vin-kilograd is the last stepping stone." AERONAUTICAL METEOROLOGY [At the Founders Meeting of the In- almost half (111) of the (230) storms stitute of the Aeronautical Sciences, leaving the Newfoundland area during Inc., in New York last January, the a two-year period failed to reach the proceedings of which have recently ap- European coast. Many lows headed peared in book form,1 Dr. Kimball northward to the west side of Green- represented meteorology on the pro- land and into Davis Strait, while others gram. The following is a summary followed a too northerly course, and a of his paper (pp. 9-11) :] few turned southeastward and disin- Climatic features play an im- tegrated in the mid-Atlantic. A few portant part in flying across the Atlan- storms, however, formed over the ocean tic Ocean. As shown by a survey of and hit the European coast along with weather maps, it has been found that the other transoceanic lows. Dr. Kimball also pointed out the fre- 1 Published by the Institute, 251 W. 101st St., New York, N. Y., 85 pp., $1.00 postpaid. quency of storm "deaths." Besides the Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 10:37 AM UTC regular summer hurricanes that move in the half-light of early morning, they northwestward from the tropics, turn mistook some trees for an open field northwards on some meridian west of in Pomerania, and crashed. Both were Bermuda and then head back into the killed. Atlantic Ocean, storms have a ten- The press of August 7 reported the dency to form off Cape Hatteras at all successful passage of the Atlantic by times of year, and many reach the Eu- the two French pilots, Lieut. Maurice ropean coast after following the Gulf Rossi and Paul Codos, who were re- Stream. All oceanic flights offer the ported over Paris and Strasbourg, and same problem of trying to minimize who expected to keep going as long as storm dangers by flying near high fuel lasted. Radio reports early that pressure centers and passing as quick- evening said that Rossi and Codos fin- ly as possible through storm troughs. ally landed at Damascus, Syria, after flying 5900 miles, a new non-stop dis- Long Distance Flights tance record. On June 4, "Jimmie" Mattern took The most dramatic flight of all this off from Floyd Bennet Field, near New year was that led by General Italo York, on a round-the-world solo flight, Balbo, from Orbetello, Italy, to the to break the record of 8 days, 15 hours Century of Progress Exposition in and 51 minutes, made last year by Chicago, composed of 25 Savoia-Mar- Wiley Post and Harold Gatty. Favored chetti seaplanes, and manned by young by a good southwest wind, Mattern men from the Royal Aviation Academy made fast time across the Atlantic, but of Caserta, near Naples. Leaving Or- flying against unfavorable and un- betello early in the morning of July 1, familiar weather conditions, and over after delay on account of unfavorable strange territory, he cracked up in a weather conditions, the squadron fol- forced landing near the Anadyr River lowed a northern route, stopping at in eastern Siberia, was injured, and Amsterdam; Londonderry, Ireland; thought lost for some time. Reykjavik,Iceland; Cartwright, Labra- At 4.10 a. m. (E.S.T.) July 15, Wiley dor; Shediac, N. B.; Montreal, and end- Post took off from the same Floyd Ben- ing the first part of the flight at the nett Field to fly around the world Century of Progress in Chicago, with alone, a jaunt of 15,400 miles. With the loss of but one plane and one of its his globe-circling Winnie Mae, com- pilots. After a round of greetings pletely renovated and with all auto- from America, the planes returned to matic devices, even to a Sperry gyro- Italy by way of New York, Newfound- scopic automatic pilot, which did the land, the Azores, Lisbon, and thence to navigating while he consulted charts Ostia, the port of Rome, where they and observed conditions, Post, com- arrived August 10. One more plane pleted his flight in a little over seven was wrecked in the Azores, with the un- fortunate death of one of the pilots. days. He would have made better time but for bad weather delaying Weather was reported by radio several takeoffs. by both the Canadian Meteorological About two hours after Post's takeoff, Service and the United States Weather two Lithuanian pilots, Capt. Stephen Bureau, by Italian ships placed along Darius and Stanley Girenas, took off, the route, and by land stations, some also from Floyd Bennett Field, for provided for this particular flight. Kaunas, Lithuania. They kept a good These reports were sent to the Mackay course, and made splendid time until Radio Co., where Colonel Mario Infante Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 10:37 AM UTC of the Italian Air Service together General Balbo was the leader of the with Dr. James H. Kimball of the New flight of a squadron of 61 flying boats York Weather Bureau analyzed the in- which made a tour of the Mediterran- formation, and issued forecasts and ean in 1928; he was also at the head advice. For the return flight, similar of an expedition in 1929, to the Black service was provided by the Italian Sea and Odessa, and the flight of government's radio station near Rome, which was in communication with the eleven seaplanes from Bolamo, Africa, two experts at New York. to Natal, Brazil.—E. M. H. REVIEWS Weather and Health: A Study of when there is a marked drop of tem- Daily Mortality in New York City 1 perature is close to 65°. "This in- By ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON and creases to about 70° at a mean daily Others. relative humidity of 50 per cent and "Weather and Health" is the results presumably becomes still higher with of an investigation undertaken by the lower humidities." Any appreciable committee on the Atmosphere and Man departure from the optimum tempera- of the National Research Council "in ture either upward or downward is order to determine more precisely than accompanied by an increased death hitherto the relation between weather rate. and health." It represents the work Chapter 4 presents the "Interpreta- of a committee of which Dr. Ellsworth tion of Effects of Temperature and Huntington is the chairman. The Bul- Humidity by Climographs." Herein is letin consists of seven chapters. Chap- presented a mass of data that may be ter 1 discusses the "Material and Meth- read at a glance. Two climatic ele- ods Used in the Investigation." ments, most commonly temperature This report is essentially a study of and relative humidity, are the coordi- the daily mortality in New York City nates, while some other variable, such during the six-year period, April 15, as deaths by pneumonia, is presented 1882, to March 24, 1888.