June, 1917. Monthly Weather Review

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JUNE, 1917. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 299 Bermuda, and the tem erature of the following August in northern Japan. '&le corresponding records from IS96 to 1914 (Table 2 on p. 58, loc. cit.) bring this out. The probability of the variation of the August temperature at the various locdities in northern Japan in the snnie sense as that of the April pressure! at Prospect, Berniuda, is shown in the following Table 2. TABLE2.-.4zrgturt teinperature in iwrlhern Japan and April prasztre at Prospect. Bernwtda.

~ Sign. Nemuro. Erimo. Miysko. &yy .- - _-- I---/- I---/- Cases with the same...... l3 12 13 la Cases with the opposlte...... 6 7 7 Number nf cases...... 19 Prnhbility of the same sign...... per rent.. Probabillty of the opposite sign...... do.. .. 32 37 37 37

4. G)rrtJntirrn,of thc barometric: pressures ut Toronto i.n ApLl (id Augkst.--The correhtion between ensterii C':iimln nnd dapnn. iniide abore in yarngraph 1 , brought out R rlamarknble parallelism in L le 1iiea.n hrometric prwsiires for Toronto in April tint1 August during the yeus 1SS7-1911, inclusive. 5. Cordutioii. bc-ftopen.thr April prcsswru .in Ice7ct.d and ilt e ttviipwaiuw qfi1tcbfol7o1iStigBupst .i?i tidhern.Ja.pan..- Prof. ron Hilnii has shown that. there esist, remarkable coi1trast.s bet ween t,he pressure devin.tions at Ponta Del- ~wcltiin the Azores and at Stykkisholm, Iceland. We hive shown in the preceding p21ragraphs that there is paral- lrliaiii bel ween the April prcssuu" at Pontii Delgada and the temperature of t.hc following Bugust. at Nemuro, Hokknido. It follows tliat there must be a marked contrast between the vnriatioiis of the April pressure at Ytykkisholni niid the August temperature at Nemuro. Tliis is clenrly shown to esist, hv the &ita in Table 3 1)clow. The pressure dntn for Stykkisholm have been t:iken from Dr. Lockyer's pressure tnbl~.~In the table s stands for the April pressure at Stykkisholm and 6s for it.sint.er-annual va.rintion; '10 for the Au ust temperature at. Nemuro and 6.u~for its inter-annua 4 vnrintioir; p for t,he April pressure at Ponta Delgndn. TABLE3.-Correlatioa bet ireeia the April presswe at Stwkkisholm, Iceland (a), and the dugitst tanperatitre at Neni.?cro, Hokknz'rEo (w), thrtntgh the April prcssrire at Ponta Dclgndu, dzorcs (pi...... -- Sign. Nemurn. Erimo. Yiyakn. gz: Year. P ---~ Cases with the same...... 24 19 21 l& mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. Cases with the opposite...... 9 6 s 6 1879...... 756.6: 17.1 ...... 764.9 a3 ...... Number of caws ...... 33 29 24 18W...... I 51.6 20.5 -5.0 +3.4 65.6 14.0 +5.7 Probsbility of the same SIP...... per cent.. 76 ;: 72 75 Probability of the opposite sign ...... do .... w 21 2s 25 1881...... 758.0 16.9 +6.4 -3.6 76a 9 2.9 -11.1 lSS2...... 80.7 19.8 +2.7 +2 9 a7 40 +L1 1883 ...... i 50.6 IR.9 -10.1 +o. 1 64.9 14.3 +la3 lS3.I...... 56.5 16.4 +5.9 -3.5 59.8 3.3 -1LO The coordinates of three places are given in the MONTHLY 1% ...... %.7 16.9 -2.8 +a 5 66.7 13.0 +9.7 1RSG ...... 755.8 19.8 +2 1 +2 9 761.5 5.7 -1.3 WEATHERREVIEW, January, 1916, page 18, but Eriino IS3...... 60 6 18.8 +4. s -1.0 59.1 lies in latitude-42' N., longitude 143O 15' E. Grnphjc 1W...... 61:O' 17.4 +o. 4 -1.4 66.2 isw) ...... 516 I iaa -6.4 +o. 8 6s9 construction confirnis tsheparallelism generally , nnd it is -2. 1 +l. 1 61.5 concluded that a rise of yrt-ssurenf Ponta Delgada. ill. April +6.2 -2 2 762.4 is followed by a rise an temperature in. northem .Ja.pm .in. -1.7 +a 2 64.1 ti9 +3.4 -2 4 0. o 62.7 7.9 +1.0 the folboiuing Aqi.gust, and vice versa. -2 2 +a 5 66.6 14.0 +6.1 3. Correlation. between the. pressure iri the Her- 1m5...... 58.0 15.1 +3.4 -2 0 620 LO -ao April 1996...... 752.6 17.7 -3.4 +l. 0 7sR 7 16.1 +iai mudas and the Au.gztst temperaturt ill. n.orthern Japan.-- 1897...... 17.0 -6.1 -a 7 67.4 m9 +C8 1598...... I lh4 +2 2 -0.6 65.1 16.4 -4.5 Bermuda lies at the western estmniity of the great la9...... 50.1E 15.4 +lo. 4 -1.0 65.4 6.3 -la1 Atlantic anticyclone, while the Azores lie a.t the oppp5ite 1800...... 54.6 la2 -4.5 +2. & 65.3 10.7 +C4 extremity. Any variation in intensity and osltlon lgOl ...... 7520 17.9 -2.6 -0.3 764.8 12.8 +21 1902...... 5%3 14.5 +7.3 -3.4 61. 1 1.8 -11.0 of the action-center is correspondingly ~wveded! in the 19m...... 57.4 15.9 -1.9 +l. 4 64.7 7.3 +L5 iw ...... 47.7 la5 -9.7 +a 6 69.6 21.9 +14.6 barometric data at either station. It is therefore no 1905 ...... i ...... mere coincidence that one can trace a fairly established - . - - -- 2 Runn Julius ~OILDie Anomalien der Witterung auf Islaud, u. a. w. Sltzungsb. parallelism between the April pressure at Prospect, Kaiserl. .ikad. d. Wissem., mathem.-naturw. Kl. 1901, Bd. 113 8 Grl.Britain. SolarPhysica Cornmillee. Montdy mean v+umof barometriepreasures 1 For the previous Notes see this REVIEW,January, 1916. U: 17-21, and May, 1917, for i?3 selected stations over the earth's surface ...Compiled ...under dlrection of 4s: 238-240. Sir Norman I.orkyer. Iondon, lW. v,97,ete.,p. 4O. 572&17--3 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 10:21 PM UTC 300 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. JUNE,1917 From Table 3 we see that out of 25 cases in only 4 information as to the simultaneous progress of magnetic disturbance at diflerent arts of the earth.l Since 1910 he had lived a good deaf abroad for observational pur- oses, and numerous communications to the Comptes kendus of the French Academy of Sciences describe his various conclusions and speculations. In one conimuni- cation dated July, 1914, he espresscd his intention of devoting the next three years to the study of tho zodiacal light in Natal, at Helwmi, and in Uganda, and he was working in E pt in 1915 and 1916. Presumably the continuation o7 his quest had taken him to the Far East. At the tinie of lis’death Prof. Birkeland was only about 50 years of age; but when last in England, in 1913, he had a ed considerably in appearance and become very deaf. #e was, however, RS animated as ever when discussing his theories. cent.-c. A., jr. USE OF THE DIVININQ BOD IN TEE SEARCH FOB HIDDEN THINQS. Kristian Birkeland. 1867-1917. In the MONTHLYWEATHER REVIEW for March, 1900, the late Prof. Cleveland Abbe published a note drawing By C. CIIREE. attention to the appointment of a French comniission, [ReprJRled/rornNature, London, June 31,1917,99 349.1 presided over by the engineer Borthier de Rollihre, to study all apparatus and methods employed by sorcerers, We reget to learn from the [London] Morning Post that water seers, etc., who use the divining rod, ex loring pen- Prof. lhstim Birkeland, of Christiania, died in Tokyo on duluni, hydroscopic comptiss, or ot,her fanciP ully named June 18, 1917. He was one of the few speculative physi- device. rhe report of this comniission was robably pub- cists of the day the value of whose work would be generdy lished in 1913, but seems not to have settle% the question admitted in commercial circles. He was the co-inventor of the reliability of this kind of device, for it appears that with Mr. Sani Eyde of the Birkeland-E de direct process ersons are still successfully persuading the public for the manufacture of cdcium nitrate fly the estraction of nitrogen from the atmosphere. In the Journal of the lili‘ilyto enip 5 oy it. Royal Society of Arts, Mtty, 1912, Mr. E. Kilburn Scott The literztture on the subject of tlie divining rod is very records how, starting with a %-holse ower ex erimental extensive, and eiiibraces works in one or the other of at lant in 1903, the conipan controIf ing the birkeland- bast four modern or dead languages, kyde patente had 200,000 riorsepower at work in 1912, as 1532. This literature has recently and was likely to add a further 300,000 horsepower before and condensed into an interesting publication of the the end of 1916. Tlis was by no moans the only success- United States Geolo ical Survey,’ which niny be recom- mended to all who asa , or have to answer, questions about ful patent in which Prof. Birkeland was interested. the discovery” of water, ores, minerals, etc., by occult As a theorist Prof. Birkelmd was estraordiiiarily bold means. The following is quoted from the introductory in his speculations. He had theories on the internal con- note by 0. E. Meinzer: stitution of the sun and the nature of sun spots: on the sun as a magnet and zxs a source of elec.tricity; on tlie The use of a forked twig. or so-called divining rod, in locating minerals. finaliiig hiddeu trasure. or detecting criminals is a curious origin of the planets and their satellites; on the nature of superstition that has been a subject of discussion since the middle of various celestial phenomena, specially the zodiacal light; the sixteenth c-enlury and still has a strong hold on the popular mind, on the production of aurorw and magnetic storms; and even in this coiiiitry, as is shown by the large number of inquiries on the ast eological history of the earth. The wealth rereived each year by the United Statea Geological Survey as to its efficacy. especially for loc.ating underground water, and the persistent acquire $fby iis prncticttl gifts enabled Prof. Birkeland to cleu~~nclsthat it be nmde a subject of investigation by the Survey. experiment and to arrange for solar and mapatic obser- The bibliography shows that a truly astonieliing nunher of books and vations on a large scale. He made many striking ex eri- pamphlets have been written on the subject. * * * The outline ments with an artificiall niagnetized terella in a Bligh of the history of the subject presented in the following pages will vacuum, directing towar Bit electrical discharges intended probably enable most honest inquirers to appreciate the practical use- letwness of ’’ water witching ” and other applications of the divining to represent the discharge of corpuscles from the sums rod, but those who wid1 to delve further into the mysteries of the In some of his experiments the vacuuiii chamber had a subject. are referred to the literatiire cited in the bibliography, in capacity of 70 liters and the supply of electrical energy which they will find reports in painful detail of exhaustive investigations aid pseiiilo-investigations of every phase of the subject and required a 6-horsepower engine. He obtained phe- every imagimble explanation of the supposed phenomeiu. nomena closely reseiiibling various forms of aurora, It is doubtful whether so much invedgation and discussion have phenomena whch he believed to represent the conditions been bestowed on any other subject with such absolute lack of psi- under which magnetic storms appear on the earth. tive resulta. It is difficult to see how, for practical entire matter could be more thoroughly discredited, anb?%?&% Prof. Birkeland was lar ely responsible for the bistitu- obvious to everyone that further testa by the United States Geological tion of special magnetic o% servatories in Arctic regions in Survey of this so-called “witching” for water, oil, or other minerals 1900, in 1902-3, and a ain durin the last few years. would be a misuse of public funds. His two large volumes in nglish, ‘‘ #he Norwegian Aurora A large number of more complicated devices for locating water or B other minerals are closely related to tlie forked twig. A favoiite trick Polaris Expedition, 1902-3, besides much speculation as for appealing to uneducated persons and yet making specific disproof to the causes of magnetic storms, contain much importtmt ___-- 4 This REVIEWJanuary 1909 37: 1B-18. 1 This REVIEWApril 1914 12. 208 (Abstract) 1 Ellis Arfhwr3. The divini;?p rod a history of water wltchlng with a bibliogra h :This REVIEW’ A ril’ 1914’ 42: 211 (Quoted). ’see also footnote 3. rand Int;odurtion br 0. E. Memseri. Washinnton.-. 1917. 69 --d. 4 h. 8’. (28: ‘Abstract of c0;lcpUrddnns in’& REVIEW,Sedtcrmher, 1916, U: 50% beol. Bum. Water supply Paper 416).

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