Abstract
THE American Journal of Science, January, 1884.—The effect of a warmer climate on glaciers, by Capt. C. E. Dutton. The author fully discusses the theory of those Jwho argue that the more copious snowfall required for a more extended system of glaciation implied more atmospheric moisture, greater evaporation, and a generally higher temperature; in fact, a warmer climate than at present, due probably to a greater rate of solar radiation. He concludes that the possibility of obtaining a greater snowfall by a warmer climate would be necessarily limited to the Arctic regions, or to altitudes far above the present snow line. Elsewhere a higher temperature would add to the rainfall, and actually diminish the snowfall. The advocates of the theory have failed to perceive that the additional moisture postulated could fall only as rain. Not until the air has discharged as rain all the moisture in excess of the quantity which saturates it at zero, can it begin to yield snow.—On the application of Wright's apparatus for distilling1, to the filling of barometer tubes (one illustration), by Frank Waldo.—Account of a new method of measuring the energy expended on or rendered by a dynamo or a magneto machine m connection with the production of electricity in a large way, by C. F. Brackett.—On some points in climatology: a rejoinder to Mr. Croll, by Simon Newcomb. The assumed lower mean temperature of the northern hemisphere at some former geological epoch is attributed by Mr. Croll to a greater eccentricity of the earth's orbit, combined with a position of the perihelion near the northern solstice, causing a short perihelion summer and a correspondingly long aphelion winter. To this the author replies that too little is known of the laws of terrestrial radiation of heat through the atmosphere to justify the establishment of any theory of the glacial epoch, and that, in any case Mr. Croll fails to show why the mean temperature should be different at the supposed periods. Hence the conclusion, not that Mr. Croll's theory is false, but that it is not proven.—An account of some recent methods of photographing the solar corona without an eclipse, and of the results obtained (one illustration), by Dr. W. Huggins.—Elliptical elements of comet 1882 I., by F. J. Parsons.—The Minnesota Valley in the Ice Age, by Warren Upham.—On the so-called dimorphism in the genus Cambarus, by Walter Faxon.—Evolution of the American trotting horse, by Francis E. Nipher. In reply to the criticism of Mr. W. H. Pickering, the author argues that the known facts are not opposed to the conclusion that the trotting horse may finally trot his mile in about the same time that the running horse will cover the same distance.—On the origin of jointed structure, by G. N. Gilbert.—A theory of the earthquakes of the Great Basin, by the same author.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scientific Serials . Nature 29, 397–398 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/029397a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/029397a0