German Meteorology

Abstract

IN this goodly octavo volume of 498 pages, presenting an exhaustive catalogue of the meteorological literature of Germany from the earliest to the present time, Dr. Hellmann has done a service to science, the practical value of which it would be difficult to overestimate. The work is divided into three parts. The first part comprises the writings and discoveries, and is in two divisions. The first of these divisions gives the names of authors and the titles of their works; and the fulness and satisfactoriness of detail with which this is gone into may be seen by referring to “Dove,” who was the prince of German meteorologists, and “Helmholtz,” the latter contributing only one paper—on whirlwinds and thunderstorms—and the former 208 papers, embracing all departments of the subject. The principal events in the biography of each author are briefly indicated, together with the date of publication of each contribution and the work in which it appeared. The second division is an index of subjects comprised under meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, and atmospheric electricity; and the completeness with which this part of the work is done may be seen by a reference to “Barometer,” the various papers relating to which are grouped under thirty heads. The heading “Astro-Meteorologie” shows that even the antiquities of the science have not been overlooked.

Repertorium der Deutschen Meteorologie. Leistungen der Deutschen in Schriften, Erfindungen und Beobachtungen auf dem Gebiete der Meteorologie und des Erdmagnetismus von den Ältesten zeiten bis zum Schlusse des Jahres 1881.

Von G. Hellmann. (Leipzig: verlag von Wilhelm Englemann, 1883.)