The Isothermal Layer of the Atmosphere

Abstract

IT seems to me that in NATURE of January 7 (p. 281) Mr. Dines successfully defends his simple, compact, but extremely efficient apparatus from the suspicions that have been levelled at it. The tests of the instrument before and after use show that it truly records the temperatures and pressures to which it is reduced. Mr. Dines is therefore entitled to call for adequate discussion of the most marked outcome of the experiments—the fact that in nearly all cases the minimum reading of temperature is reached long before the maximum height in the ascent, and long after in the descent. To suggest that the thermometer or the barometer may be slightly out is really to evade the problem.