Meteorology for All: Being some Weather Problems Explained

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THE science of the weather may well make a wider appeal than any other branch of science, and the opening for a book which is not only scientifically accurate, but also simple and easily comprehended, is therefore very great. The author of the present work has realised that the opening exists, and has endeavoured to fill it, but his attempt can scarcely be considered successful. A few quotations will illustrate the nature of the book. In estimating cloud amounts on the scale 0-10 we are told that "if there is one cloud upon the horizon or in any part of the sky we put 1."For obtaining true bearings from a compass, “the magnetic variation in the British Isles is now 14°W.” Again: “There is no more sure precursor of a gale than the ‘wind-dog,’ or coloured parhelion” (p. 2), which may possess some degree of truth, but scarcely seems compatible with: “When these halos are coloured and accompanied by parhelia or mock suns, they generlly precede very dry weather” (p. 110). Even in such a simple matter as giving the equivalent velocities of the Beaufort numbers, the author falls into error. Some chapters are better than others, but the book can certainly not be recommended as a safe guide to put into the hands of the non-technical reader without previous knowledge of meteorology. Meteorology for All: Being some Weather Problems Explained. Dr. Donald W. Horner By. With an Introduction by M. de Carle S. Salter. Pp. xvi + 184 + vii plates. (London: Witherby and Co., 1919.) Price 6s. net.