The main thesis of these monographs is the climatic limitation and control of agriculture and of stock-raising. The results are likely to be of practical value in the future development of Australia. The extreme importance of rainfall is emphasized, not only of the annual amounts but also of the season at which the rain falls, and of its reliability.
While the meteorology of the Arctic has made little progress during the last ten years, the Antarctic has been visited by a large number of expeditions, most of the results of whose scientific work, as well as some of the results of work done prior to 1910, have been published in the last decade. These discussions include those relating to the British expeditions of 1901-4, 1910^-3 and 1914-7; the Australian expedition of 1911-4^; the Norwegian of 1910-2; the German of 1911-2. Meteorological observations are now available, for com- plete years, made at fixed land stations; on board vessels drifting slowly in the ice; on sledge journeys, and from the upper air by means of kites and balloons. The available material is, however, still too scattered and incomplete to give an accurate and satis- factory picture of Antarctic climate. Most of the discussions have concerned the physical problems of Antarctic meteorology rather than the larger facts and controls of climate. The mean tem- peratures of the higher southern lats. have been determined by Meinardus as follows:
S. Lat. 60 70" 80" 90
Jan 37.0 F. 29.7 F. 24.3" F. 2i.2F.
July .... 12.9" -7.6 -19.7 -27-9
Year .... 25.7" 9.0" 5.1 13-0
The fact that these lats. are colder in the Antarctic than in the Arctic is now abundantly confirmed. The Antarctic obviously has a distinctly continental climate, but with a cold summer. The lowest mean annual temperature hitherto recorded was observed at Framheim, the nearest fixed point to the South Pole at which ob- servations have been made ( n.2F.). Much light has been thrown on the cyclonic phenomena of the southern oceans through the in- clusion, in both British and German publications, of a considerable series of daily synchronous weather maps.
Climate and Agriculture. Recent studies of the larger controls of climate over crop distribution, and of weather factors which most affect the critical periods of growth and of yield of field and garden crops, have brought out much information which will prove of importance in the advance of agricultural climatology. The geographic origin of the world's food supply and of other essential agricultural products, and of the climatic and other factors which control the present distribution of the world's crops and live stock, have been discussed. 1
In this atlas, the essential climatic controls in the case of the important crops in all parts of the world are briefly stated. Another outstanding publication, also of wide interest, deals with cotton. 2 The climates of all the cotton areas are discussed, detailed considera- tion being given to the United States. The facts here given are of practical value in the selection of the most favourable climates for future cotton-growing. A very practical application of scientific research to agricultural practice is seen in the establishment, for the United States, of a " bioclimatic law." 3 According to this law, there is a country-wide average rate of variation in the time of occurrence of the regular periodic events in plants and animals, de- pending on altitude, latitude and longitude. The rate is four days for each i of long., 5 of lat. and 400 ft. of altitude.
Forests and Climate. But little important work has lately been done on forest influences upon climate. So far as this goes, it points to nothing more than inconsiderable effects. For example, in India the latest indications are that while forests tend to increase rain- fall, the effects are by no means marked. 4
In the United States, an investigation of the forests of the S.W. shows that their influence is essentially similar to that previously indicated by European observation. 6 In other words, forests have a little higher mean annual temperature than the open; somewhat modify the extremes of temperature; reduce wind velocity and de- crease evaporation within the forest, but have only a negligible effect upon precipitation except in connexion with the distribution and disposal of snow and rain.
1 V. C. Finch and O. E. Baker, " Geography of the World's Agriculture," U.S. Deft, of Agriculture, Office of Farm Manage- ment, Washington, D.C., 1917. Atlas and text.
2 O. C. Stine and O. E. Baker, " Cotton," Atlas of American Agriculture, pt. v., Sec. A, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Farm Management, Washington, D.C., 1918.
3 A. D. Hopkins, " Periodical Events and Natural Law as Guides to Agricultural Research," Mo. Weather Rev., Suppl. No. Q, Wash- ington, D.C., 1918. See also O. E. Baker, C. F. Brooks and R. G. Hainsworth, " A Graphic Summary of Seasonal Work on Farm Crops," Yearbook, U.S. Dept. of Agric., 1917, pp. 537-589.
4 M. Hill, " Notes on an Enquiry by the Government of India into the Relation between Atmospheric and Soil Moisture in India," Forest Bull. No. jj, Calcutta, 1916.
5 G. A. Pearson, " A Meteorological Study of Parks and Timbered Areas in the Western Yellow-Pine Forest of Arizona and New Mexico," Mo. Weather Rev., vol. xli., 1913, pp. 1615-1629.
Physiological Climatology. It has for some time been recognized that conditions which are best for human beings are moderately cool and moderately moist air, in motion, together with a reasonable variability of temperature. Numerous suggestions have been made regarding the instrumental measurement of the climatic elements most essential in this problem. In general, the tendency has been to use already available flata on air temperature and relative humidity, or to employ ordinary wet and dry bulb thermometer readings. Dr. Leonard Hill has devised a so-called " Kata-ther- mometer " which indicates, by the rate of cooling of wet and dry bulb thermometers heated to about the surface temperature of the human body, the combined effect of temperature, humidity, wind, evaporation, etc. 6 Several investigators have sought to determine, in actual numerical values, the most favourable atmospheric conditions for man. Dr. Griffith Taylor, using wet bulb temperatures and rel- ative humidities, has worked out the criteria of a suitable climate for Anglo-Saxons in the tropics. 7 The " type white climograph " which this study suggests as representing ideal conditions shows, for summer, a wet bulb reading of 62 F. and relative humidity of 68-5 %; for winter, 37 F. and 8 1 %. Using statistics of the efficiency of factory operatives, students and others in the eastern United States, Huntington has determined what he calls the " optimum " tempera- tures for man's greatest efficiency. 8
These are outdoor temperatures of 6o-6^" F. for maximum physical efficiency and 40 F. for maximum mental efficiency. There is also found to be a beneficial stimulating effect in a certain moderate degree of temperature variability, which is associated with storm controls. The different parts of the world are graded accord- ing to their approximation to such a climate, and the civilizations of those areas are also graded. A close agreement is found between the results. The conclusion is reached that a certain special combina- tion of climatic conditions prevails today where high civilization is found; and that past climatic fluctuations which brought a similar type of climate were associated with corresponding periods of high civilizations.
Criticism of these far-reaching conclusions has been based on the insufficiency of the data of human efficiency upon which the study rests; the somewhat arbitrary combination of the climatic factors, with disregard of the element of humidity, and a lack of any general agreement as to the facts concerning the distribution of civilization and the occurrence of special climatic types in past times. (R. DE C. W.)
CLODD, EDWARD (1840- ), English anthropologist, was
born at Margate July i 1840, and educated at Aldeburgh grammar school. At the age of 15 he became a clerk and seven years later entered the London Joint Stock Bank, Ltd., where he rose by 1872 to the post of secretary. He interested himself in questions of the descent of man and the origins of religion, and early became known as a rationalist thinker.
Amongst his writings are: The Childhood of the World (1872); The Childhood of Religions (1875); Myths and Dreams (1885); Story of Primitive Man ( 1 895) ; A nimism or the Seed of Religion ( 1 906) ; Magic in Names (1920), and biographies of Huxley and Grant Allen, as well as a volume of Memories (1916) and a discussion of the possibility of human survival after death, entitled The Question (1917)-
CLYNES, JOHN ROBERT (1869- ), English politician,
was born at Oldham March 27 1869 of working-class parents, and worked himself as an artisan for many years. He was active in the trade-union movement, and eventually became president of the National Union of General Workers, and chairman of the executive council. He came into Parliament as Labour member for N.-E. Manchester in 1906, when the Labour party were returned for the first time in numerical force over 50 in all. It was not, however, until the World War that he attractec} public attention. He protested, in Feb. 1915, on behalf of his party against the rise in prices, which he attributed mainly to contractors and dealers exploiting the needs of the people. His interest in this subject made it natural that he should be selected as himself a working man to be parliamentary secretary
6 Leonard Hill, " Atmospheric Conditions which affect Health, " G. J. Met. Soc., vol. xlv., 1919. pp. 189-206: " The Science of Ventilation and Open-Air Treatment." Medical Res. Counc.. Spec. Report Series, No. 52, London, 1920, p. 295.
'Griffith Taylor, " The Control of Settlement by Humidity and Temperature (with Special Reference to Australia and the Empire): An Introduction to Comparative Climatology," Commonwealth Bur. of Met., Bull. 14, Melbourne, 1916.
8 Ellsworth Huntington, Civilization and Climate, New Haven, Conn., 1915. (This vol. also summarizes much of the author's earlier work, including that on historical changes of climate.) World Power and Evolution, New Haven, Conn., 1919.
