In advancing hypotheses and inviting discussion the real object is, or at least should be, to discover the essential cause or causes which determine the initial formation and subsequent maintenance and progress of the cyclone. Some real progress in charting lines of equal density seems to have been made by M. Nils Ekholm following Professor Abbe's system of "isostaths," one using the term density, the other buoyancy. Professor Abbe also introduces the factor of the orographic gradient, but the {44} latter is simply the measure of a resistance. The objection to this form of determination is this, that it is a measure of mass only. The density of two masses of air is determined to be the same; but as the density may result from two entirely different causes, their physical relations cannot be fully expressed in units of gravity. The methods of Professor Abbe and of M. Nils Ekholm undoubtedly give good results, partly from the coincidence that humidity usually varies directly as the temperature. The method proposed by Captain James Allen in 1888, which is briefly described in appendix 24 to the annual report of the Chief Signal Officer for 1890, appears to afford the means of more clearly expressing the relations that exist between the mass of the atmosphere and the forces available for the generation and movement of storms. Its tentative application at the Signal Office has anticipated and explained storm movements not indicated or accounted for by the usual methods. As pertinent to this matter, there is instanced a study of the progress of thunder-storms made by Berg, who observes that the line of storm front in every case investigated made a decidedly conspicuous bend into the densest part of the lines representing the absolute humidity. * * * * *