The Portland daily press., 1896-01-04
TWELVE PAGES.


Arequipa, 5000 feet; Cuzco, II, 900 feet {;
Alto de los Huesos, 1890 feet, and
Mount Blanc station on Ell Misti, Is, 600
/ feat.
AT the more elevated stations it is i'm
practicable to keep observers continuous
y during the winter season, but this
drawback has been obviated in part by
the use of the meteorograph, an instru-
ment operated by clockwork and record
ing automatically wind direction and
| velocity pressure, temperature, and
humidity. THE meteorograph at the Mont
Blanc station makes each record on q
separate roll Of paper. and the five rolls
are operated by the Same clock, which
Will run eight months without rewind-
Ing. The meteo rograph on the summit
OF Eli Misti is in service at the highest
elevation OF any winter STATEN in the
world. This instrument was designed
and made especially for this station, and
1t will be very atifying to us if we sue
oeed In making a continuous record at
this and other stations in face of the ap-
parent difficulties''
| ''What are the most urgent needs of as
economical research today?'
An increase in the number of observ-
ing stations south Of the equator" he re-
| piled, land an increase in the power of
the telescopes in these southern stations.
i5 is singular fact, and one not very
trsdltable to the discretion of cur astro-
nom1cal endowments, that the Northern
l0m1Snl0ra IN cd
ally with observatories OF the eighty
| telescopes in use today, with object glass
es OF twelve inches diameter or more,
seventy-slx are in stations north of the
equator. and only four, or one-twentieth
OF the whole number, in stations in the
Southern hemisphere. Of this scanty
proportion, too, not one has an object
glass exceeding thirteen inches in diane
ter, or, i'll other words, there is no re-
fracting telescope south of the equator
today of one-half the size of our largest
instruments in North American or
European stations When we consider
the comparative novelty and possibilities
of the southern field of observation it il
really yexing to see endowment after en-
dowment going into the erection of new
northern observatories or additional tels-
scopes when the Southern hemisphere is
so destitute.
There Is a misplaced local pride, too.
on the part of well-meaning contri butors
which insists blindly on the erection of
an observatory rs if it were a local
monument or attraction. Tho atmos-
phers Of any large city is inevitably
clouded and unsatisfactory for an astron-
omical station, and the essential freedom
from jarring cannot possibly be secured
within city limits. Moreover, the intro
duction of electric lights, brilliant and
desirable as they are for city service is
found to intefere seriously with the OBJ
servation of faint objects, such as comets,
nebulae, and zodiacal phenomena. In
truth, the i'd col place for the location of
an observatory is in the heart OF great
desert OF on an isolated mountain peak,
hut these situations are doubtless less de-
sirable than city streets for advertising
purposes, If observatories are to be erect
ed chiefly as memorial tablets or for
the attraction of sightseers -
'What are the probabilities or posi-
b1lities OF marked advances in ur soien-
tif1c knowledge Of the stars and planets?"
In photography as applied to astrono-
my the principal advance to be looked for
is in the increase of sensi tiyeness of
plates, but it is unfortunately true that
certain difficulties in the way of their use
will inevitably increase with the sensitive
ness. The Jogging Of the plates on moon
light nights is already so great that long
exposure cannot be made with telescopes
of large angular aperture. and any
marked increase of sensitlveness will
make it impossible to work to advantage
in the vicinity of large city On account
of the illumination of the atmosphere by
artificial light 1t will then be necss-
sary Rto take the photographs in places
far from centres of population, and pre-
ferably at great elevations, where the re-
fccting atmosphere is diminished in
amount.
AS to the possible enlargement by, this
or other means of the number OF stars
known to us no approx innate limit can be
fixed. 1t has been estimated that as
many as 20, 900, 600 distinct stars will an
pear upoA oiie piaAlspHere OIL bne visible
heavens when completed by tho photo
graphic reproduction of all stars down to
the fourteenth magnitude. In the inves.
tigation of the planets, the application of
photography is of com paratively slight
service. This is particularly illustrated
in the eontrasted views Of Mars, obtained
from a Photographic plate and by the
drawi ngs made from the selescopic obser-
vations of this plane of the invisible
and immeasuraD regions, beyond the
fur:hest reach of any MS. ument known
TO us to-day we tal only conjecture
from the heavens withii, our range
of view. 1t is safe TO say, howe v3r, that
there is no evidence that We are approach.
ing Ii nit in our knowledge of tbs ex-
tent of tho universe"