New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-23
SCIENTIFIC SKY-SCRAPERS.
A FEW FAMOUS AND LOFTY MOUNTAIN
OBsERvATORIEs.
CURIOUS STUDIES CONDUCTED AT STATIONS
THREE OR FOUR MILES ABOVE THE SEA
MARS AN ATMOSPHERIC

THREE OR FOUR MILES ABOVE THE SEA
LEvEr~rHE SUNS COLOR BLUE-HAs
MARS AN ATMOsPHERE7
Queen Margharita of Italy is said to have headed
with gift Of 1900 francs. subscription for the es
adjustment OF an observatory on the summit OF
Monte Rosa. which IS. with one exception" '"e
ofiest peak In Europe. This mountain Hes party
In Switzerland and partly In italy. ana - Si'ua''u
about fifty miles east OF Mont Blanc whereon
similar structure built a year or TWO ago ~
the eminent French astronomer JANSEN NOM"
Rosa has an elevation OF 10 30 feet or about u" fe
less than that OF the monarch OF the Alps. Inc
former may be more readily assembled than 'he i''-
ter perhaps: but 1t Is not clear that II possesS's
any other superior advantages The institution
which the Queen OF Italy has honored with hcr
patronage Is to be managed by Professor Angelo
Aosso who hopes 10 conduct wide variety oil re-
searches In his new field OF operations
This announcement leads one TO recall rev OF
the special Investigations hitherto under"k'n on
mountain tops where the extraordinary purity OF the
air makes possible the elimination Of certain sources
of error which interfere with scientific WORK ~
lower levels one OF the most famous attempts 10
estimate the precise amour; OF energy iap"''u '''
the sun was made - Wolfe IN lsI' on the summit
of Mont Blanc. Langley. who had conducted some
experiments OF like character IT, America. com
pleted his task on the summit OF Mount Nhi'h'E'
I'm the Sierra Nevada. In 1881. one OF tue 'o'
cusions he then reached was that the true color or
the sun is blue. and that II appears whlte o'N ~
cause the impurities in the lower atmosphere str""
act like a thin. reddish veil VI. Jahssen' "'''o"
waiting for the completion Of his permanent Oh
servatory has assembled Mont Blanc several times
within the last few years TO find out, II possible.
whether there IL free oxygen In me ro'hr a'HoS-
phere whether the signs OF IL usually d'l''"" w
the suns spectrum are not misiean'he 'i"'H ="
the earth's air He inclines strongly TO the latter
view Then again. there IL the Interesting dispute
tha OF
which would require the existence Of an atmos-
phere there and thus strengthen the case Oh 'hoSe
who assert the individuality of the rudy planet
Half "A dozen eminent spectroscopists OBSERVING ~
low levels have taken the afiirmatV" sue vi '''9
question and their statements and opinions were
genarallv accented until about two years ago when
Professor Campbell OF the Lick Observatory maze
a particularly careful study, az greater ei''a'io"
than that at which the other observations were
made He was thus led 10 suspect that the Ter
restrial atmosphere gave rise to tn" lines which
the others had seen and that Mars has much less
air than has been supposed. The question remains
unsettled but the strength Of Professor Campboll
arguments proceeds nearly much from the height
of Mount Hamilton (nearly a mie) as from ms own
acuteness and reputation as an observer.
WEATHER SCIENCE PROMOTED.
So TOO when the moons OF Jupiter appeared egg
shaped instead Of round. 10 Professor Nlinam II.
Pickering at the Arequpa Observatory In Peru ana
Professor Barnard at the Lick Observatory doubted
the accuracy of the observations. Professor PICK
erng replied In substance Your thirty-six-inch
glass Is more powerful than my eighteen-inch teie-
scope but you haven't any such atmosphere as
have You only 4ao feet up. and am s'ZVo
above sea level" The argument did not prove
effective in that Instance, however. Scarcely any
other astronomical authority has accepted rroi'@-
sor Pickerings curious theory about Jupit'rs
moons II was to get rid of minute dust particles
I'm the air and the reflections therefrom that Pro-
Tsa1. of
Peak and Mount Etna two or three years ago TOT
the purpose OF trying TO photograph the SOAR
corona by "A new method which he hoped WOULD or
operative AZ other times than during total eclipse.
Another very important class of inquiries con-
Quoted at mountain obscrvatores deal with the d.
rac,,on and velocity Of the wind the amount OF
rainfall and snow the temperature and pressure OF
the air and other matters relating 10 the Wea''''
Thereby 1t has been found that the layer OF air n
which the ma oriy OF our broad storms exist thoueh
often several hundred miles across. Is seldom over
8. mile deep, although local disturbances dke thun-
der showers often extend higher BY way OF FUR
Their Illustration. II may be remarked tha' so'e
temperature observations made on the SonhoncK'
I'm the Tyrolean Alps five or six years ago came
near upsettng one of the widely accepted theories
of storm causations. IT had been held that In high
nressire" areas the rate of temperature decrease
as YOU rise was very rapid. and In low pressure
areas very slow: and that the excessive warmth
I'm the centre Of "low" was one agent IN the At
tendant disturbance. DR.. julius Ham. at the h'Nu
of the Austrian weather service, created something
of a panic among meteorOlogists when ne presenter
evidence taken from the Sonnblick records which
antagonized the old notions 10 some extent. I'd
servatons are made on Nesuvius Tor Indications OF
volcanic action. earthquakes and the no" OF 'iec-
tric currents in the earth's crust. and in few
other instances mountain observations are devoted
n speciai purposes But their chief uses are
meteorological and astronomical. the former greatly
preponderating
As early as 1863 there number OF stations
in the Alpine passes of Switzerland where recorcs
of temperature and snowfall regularly made.
and since that time the number OF them mas IN
creased their scope has been brOadened and their
Instrumental equipment improved. one Of the old
est Swiss observatores Is that at th' hospce OF 81
Bernard which is sl3o feet above sea Level All
other in Theodulc Pass IS lO925 feet up Ihis Il IN
extreme Southern Switzerland scarcely ten miles
west Of Monte Rosa. and an even shorter distance
from, the picturesque Matterhorn. The station on
sentis in the extreme northeastern corner OF the
republic has an elevation Of sos feet II Is scarcely
more than ten years old
Austria has been in a double sense a leader In The
movement for mountain observatories. The miners
of Hoch Obic in the province OF Carinthio con-
ducted careful observations AZ an altitude Of 1"41
feet for the thirty years beginning as far back as
1876 Subsequently the Government continued inc
work Then, In 1873 largely under the influence OF
DR. Ham OF Vienna. the international Meteorological
Congress formally proclaimed the desrabity OF
the establishment OF observing stations on noun
tain tops No additional observatory Of this sort
was erected in his own country however. until
about 1856 when Sonnblick a finely equipped sta
ton already referred TO- 1910 feet above sea level
went into operation. North Germany has in other
WAYS contributed largely TO weather science. but
has no very lofty mountains. There Is range be-
tween Prussan Sesa and Bohemia called the
Riesengebirge, containing peak known as the
schneekoppe. station was opened there about
twenty years ago This Is said to be SPAS feet w.
and consequently trife short OF the summit which
usually credited with a height OF 1888 feet There
is therefore. German observatory north OF the
Danube a full mile (52O feeU above the sea With
in the limits Of the German Empire, AS AT present
organized the only HIGHER thAn This Is the