Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-19

Cdlleu MOUNT HaTNar0. In lSJO tney
changed the station to Arequipa, and have
since made this one Of the great scientific
centers OF the world. Arequipa is 1850 feet
above the sea and II has more clear days
and nights, II Is said, than any other place
on earth. There are about nine months OF
the year there when the sky is perfectly
clear. You people who pride yourselves on
beautiful skies and glorious sunsets will
not know what the words mean until you
have visited South America. These are
especially fine at Arequipa. which has in
addition the advantage Of being south OF the
equator, at one of the best points for view
ing the southern heavens.
There is, you know, nothing duplicated
in the sky, and there are here wonderful
stars and consultations which we never see.
The milky way south OF the equator Is far
more brilliant than 1t Is in our heavens, and
there are many other different stars with
different movements. You have all heard
OF the Southern Cross, which my friend, DR..
Talmage, says looks TO him like the hand
writing of God on the face OF the sky. I
don't think much of 1t. II is a measly
cross at best. There are only four stars
in IL that are not at at all bright, and you
have to look hard to find them. There are,
however, wonderful things outside of this,
and the best observations so far made in
recent years OF the southern heavens have
been made by these Harvard scientists. They
have four great telescopes at hrequipa,
which night after night through the nine
clear months of the yea are pointed al
the stars. Connected with each of these
telescopes is a Photographic apparatus which
records the movements of such stars as the
scientists wish to study, and which by fine
machinery move along with the stars until
their images and those OF their surround
ings are registered on the Photographic
plate. The Bruce telescope, for instance
is, / believe, the largest of its kind in the
world, though / am not sure of this. l,
has a lens twenty-four inches in diameter
and gives photographs on plates fourteen
by seventeen inches in size. took a look
through the Bruce telescope during my
visit to the observatory. The tube of the
instrument must weigh more than a ton
but 1t is SO delicately hung that a child
could move 1t. 1t runs by a clock and 9
heavy weight. The chief part of the work
done at the observatory Is photographing
the heavens. Five Photographic instru-
ments are kept going, and about fifty plates
are made every night. Last year more than
5 900 plates were exposed and developed.
The negatives are shipped at once to the
University of Harvard at Cambridge and
are there used for study and scientific work.
They are kept on file there and form q
wonderful astronomical library of the south
ern heavens. Through this observatory
Harvard college has the best advantages OF
the world for astronomical research. Thu
scientists of Cambridge are always watch
ing the northern heavens, but they cannot
see much below the equator. The Arequipa
observatory takes in the whole sky from
the equator to the south pole, the two giving
a complete view of the heavens.
Highest station of the World.
Within the last few years the Arequipa
astronomers here have established a station
on the top of Mount Misti. This mountain
is one Of the highest of the Andes. 1t lies
Just back of Arequipa, standing out against
the horizon almost alone in its grandeur, its
top kissing the sky at an altitude of 10, 200
feet above the sea. 1t is. some thousands of
feet higher than any point in America, and
is a full mile higher than our observatory on
Pixies Peak. 1t is by more than $500
feet loftier than any other scientific
station of the world. The site of the sta
ton is on the edge of a huge crater. which
now and then sends clouds of yellow sui
Dlulouo NdIol a thOuodlu lttl l lIt all
Mount Misti is an extinct volcano, but is
not dead, and it may at any time break out
into eruption. At this great altitude, nearly
four miles above the sea, the Harvard men
have now the finest scientific Instrument
for registering the conditions of the atmos-
phere, the velocity of the winds, the pressure
of the barometer and other conditions. The
instruments are, of course, automatic, run
ming for three months without hpinp
touched. No one could live at such an alti-
tude, and the scientists go up only periodi-
cally to get the records and rewind the in
struments. AS it is. the trip is a very hard
one. Some of the men get soroche, or noun
tain sickness, and many men cannot make
the trip at all. The observatory has other
stations on the sea near Mollendo, on the
high plateau where l now am, and at Cuzco
the famed capital Of the Incas, which is a
little more than 100 miles from Lake Tit
caca. The founding of this wonderful work
was done by Prof. w. H.. Pickering and
Scion /. Bailey of Harvard, the most of the
stations being established by the latter
Prof. Bailey has just returned to the United
States. and the observatory and it's sta
tions are now in charge of Mr.. w. b.. ely
mer of Ohio and Mr.. De Lisle Stewart o.
Minnesota. These young astronomers have
contracts to remain here for five years. The
position is not a bad one by any means. The
observatory is situated 500 feet above the
city of Arequipa, overlooking the irrigated
valley of the Chilli river, which produces tn.
richest of crops the year round. The home
of the observatory is most comfortable, one
Of its chief attractions being Mrs. Stewart
little blue eyed baby, a few months old, borr
in Peru, which is as pretty and as health,
as any baby you will find north of the
equator.
Across the Pnmpns of the Andes.
There are three mountains back OF Are,
quipa, which are higher than any point IL
the United States outside of Alaska. Noun
Charcani is higher than Mount MIST, ant
as you leave the desert and ascend to thu
lofty plateau you get a glimpse of Coru.
puno, which is 90, 500 feet above the sea
Mount Misti's snowy summit Is in sight fol
hours, and | watched the fieecy clouds fly
ing about and below it, sitting in my over
coat on the rear platform of the car. We
left Arequipa in the early morning, and a
IL o'clock stopped at the station of Punti
de Arrieros for breakfast. This station il
more than two and a half miles above tn,
sea, lit consists of a few stone huts thatcheC
Vta -.-, -- $780, --I-