Evening star., 1903-07-04

wood coated with tar and gravel and plant
ed in cement The bodies of the buildings
were built of wood, but ordinary nails
could not be used because magnetic. Hence
wooden pegs were substituted where poSsi-
bic and elsewhere copper nails were
driven. When it came to hinges and such
hardware 1t was found that those on the
market alleged to be brass had iron parts.
Solid brass fixtures therefore had to be
made to order. The buildings were thus
completed, but as cool weather is bound
to creep around, stove was seen to be
necessary for the heating of the office
apartments of each structure. wood
stove of soapstone slabs was designed but
this did not prove satisfactory. 1t was
replaced by a copper-covered stove lined
with firebrick.
Visitors Inspected.
The employees of the stations have to
have special clothing. No buttons. buckles
or other parts made of iron or steel are
permitted in the buildings. Shoes with
steel nails or springs are tabooed. Even a
watch with steel adjustments or a steel
pen point will have it's effects in disturb
ing the instruments.
Visitors at the buildings undergo such an
ordeal as is eXacted by the customs off,
cials-more strict, perhaps. They are care
fully inspected before entrance, and those
wearing shoes with steel nails must doff
them and approach the sacred presence of
the magne tometers, declinometers and
other "ometers'' after the fashion of the
Mussulman when he drops his sandals at
the doorway of the mosque. Ladies with
steel stay-ribs offer a delicate problem 1t
is said that anaemic employees are preferred
because of the dearth of iron in their blood,
and that men with steel gray eyes are not
wanted.
The Maryland station is the most impor
tant and most completely equipped of the
series. Its instruments are to be used as
the standards and those of the other OBJ
servatories will be regularly corrected
thereby DR.. L. A. Bauer, inspector of
magnetic work. coast and geodetic survey,
has charge of the entire investigation. Pri-
vate magnetic observatories in several uni
versities and Other institutions of a pri-
vate character will cooperate in the re-
search
The magneticians in charge of the sta
tions and their employees are, In these 1so-
lated stations, shut out from the gayeties
of life. The Maryland station is on the
grounds of the state reform school. mile
and a quarter from the railroad and ad-
jacent to a village of a half dozen houses
and two churches. The Sitka observatory
is close to one of the old Russian ceme-
teries, and is near an Indian village. The
Hawaiian station is in the midst of
coral plain used as a cattle ranch, ana IS
two and one-half miles from the nearest
village But a railroad nearby runs direct
to Honolulu twenty miles distant. The
Porto Rfcan observatory occupies old Fort
Isabel on Vieques Island. The Kansas sta
ton was formerly an incubator building,
operated by a Baldwin poultry raiser. The
last two stations are being occupied but
temporarily.
Trolleys the Great Foes.
The isolation Of the stations was seen to
be necessary when DR.. Bauer considered
the havoc which electric power and light
ing establishments have wrought at prac-
tically all foreign magnetic stations. An
electric car line five miles away will affect
magnetic Instruments having the delicacy
of those adopted for stations. Eng
lands two principal observatories, at Kew
and Greenwich, have been affected by the
London electric car lines. The Kew station
is to be moved to a site on their ac-
count Nearly every magnetic observa tory
in France has suffered from the electric
lines and it's principal institution Of the
kind has been removed The Belgian and
Austrian governments have on the same
account been obliged to select new sites for
their principal stations The Dutch OBJ
servatory at Batavia was recently aban-
doned because of the electric cars. But
imperial William has, after his fashion
taken the bull by the horns in Germany
and has issued a decree forbidding the
disturbing trolley from encroaching nearer
than sixteen kilometers upon his principal
observatory at Potsdam. But this action