Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1907-09-06
Colder Than IcebergS.

Colder Than ICebergS.
Life IN the obseI vatory on the sum
nit of Mont Blanc is even frostiel
than on an Arctic expedition. The
observatory was founded by Pierre
Jansen, the French physicist, il
1893, and since the first ascent of the
mountain in 1856 temperature above
freezing was never recorded there un.
til last year, when for a few minutes
temperature of 9 degrees centigrade,
or about sc degrees Fahrenheit, was
observed.
The observatory is generally occupi.
ed from about the beginning OF June
to the end of September. These are
the utmost limits at which men could
live there. The work is both astro-
nomical and meteorological.
Last year important observations
we're made on Venus and Jupiter.
Jansen himself, though 50 and lame,
used it when it was first erected to
study the effect of the atmosphere on
the solar spectrum.
One of the greatest drawbacks to
the work is the stream of tourists in
July and August, who expect to have
everything shown to them regardless
of the loss of time to the men of
science.
One of these, W. de Fouvielle, in a
recent account of the work on the
mountain top dwells on the courage
that it takes to spend weeks and
months amid the monotony of the
snowfields and glaciers. The mental
depression Is all the harder to fight
on account of the physical conditions,
to which 1T is very difficult to become
accustomed.
AT that elevation human beings are
tortured by an .unceaslng thirst, due
to the rapid evaporation of moisture
from the body. On the other hand.
the appetite almost entirely disap-
pears.
AT first all the system can stand is
a few glasses of warm tea daily, with
plenty of sugar and pulverlzed milk
in 1t. Resource to alcohol is alb
solutely forbidden. Spirits of all
sorts are found to be exceedingly
harmful.
When the men begin to get aecIi-
mated. diet principally made up of
meat is foRnd to be best. The meat
is carried up from Chamounix and
frozen in order to insure Its preserva-
tion.
1t is stored in the cellar of the OBJ
servatoIy, where the temperature
ranges from . to degrees Fahren-
heit. Canned or preserved meat is
never used. 1t is found to be too
trying to the digestive powers in that
region.
The meat is for the most part boil
ed. Green vegets bles are :eaten With
it to prevent scurvy Cor similar dis
orders.
The process of cooking is far more
tedious than at ordinary levels. As
water boils far below 212 degrees, it
takes four or five times as much boil
ing to render the food fit to be eaten
as it does in ordinary places.
The scientific men who spend their
summers at the observatory have tc
live in Arctic clothing. They spend
day and night III an atmosphere al
freezing point. 1t is true that the
building is warmed with fires of GOA
and wood. But it is only warmed al
80 degrees Fahrenheit. The moisture
from the breath of the inhabitants
condenses on the walls IN a thin coat
ing of ice, and icicles depend from
the ceilings and beams and Iintels
When it gets little too warm the Ice
melts and there is veritabIe rainfall
in every room.
The observers gradually learn to bt
comfortable at 80 degrees. They take
off their gloves to handle the more
delicate. instruments. They sleep il
bags and keep their health. WheI
they go home for the winter they
don't feel the cold. their scientific
work is, besides, generally recognize
ed as compromising for all they en-
dure to accomplish it.
Harsh physics react weaken thu