The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-07-15
OBSERVATIONS TO COMMENCE TO-DAY Results of Certain Experi- ments That May Make Meteorology an Ex-
 act Science,
WILL BE MADE
 IN MANY COUNTRIES
It is Hoped to Formulate Rules That Will Make Weather Forecasting
 Certain.

1lyQe RdrKI .MdSS.y July 14.-blueIllll Observatory, the pioneer American in- stitution for the study of meteorology will be the scene, next week, of the most extensive kite flying experiments ever held in America. The experiments will be made simultaneously and in conjunction with similar flights, either bytxites or balloons to be made at more than twenty other stations throughout the world. The phenomena of the up- per air will be studied and especial at- tention given to cloud mountains. The object of the experiments is to make meteorology an exact science and to formulate rules, if possible, that will permit the forecasting of the weather with as much certainty and accuracy as the forecasting of astronomical events.
 The experiments at Blue Hill will be under the personal direction of Abbott Lawrence Botch, a a-wealthy Boston man who founded the observatory some twenty years ago and who has since maintained 1t at his own personal ex- pense. Mir Rotch Is a member of the French Legion of Honor and has been decorated ythe German Emperor With the Order of the Crown for his achieve ments in the science of meteorology. The experiments here will be held in conjunction with similar observations throughout Europe and Asia, while some of the observers will begin on the morning of Monday, July 22, and will continue until Saturday night, Juy 2. The work throughout the word is done unde~ the auspices of the International commission of scientific aeronautics, with headquarters at Strassburg, Germany. The results of the observations will be tabulated and sent to Strassburg for comparison. The comparisons will be under the direc- ton of Professor H. Hegesell of Strass- burg, who is president of the interna- tional commission.
 At only one American observatory, outside of Blue Hill, will observations
 
 bureau observatory at Bluemont, Va, established about year aog for me- teroroligical work will participate in the experiments. Among the other stations where observations will be made are Trappes and Paris, in France; Oxhott, in England; Guadalajara, in Spain; Zurich, in Switzerland; Strassburg, Hamburg and Lndenburg, in Ger many; Simla, in India; Munich, in Ba- varia, and Warsaw. in Russia In ad dition, the Prince of Monaco will send up balloons in very high northerly al- titudes, the German steamer Zieten, will investigate high atmospherlcal conditions at sea between Iceland and Norway and also in the latitude of the Hebrides. The French navy is sending a ship to the Azores for similar work, while the yacht Otaria, owned jointly by Rotch and Teisserene de Bort, a French scientist, will investigate the regions of the trade winds and Dold- runs.
 The observationas at each of these scattered stations will determine four clements namely, the velocity of the wind, the temperature, the humidity
 
 is the most important of the three and Is useful only insofar as it determines the altitude at which the observations are made.
 All of the observations taken at Blue Hill will be by means of an instrument known as the meteorograph, which will be attached to the first of a series of kites. As Blue Hill is situated near the sea, balloons cannot be sent up from that summit, experiments having shown that high attitudes in this To- caiity westerly winds prevail, thus driving the balloons out to sea where they and their attached recording in- struments become lost. Therefore, at this point only kites can be used.
 Tn meteorograph is an ingenious con trivance, constructed of aluminium and weighing only two pounds. It is rect angular In shape and contains a cyl finder, operated like clockwork, which makes one complete revoluation every twelve hours. Fountain pens are at- taced to levers connecting with the in- struments that determine the wind ve- locity, humidity, temperature and at- rnospherie pressure, and the pens rec ord the observations on a chart that enciroles the revolving cylinder
 How high the kites will be sent will depend entirely on the condition of tht weather. At Blue Hill flights have been made as high as three and a half miles into the upper air, while the average ulSnt IS aDouL mile anC half. During the coming experiments 1t Is hoped to exceed the average, and perhaps equal the maximum flights.
 The kites are immense affairs of the box pattern. They vary slightly ir size, but exert so tremendous a pulling force that in high wind they vii easily lift 100 pounds and at all times they are wound in with steam wind. lass. Plano wire is used for the "kitt twine"
 Mir. Rotch and the entire Blue Hill staff are manifesting intense interest IT next weeks observations and they con fidently expect that the concerted ac. tion on the part of the worlds meteor. ologists will result in the great enrich ment of the science.