Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-09-12
WORLDWIDE KITE-FLYING.
Scientists In Many Places Exploring
the Regions Of the Upper Air

cans-would do well to become profess
sional meteorologsts. These are about
the only people In the world who make
1t pay to send tandems OF kites as far
into the air MS wind and string will per-
NIT. They play with toy balloons, too.
These delivers into the secrets OF the
atmosphere have been enjoying a field
day during the worldwide experiments
That have been going on these last few
weeks In exploration OF the upper air,
Out at Mount Weather in the Virginia
hills, where the United states weather
bureau maintains a station that Ia free
from disturbances of noise and dust and
the wandering electric currents which
work the mischief with delicate instru-
ments In the city; at Blue hill ohserva-
tory. near Boston, run privately by A.
Lawrence Rotch: at Oxhott, England;
Trappes, France: Guadalaj lara, Spain:
Strassburg, Hamburg apd Lindenburg,
Germany Mt Simla. india. the highest
inhabited place in the British empire: at
warsaw In Russia: aboard the German
steamship Zieten and on private yacht
or the Azores. at Zurich. Switzerland,
where the interna tional commission on
aeronautics has been launching almost
innumerable sounding balloons-in these
various places young scientists have
been having the time Of their lives, send
ing M great Lamson and Hargrave kites
IN general effort to lenrn something
about the air currents in the vast regions
above the trade winds. All these meteor
ologists have been working In harmony.
They constitute, in fact, the greatest wind
trust ever organized.
There Is abundant room for them to
make discoveries In their chosen field Of
investigation. Their science is still, 80
to speak. very much up in tho air. The
most emirYnt intercollegiate readily con-
TESS their Ignorance regarding many
things which tho layman who has stud
led little physical geography In the
high school has always supposed settled
Such a problem, even, az that of where
the atmosphere ends has not been au-
thoritatlvely settled. In older hook. We
used to be Informed that there Is a def
inte height at which the air stops and
aerial space begins. Some writer's pic
tured an atmospheric surface similar 10
the surface of the ocean and actuated
with vast waves
Now the meteorologists concode that
they don't know anything of the kind
ON the contrary the tendency Is toward
view that the air just thins Off. grow
Ing more and more attenuated the far
Their one goes from the earth This
View conforms with the new conception
Of the sun as brought out by one OF the
worlds most famous astro- physicists.
/ loCtured last winter before the Washing
ton Philosophical society and who prov
cd with learned array OF mathematical
tables that the sun has no definite sur
face, It's circular disk being an optical
Illusion. but just fades off into space into
every direction so that. strictly speak
ing. Mercury. Venus, ourselves. Mars nd
the other planets arc all In the sun So
that there may be film Of thin air all
the way from here to the moon and be-
yond. At all events. hydrogen seems to
be escaping Into space all the time.
There are many other mysteries con-
nectcd with the earth's air which need
special study by trained scientists. The
greatest difficulty is that Of adequate
| preparation for tho work. II has long
been one of the cherished hopes of Cleve-
land Able professor of mathematics in
the Weather Bureau. who for many years
has given courses in the graduate school
OF the George Washington University.
formerly Columbian University, that there
may he esta blished in connection with the
university an !mpor&ant school of meteor
1 olory. The supply OF young men conf
| petent to enter the service of the Weather
| Bureau is very limited A few untvers-
| ties and scientific schools have clemen-
| tary courses IN meteorology but there
| are no opportunities for advanced study
except in Washington. There has been
no time for some years when the Wea Their
| Bureau has not had use for the services
of larger number Of expert meteorolog
| lists than |, can possibly command.
| THIS lack OF suitable candidates for very
desirable positions in the governmental
| service Is likely to be made up before
| long. The growth Of graduate work at
Gorge Washington University, especially
after the university has been relocated
| In more extensive plant and with added
| prestige. will be certain TO attract stu
dents Of this important science Professor
| Ahbe has from time to time had advanced
| pupils generally from the governmental
| bureaus, but the dearth Of facilities for
| elementary instruction has up to this
/ time stood In the way Of the development
OF serious research study.
--ean,ime. the kte-fying experiment.
| that are now going on arc OF character
| TO illustrate specifically the fascinations
| of the meterologst's work. is no about
| thirteen years since scientific kite dying
was first developed by William A. Eddy
OF Bayonne, ny. Most OF the kites at
| present used are of the familiar box pat
tern: one, the Hargrove, an Australian
| invention the other, the Lamson, invent
| cd by C. II. Lsmson OF Portland, Me-.
! Each of these has It's peculiar uses and
the two arc frequently employed in con-
| junction. The ascending kites bear me-
teorographs, receptacles which contain
various scientific apparatus. There Is. Of
course, an alcohol thermometer. A hy-
| sroscope shows how moist the atmos-
phere Is during the kites flight A bar
| ometer indicates the height reached and
substantiates calculate made trigono-
historically at the station. An thermometer
tells how fast the wind blows. These kites
Of the weather bureau experts and thtr
associates are frequently sent up to
heights exceeding three miles.
The delightful but serious pastime Of
the metoroloGists Is not confined to kite
| flying. From many Of the stations at
which these experiments have been con-
Quoted bursting balloons have been sent
up. These also bear recording Instruments
| After they have reached certain height
they burst and the Instruments picked
up sometimes miles away from the
station record the height reached and
various other facts They sometimes
reach an altitude OF ten miles. 1t is