The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-26

eAsent passed away.
 The story of the establishment of this observatory is interesting. It is now about 35 years since Uriah H. Borden died and left seoo,000 to the Harvard uni versity, with the understanding that the money was to be used to build an observ- aiory at the best place upon earth for the study of the stars The college au- thorities first tried Colorado and Cali fornia, and then came 10 South America Their first work was done back of Lima, at an altitude of about that of Mount Washington on what is now called Mount Harvard; but in 1890 they changed their station to Areauipa. The change was nis de because this place was thought to have more clear days and clear nights than any other locality on earth Since tEen the astronomers lf the university have been working here right along and that not only st the observatory, but at the automatic meteorological station which they have placed on the top of Mount M:sti
 Mount Misu is 1s.200 feet high, and this station is said to be the highest of it's kind in the world. It Is higher than any point in America outside Alaska, and 1t Is fully mile higher tnan our observa- tory on the top of Pikes peak The site of the station is on the edge of huge crater. which until lately has been send ing out clouds of yellow sulphurous vapor a thousand feet into the air. These clouds Fave now stopped and am told that the Nc lcano has been splitting out water and steam. No one knows what this may pcrtend. The automatic instruments on the mountain are keeping a record of me- neurological movements and the scientists visit them at intervals and bring back the results.
 The machines work with great regular ity. but sometimes the mountain is so l, covered with snow and at other times visited by terrible winds, so that there may now and then be a break Prof. Bailey. who established the station, had great trouble in getting the Indians to help him up the volcano with the in- struments, and it took large number of mules to carry the material At the top he found an iron cross standing and at this the Indians fell down and wor- shipped.
 l wish I could take you over the trip I made up the Andes from Mollendo to Arequipa. The country is more dreary and wilder in aspect than that above Lima. We rode for miles without seeing a blade of grass or anything green We passed over great beds of sand, walled with bluffs that had been ground so
 
 showed forth. We passed travelling sand hills, great crescents or dunes. made by the grains of sand rolling over and over up the hill until they reached the top of the crest and rolled down the inside Fur ther on the sand had cut into the rock of the mountains, making great cracks in it hke the Wrinkles on an old womans s face All the erosion here comes from the winds. There is no rain whatever and nevertheless the rocks in many places are ground to a powder
 Further on up the railroad the Andes grew wilder and we seemed to have reached the very heart of old Mother Earth. Everything was rock, and there was not bit of green to be seen There was no soil. Indeed, it seemed as though the skin of vegetation and life had been peeled from the earth, and that we had our great rocky ball before us as it was before plant life or animal life had sprung into being
 At the same time, the scenery was magnificent. The air is so clear here that you can see for miles, and the clouds painted velvet spots on the hills Toward evening the sun tinted the mountains with the most delicate blues, pinks. law enders and mauves, and the whole looked hke a mighty picture in colors, instan- taneously sketched by the hands of the gods AS we started out we could see the ocean rolling it's spray high on the peach, and at the close of our tourney the moon was just rising over the snow or the mountains above old Areuuipa ihe whole formed a panorama such as I nave seen nowhere else. and such as I venture can be seen nowhere else in the