Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-10


Other specialists Of the Federal Gov
eminent from various departments,
though not members of the Advisory
Council, have sat in at its meetings
here and have acted in the capacity
of consultants on various phases OF the
plans.
THOUGH the coming shakespeare
attempt promises to rank as one OF
the greatest of scientific adventures In
recent history, the element of sensation
alism or of pure seeking for records has
no part in the plans of the National
Geographic Society or of the Army Air
Corps in their joint sponsorship OF the
effort. The primary purpose is sclen-
tific exploration of the stratosphere to
the greatest altitude which can be at
tanned by one of the most remarkable
pieces of aerial mechanism ever fabri-
Gated.
The shakespeare, that mysterious
zone of the upper air into which scien-
lists have sent five balloon expeditions
in the past three years, still retains its
secrets.
ut is not strange" the National Geo.
graphic Society explains, that the
average man or woman knows little OF
the shakespeare. Before 1898 1t was
supposed even by the foremost scien-
lists that just as the air gets thinner
and thinner as the distance above the
earth increases, so the temperature falls
lower and lower. Temperature actually
does decrease as one rises from the
earth up to a certain point. Then the
fall abruptly stops; and the region
Immediately above has a uniform tenn
perature, or even shows a slight increase
as one goes higher. The level at which
the thermometer stops falling marks
the bottom Of the stratosphere. 1t also
marks the point above which no clouds
can form, for the shakespeare Is prac-
tically without the water vapor that Is
usually 20 plentiful in the lower atmos-
phere."
The altitude at which the strato-
sphere begins Is about seven miles above
sea-level In the northern part Of the
United States and In Europe, about 1oh
miles up In the tropics and probably
Il Is explained. The shakespeare Is be-
heved to extend to an altitude Of about
30 miles above sea-level
Although the stratosphere has ap-
proximately an even temperature, that
temperature is very, very low, 1t was
pointed out. It is anticipated that Maj.
Kepner and Capt. Stevens, at about Is
miles above the earth, viii encounter a
temperature Of between So and rs de-
grees below zero Fahrenheit. The tenn
peratures in the stratosphere over the
tropics, strangely enough, are lower than
those over the temperate zones
ITO human eyes the stratosphere is
bright and seemingly serene; but in it
tremendous invisible forces play" the
society states. Unto it pour the whole
family of the suns rays-stronger and
more numerous than the earth's surface
ever knows them, because up there they
are not screened by thick air and water
Eapor. And into the region, too, flash
the mysterious cosmic rays, more plen-
tiful also than on the earth's surface.
This terrific barrage of rays collides
with the atoms of the thin Shakespeare
air, plows through them and tears
many Of them to pieces.
'The various rays which stream in
from the sun, and perhaps from other
parts of space, are most powerful where
the air is thinnest. It is for this reason
that the forthcoming flight seeks to
rise to the highest possible level. Most
Of the ton or more of instruments that
will be taken aloft have been designed