Evening star., 1935-05-12

| Not ~ AIN - RGShhs he ] Al
POLL, OR MARCO POLO SHEEP
BY GEORGE W. GRAY.
A MONG the feats of the Byrd
| ~ Antarctic Expedition, per-
! ~ haps the one that has ap-
4 4 pealed most directly to the
| imagination of the public, is
the admiral's solitary vigil in the
farthest-south station. The whole
expedition represents an isolation.
But Byrd's long Winter alone in the
tiny snow-buried hut. tending the in
struments. reading the observations,
recording the changing aspects Of ma
ture in that outlandish desert of ice
and blizzard and darkness-this en-
phasizes the role of self-imposed Rob-
inson Crusoe that the scientist some
times assumes.
1t is rare that one must needs with
draw so completely from the world.
Even Robinson Crusoe had his man
Friday, and the modern observer in
the most remote outpost generally has
an assistant, or even stan. Often
wife accompanies her husband, and
sometimes children are included-but
whatever the group, it is a life apart
that they live in this absorbing pur-
suit of new knowledge
Consider, for example, an establish
ment recently set up in Egypt by the
Smithsonian Institution. 1t is on the
peak of Mount st. Katherine, In the
Sinai Peninsula-a rocky land whose
valleys are as arid as its mountains.
a place where rain seldom falls. where
the noon sun is rarely tempered by
cloud-a windless. dustless. lifeless
mountain in a desert. These quail
ties, which no real estate promoter
would consider mentioning, are pre-
cisely the qualities needed for solar
observatory.
Suns Energy Measured.
The Smithsonian is interested In
the daily measurement Of the energy
poured out by the sun. and for more
than 20 years has been accommodating
such data Its North American OBJ
servatory is on Table Mountain, in
the Mohave Desert of California. Its
South American observatory is on
Mount Montezuma, in Chilean iso-
lated station, but easily reached by
few miles travel from the village
of Calama. But sometimes the skies
are cloudy both in Chile and in Cali
fornia on the same day, which means
q gap in the sequence OF observations.
1t was felt that as check the
sun should be recorded from a third
station, preferably site in the Old
World, and after canvass Of various
mountains and trial in the Hotten-
tot land of Southwestern Africa. this
high and dry place in Egypt was
found. The site was occupied in De-
cember, 1888, and since then the
steady stream of records pouring into
Washington has confirmed the wis
dom of its choice.
Five persons are living in that rock
dwelling on the mountain-the di-
rector, H. H. zodtner and his wife
and two small children, and an as
sistant, F. A. Greeley. Their only
neighborS are the Greek monks of
st. Katherine's Monastery, 10 miles
distant. All food has to be brought
from Cairo, by boat down the Gulf
Va 0uCL w tllC Slldll 1GCo oSd ROlt VI
Tor, thence by camel two or three
days journey to the peak. Visitors
are rare. Occasionally the monks
drop in for a neighborly call, once in
a while Bedouin climbs the steep
trail to safe his curiosity, and always
there is the radio-occasionally an
international broadcast brings in an
American voice.
Magnetism Another Study.
The Mount St. Katherine Observa-
tory is dedicated to the sun and its
fluctuations. Down on the western
plains Of Australia, not far from the
eternal drumbeat Of the Indian Ocean,
is another American outpost of re-
search-but this one is dedicated to
the magnetic needle and its gyrations
Why does the compass point true
north in some places and differently
in others? Why does this variation
change from time to time-a per-
petual shifting like a series of zig
zags on the face of the globe? Why
does the intensity of the earth's mag
netism pulse irregularly, being weaker
at times, suddenly strong at others,
always flighty and uncertain?
1t was the pursuit of such questions
that caused the Carnegie Institution
of Washington to plant this remote
station on the Australian plains. 1t
is IL miles from the post office of
Waterloo. $4,000 miles from WASH
ington headquarters and 5000 miles
from the South Magnetic Pole. Two
American observers, with five Aus
tralian assistants, live there far from
the turmoil of crowds and clamors
and economic stresses and strains.
What a place to write book or COM
pose symphony or gather together
ones life!
Many nations are alert to the prob
lem Of terrestrial magnetism and its
a