[Illustration]
At the second International Meteorological Congress, in 1879, the
erection of an observatory on the top of a high mountain was
considered. The Swiss Meteorological Commission undertook to carry out
the project, and sent out circulars to different associations,
governments, and private individuals requesting single or yearly
contributions to aid in defraying the expense of the station. In
December, 1881, an extra credit of about $1,000 was granted by the
Bundesversammlung for the initial work on the station, which was
temporarily placed in the Santis Hotel, and a telegraph was put up
between that place and Weisbad in August, 1882, so that on September 1
of the same year the meteorological observations were begun.
At the end of August, 1885, this temporary arrangement expired, and
the enterprise could not be carried on unless the support of the same
was undertaken by the Union. On March 27, 1885, the Bundesversammlung
decided to take the necessary steps. Mr. Fritz Brunner, who died May
1, 1885, left a large legacy for the enterprise, making it possible to
build a special observatory.
For this purpose the northeast corner of the highest rocky peak was
blasted out and the building was so placed that the wall of rock at
the rear formed an excellent protection from the high west winds. By
the first of October, last year, the building was ready for occupancy,
and there was a quiet opening at which Mr. Potch, director of the Blue
Hill Observatory, near Boston, and others were present.
The building is 26 feet long, 19 feet deep, and 30 feet high, and is
very solid and massive, having been built of the limestone blasted
from the rock. It consists of a ground floor containing the telegraph
office, the observers' work room, and the kitchen and store rooms; the
first story, in which are the living and sleeping rooms for the
observers and their assistants; and the second story, living and
sleeping rooms for visiting scientists who come to make special
observations, and a reserve room. The barometer and barograph are
placed in the second story, at a height of about 8,202 feet above the
level of the sea, whereas in the hotel they were only about 8,093 feet
above the sea level. The flat roof, of wood and cement, which extends
very little above the plateau of the mountain top, is admirably
adapted for making observations in the open air. All the rooms in the
house are ceiled with wood, and the walls and floors of the ground
floor and first story and the ceilings of the second story are covered
with insulating material. The cost of the building, including the
equipments, amounted to about $11,200.
The fact that since the erection of the Santis station there has been
a still higher station constructed on Sonnblick (10,137 feet high)
does not decrease the value of the former, for the greater the number
of such elevated stations, the better will be the meteorological
investigations of the upper air currents. The present observer at
Santis is Mr. C. Saxer, who has endured the hardships and privations
of a long winter at the station.
The anemometer house, which is shown in our illustration, is connected
with the main house by a tunnel. Several times during the day records
are taken of the barometer, the thermometer, the weather vane, as well
as notes in regard to the condition of the weather, the clouds, fall
of rain or snow, etc. A registering aneroid barometer marks the
pressure of the atmosphere hourly, and two turning thermometers
register the temperature at midnight and at four o'clock in the
morning.--_Illustrirte Zeitung._
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