A SCIENTIFIC WONJUER.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 168, 4 September 1886, Page 8

A SCIENTIFIC WONJUER.

iWHAt,jiwill;be< ( the highest observatory &** Europe is now being erected ; ,onM theSonnblick, one pf the heights of that portion , xot the Tyroleee Alps theJhigheßt summits of • which are the Groseglockner, the Wiesiajach- ■ uhorn and the Hohe Narr.;- .{<■ i<, J f m ] .! sThe SQhnbliek (eun<glance)<i9.a mopntaiiL.40,000 feet, hight^lts summit is! less difficult .ot access than those of- some- of its neighbours, . and ,ifca .aqitablenees iot, the erection ? of an .observatory was first pointed ou(j rto) meteorologists by-Mr <Rojacher, a gentleman owning "the Rauriaer Goldberg, •whose ,pr,ivate - and , mines" are situate on\thq< slopes of the Sonnbliok, at a-beightpf about 5,000 feet. , From this spot a wire rqpeway t used chiefly for the pur--tpoaes of the mines, but also practicable for passengers, leads up to«a height of nearly 8,000 feet. Here a house has been. erected for about, twenty miners, whp reside there .also during winters - Thence the Bummit of the Sonnblick is reached by an easy ascent over a glacier in three hours. .The descent over this, glaoier may; be .made in low sledges in fifteen .minutes. 5 ' (l h ,The observatory now. being erected on the summit, which looks like a black spot > .when viewed from the , Kauris -valley, from which the Sonnblick rises like a precipitous wall 3,000 feet high, will consist of a blockhouse, flanked by a massive stone turret forty feet high., To guard iftgainat the frightful storms raging, xound the summit, the walls of the tower have been made . of an enormous thickness, and. the ■■ blockhouse ,is strengthened" .by beings anchored to the rock by steel wire cajbles. , Wpod haß been chqaen f or. the construction , off the houee, because it , keeps out, cold better than Btone, the cold being most in- - tense in midwinter in that exposed poeition. r ;; . The house contains two living rooms — one for the resident observer, the other for such scientific men as may ascend during favourable weather with a view of , carrying on their experiments. The walls of the house are panelled inside with wood, and covered, neatly outeide by wood, shingles. The tower— the r observatory proper— will befitted with all the instruments' used in meteorological science. As there is great danger to the building from the terrific thunderstorms which rage round the eummit, the observatory is protected not only by three ligntning-rods, but also by a light-ning-proof fencing. The solitary resident observer, who has chosen to exile himself from civilisation for the best part ef the year is one of the miners permanently residing in the miners house 8,000 feet above sea level, who is now undergoing a course of instruction in meteorology. But he will not be cut off entirely from intercourse with his kindred, for he will be able to keep up communication by telephone with the miners' house 2,000 feet below him, whence another telephone .wire fifteen miles long leads to Kauris. From the latter ploce his daily observations will be telegraphed to Vienna and the scientific world generally. Sonnblick Observatory will be known in future as a meteorological station, situate at a higher elevation than any in Europe. — higher than those on Mount the Pic dv Midi (Pyrenees), and the Santia(canton of Appenzell).— "London Times/