Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 59.djvu/303

Rh work. As regards location, the Blue Hill Observatory thus occupies a unique position among the meteorological observatories of the world.

Two secondary stations, at altitudes above the sea of 50 and 200 feet, respectively, at the base of Blue Hill bear the same relation to the main observatory that the base stations bear to the higher ones in the most completely planned European mountain observatory systems; while the Weather Bureau station at Boston and the neighboring Harvard Observatory meteorological station offer the advantages of representing the adjacent country.

Just as Dr. Wild set a pattern for Europeans to copy, so Mr. Rotch has given the United States a model observatory which it will be no mistake to use as a pattern in the future development of observational meteorology in this country. It seems to me that every possible precaution

has been taken in the placing of the apparatus and in its convenient manipulation. The instruments and apparatus are of good construction and well adapted to the work required. The personnel of the staff could not be improved; certainly not in this country and probably not abroad. The true scientific spirit prevails at the observatory, and I have found there the same distinctive atmosphere which marks the Russian observatory at Pawlowsk. There can. be no doubt but that the Blue Hill Observatory is the most successfully conducted meteorological observatory in America, and its work will compare favorably with that of European observatories of the highest class.

Some may wonder how it was possible for this observatory to have such a good start, reach such a high state of development within a brief space of time, and avoid those errors of organization and management