3-071-290 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ben Nevis Summit Observatory, 1883. Engraving from photographs by Mr. P. Macfarlane. '1. The Lake. 2. The Hut. 3. Thermometer Screen and Cage. 4. Rain-Gauge, Barometer-Cairn, Screen, &c. 5. Barometer. 6. Mr. C. Wragge and his Dog Renzo. 7. General View looking E.N.E. During three seasons of summer and autumn, and on many days of winter, Mr. Clement Wragge, acting under the auspices of the Scottish Meteorological Society, has personally conducted a valuable series of atmospheric observations...[He] has made the ascent four times a week...the usual conditions on the Ben have been cold, thick cloud-fog, drizzling rain, or a biting and raw wind that caused hands and fingers to swell, so that there was the utmost difficulty in registering the observations taken...In spite of all difficulties and drawbacks, however, the observations have been made continuously and regularly for two hours daily. They include readings of the thermometer, barometers, clockwork hygrometer, rain-gauges, dry-bulb thermometers and radiation thermometers, and taking note of the wind, the clouds, the ozone tests, and the Angus Smith tests for the actinism of light...observations of the rain-band by Browning's spectroscope have also been an important feature of the work'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.