Popular Science Monthly 



401 



The observatory on Monte Rosa, the second highest summit of the Alps, is the loftiest 

 scientific establishment in the world, being nearly 15,000 feet above sea level 



A Scientific Laboratory Two Miles 

 in the Air 



SINCE the closing of the little meteoro- 

 logical * station which Harvard Uni- 

 versity once maintained at the top of El 

 Misti, Peru, and the destruction by Alpine 

 storms (perhaps aided by an earthquake) 

 of Janssen's famous solar observatory at 

 the summit of Mont Blanc, the loftiest 

 scientific establishment in the world is 

 probably the observatory on Monte Rosa, 

 the second highest summit of the Alps, 

 14,960 feet above sea-level. 



The Monte Rosa observatory is also 

 known as the Regina Margherita Cabin. 

 It is really an outpost of a much larger 

 establishment, situated at a lower altitude 

 on the same mountain (at the Col d'Olen), 

 and both institutions are called officially 

 the Angelo Mosso Scientific Laboratories. 

 They are maintained by international co- 

 operation, each cooperating country being 

 entitled to keep one investigator at the 

 laboratories for every 5,000 francs con- 

 tributed to the joint fund. 



To reach the Col d'Olen entails a ride of 

 several hours on horseback or muleback; 

 while the ascent to the observatory is a 

 mountaineering feat. The higher station 

 is habitable for only about two months in 

 the year — from July to September. 



Every summer a temporary telephone 

 line — the highest in the world — is laid to 

 the summit. Its construction and main- 

 tenance require great skill and courage. 

 Many of the poles are set up in the shifting 

 ice and snow of the glaciers. 



Khaki Has Been Used for Uniforms 

 Since 1848 



WHAT is the origin of khaki? To 

 whom are we indebted for it ? 



It was first adopted in British India, in 

 1848, by Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden, who 

 had been asked to equip a corps of guides 

 to collect intelligence and to conduct an 

 English force on the northwestern frontier 

 of India. The cloth used was a light 

 cotton drill, as suited the climate of Hin- 

 dustan, and took its name from a native 

 term, "khaki," which means in the Urdu 

 language, "dusty," being derived from 

 "khak" or dust. Thus the term applied 

 to the color of the cloth rather than to the 

 material. Though the dictionary tells us 

 it is pronounced kaykee by the natives, 

 the English have given it to us as kharkee, 

 and this is the correct pronunciation. 



Having been approved, the use of the 

 cloth spread from the guides to others 

 in the Indian army, and it was worn in 

 the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 by the English 

 troops. In the Boer War, 1899 — 1902, 

 khaki was adopted in the British service 

 for an active service uniform, and so worn 

 by all English and colonial troops in Africa. 

 But as cotton was not warm enough for the 

 African highlanders, uniforms of the same 

 kind were made of serge, and the term 

 khaki thus included woolen as well as 

 cotton fabrics. Because it was well fitted 

 for the climate of Cuba and the Philippines, 

 the United States chose khaki for the 

 soldiers' uniforms during the Spanish- 

 American War. 



