602 SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF ZIEGLER POLAR EXPEDITION 



OBSERVATORY AT TEPLITZ BAY 



At the Teplitz Bay station an observatory 2.6 meters by 2.6 meters and 1.8 meter high, 

 the floor being about one-half meter above the surface of the ground, was constructed of 

 undressed lumber some 130 meters northwesterly from the dwelling-house (see figure i of 

 " Section A" for sketch map showing its location in relation to balance of the camp). A small 

 vestibule protected the entrance. The roof was covered with tarred paper. For the work of 

 observation three shutters on hinges were built; two in the walls north and south of the 

 instrument and one running the length of the roof. An exterior view of this building is 

 shown in figure 3 (also in figure i of " Section C"). 



The pier for the Repsold Circle was built upon a large basalt boulder in an outcrop of 

 rock and was composed of bricks laid in clear cement and surmounted by a capstone some 10 

 centimeters thick and 60 centimeters square. The pier was approximately 1.3 meter high and 

 0.5 meter square. The elevation above mean sea level of the top of the capstone is 18.739 

 meters. 



A collimator, used also as an approximate meridian mark through the dark period, was 

 placed in the meridian north of the instrument and about 4.6 meters from it. This collimator 

 consisted of one of the small theodolites by C. L. Berger and Sons mounted on a rock and 

 cement pier. In the common focus of object glass and eyepiece were two closely spaced 

 vertical threads. This space was bisected by the middle thread of the Repsold Circle at the 

 beginning and middle of each time set. Illumination of the collimator was effected by a 

 bull's-eye lantern placed just back of the eyepiece. The collimator was protected by a wood 

 box resting on the basalt ledge, this box being covered, when not in use, by a cloth bag to 

 prevent the entry of the fine snow which was almost constantly driving during the winter. 



On the return of daylight (spring of 1904) a meridian mark was set up on the brow of 

 Cape Auk 6,640 meters south of the observatory. A bull's-eye lantern at the cape was lined 

 into the meridian in the evening by a prearranged system of rocket signals. During the first 

 year this mark consisted of eight empty wood boxes set one on top of another and guyed with 

 wire ; snow was dug away to a rock foundation and a milk tin embedded there to mark the 

 point. Later the boxes were replaced by a heavy plank. These marks appeared through the 

 telescope of the Repsold Circle silhouetted against the sky. 



Chronometer time was obtained while observing by means of a sounder connected with 

 the break-circuit siderial chronometer at the dwelling ; a hack-watch gave the hour and 

 minute, while a stop-watch served to identify the second at any time. Both mean and siderial 

 chronometers were kept at the dwelling in an insulated box, and were wound and compared 

 regularly each morning after breakfast. 



The illumination of the Repsold Circle in the usual manner through the axis of the 

 telescope was found to be defective. Accordingly a reflector, similar to those used in small 

 theodolites, was made of zinc ; this received the rays of light from a lamp placed near the wall 

 of the observatory and threw them into the tube of the telescope. For reversing the telescope 

 in the wyes in low temperatures a lifting device consisting of a two-pronged hook at the end 

 of a phosphor bronze wire operating over pulleys was resorted to. By this means it could be 

 suspended while the frost (condensation from the breath) could be removed from the wyes 

 and pivots. 



When the instrument was not in use it was covered, first, with a cone of cloth suspended 

 from the roof, and, later, by a box of heavy paper inverted over the instrument and resting on 

 the capstone. 



