NATURE 
UPPER AIR RESEARCH} 
“HERE are several ways of obtaining a knowledge 
of the free air: the observer himself may go up 
‘na balloon and take readings of his instruments; or 
he may send up recording instruments in a kite, a 
captive balloon, or a free balloon; in the latter case, 
he must take the chance of the balloon and the instru- 
ments being found after they come to earth. 
The first actually to use a kite for scientific pur- 
poses was Dr. Alexander Wilson, of Glasgow, who, in 
1749, raised thermometers by this means; he used 
several kites distributed along the line, and he says 
that on one occasion the top kite ‘‘reached an amaz- 
ing height, disappearing at times in the white summer 
clouds.” Three vears later, Benjamin Franklin made 
his famous experiment with a kite. 
Kites with thermometers attached were used in 
Arctic voyages in 1821, and again in 1836; and in 
1847 a kite was flown at Kew Observatory with which 
it was hoped to measure temperature and wind 
velocity. But these were isolated attempts, and it 
was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century 
that the method was systematically adopted. The 
modern exploration 
may be said to 
begin with the late 
Mr. Douglas Archi- 
bald, who saw all 
the possibilities of 
the method, though 
his own work was 
confined to observa- 
tions on wind velo- 
city. He was the 
first to use steel 
piano wire for kite- 
flying, and he was 
able thus to get far 
greater heights 
eas than was possible 
with a linds«. In 
1885, and the years 
immediately follow- 
ing, observations 
on electric potential 
were made by 
means of kites in 
Germany and in 
Eddy, in America, 
thermometers 
Fic. 1.—Kite-flying, Pyrton Hill, 
America. About 1890 Mr. 
devised a _ tailless kite, and raised 
by its means; but the great advance came 
when the box-kite, invented by Hargrave, of 
Sydney, was used instead of the older  pat- 
tern. Since 1895 the Hargrave kite, or some modifi- 
cation of it, has been almost exclusively used in scien- 
tific Ixite-flying. One of the pioneers of upper air 
research was Prof. Lawrence Rotch, of Blue Hill 
Observatory ; he adopted the Hargrave kite, and used 
steel piano wire in 1895, and in the following year 
he raised instruments to a height of Sooo -ft. The 
United States Weather Bureau was so impressed with 
the success of the Blue Hill kite flights that they 
organised seventeen stations, and hoped to make daily 
flights for the construction of synoptic charts at a 
height of a mile. The experiment failed owing to the 
light winds in summer, but a large number of observa- 
tions were taken extending over several months. 
From this time onward the work spread rapidly ; 
it was taken up by M. Teisserenc de Bort at his 
observatory at Trappes, near Paris; by Dr. Assmann 
in Germany; and subsequently by many others; it has 
1 From a presidential address delivered before the Royal Meteorological 
Society on January 21 by Charles J. P. Cave. 
NO. 2326; OL2193 | 
[May 28, 1914 
now become part of the ordinary routine work of any 
observatory that deals with the upper air. 
In this country, however, we lagged behind. It 
was not until 1901 that a joint committee of the 
British Association and of this society took up the 
work. Prof. Rotch had shown that it was feasible to 
fly kites from a steamship, and in the summer of 1902 
Mr. Dines, at the request of the joint committee, flew 
kites from a steamship on the west coast of Scotland, 
Fic. 2.—Kites (Dines pattern) ready for use. 
using a kite of his own, a modification of the Har- 
grave pattern. 
In point of time kites for meteorological purposes 
preceded balloons, but serious work began soon after 
the invention of thé balloon in 1783. In 1784 Dr. 
Jeffries made an ascent and took with him a_ baro- 
meter, a thermometer, and a hygrométer, besides 
bottles filled with water, which were to be emptied 
at various heights, 
ads cotked ~ up 
again to obtain 
samples of air. In 
1804 both the St. 
Eeeceisenr Ss) bw rs 
Academy and _ the 
French Academy of 
Sciences arranged 
balloon ascents for 
scientific purposes. 
Very remarkable 
were the experi- 
ments of Thomas 
Forster’ in 1800. 
He filled a number 
of small balloons 
with ‘inflammable 
gas,’’ and watched 
their movements; 
we must certainly 
look on him as the 
pioneer of pilot 
balloon observers, 
and it is strange 
that his method of observation was neglected for 
three-quarters of a century. 
In ‘the middle of the last century there was a con- 
siderable increase in the interest taken in the upper 
air. John Welsh, of the Kew Observatory, made 
several ascents in 1852, and used the aspirated ther- 
mometer for the first time. Then came Glaisher’s 
famous ascents, twenty-eight in all, some in a balloon 
made by Coxwell, a famous aeronaut, some in public 
balloons, in which Glaisher went as an ordinary pas- 
senger. Only seven ascents were specially high, and 
one on September 5, 1862, was the highest ever made 
Fic. 3.—Kite folded for carrying. 
_— 
