xviii METEOROLOGY OF BEN NEVIS. 



But by and by it came to be recognised that as regards weather changes and 

 other problems of meteorology, a knowledge of the vertical variations which 

 take place in the atmospherical conditions is of the utmost importance. 

 Now, the only way we can arrive at this knowledge is by regular observations 

 made at stations which, while very near each other, differ in height as much as 

 possible. In 1875 Mr Thomas Stevenson, late President of the Society, pro- 

 posed to establish a series of stations, from the bottom to the top of some steep 

 mountain, in order to obtain such vertical sections of the atmosphere for calcu- 

 lating vertical gradients for atmospherical pressure, temperature, and humidity. 



In the meantime, High-Level Stations were being established in the 

 United States, Mexico, India, and the Australian colonies ; and on the Con- 

 tinent of Europe, in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and 

 Russia. But in this general movement in meteorological research Great 

 Britain took no part. 



In 1877 Mr Milne Home, then Chairman of the Council of the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society, pointed out the singular advantages of Ben Nevis as a 

 High-Level Observatory. It is the highest mountain in the British Islands, 

 rising to a height of 4406 feet above the sea; its summit is, in horizontal 

 distance, about 4 miles from a sea-level station at Fort- William ; and it is 

 situated in the track of the south-west storms from the Atlantic, which 

 exercise, particularly during the colder months of the year, so preponderating 

 an influence on the weather of Europe. These, and other advantages to be 

 afterwards referred to, offered by Ben Nevis as a High-Level Meteorological 

 Observatory, are therefore unique, and it was at once recognised that observa- 

 tions made there would prove of the greatest value to meteorology. 



For these reasons it was resolved to erect a permanent Observatory on the 

 top of Ben Nevis. Plans were prepared by Mr Stevenson in 1879, and offers 

 received from various contractors, but the want of the necessary funds pre- 

 cluded anything being clone at that time. 



The Meteorological Council of the Royal Society of London offered in 



1880, unsolicited, £100 annually to the Scottish Meteorological Society, to aid 

 in the support of the Observatory should it be established, the only stipula- 

 tion being that the Meteorological Council be supplied with copies of the 

 observations. 



Towards the end of 1880 Mr Clement L. Wragge offered to the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society to ascend the mountain daily during the summer of 



1881, and make observations at the top simultaneously with observations made 

 at Fort- William, the Society defraying the expenses connected with the work. 

 The offer was accepted, and from June to October of that year, simultaneous 

 observations were made without the break of a single day by Mr Wragge or 

 his assistant at the top, and by Mrs Wragge at Fort- William, close to the sea. 



