Twenty Years on Ben Nevis Being a Brief Account of the Life, Work, and Experiences of the Observers at the Highest Meteorological Station in the British Isles

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Not much is known about the life of William T. Kilgour, apart from the fact that in the late nineteenth century he spent two decades as an irregular member of staff at the meteorological observatory on Ben Nevis. In 1905, a year after the observatory closed due to lack of funds, Kilgour published this account of his experiences, including some of 'the more outstanding incidents inseparable from an existence spent at such an altitude', both as a chronicle of life on the mountain and to encourage the public to support the reopening of the observatory. The text is illustrated with several photographs of the striking natural surroundings as well as images of the meteorologists working and relaxing at the inhospitably located station. The result is an accessible and charming record of scientific life on Britain's highest peak around the turn of the century.

Contents

Preface

1. Impressions
2. The observatory
3. Work of the observers
4. The commissariat
5. Adventures
6. Records
7. Ceremonials on the summit
8. Accidents
9. Phenomena
10. Storms
11. Prospect
12. Winter and summer pastimes
13. Extracts from the visitors' book
14. Some entries from the log
15. Fauna and flora
16. Troubles, physical and otherwise
17. Mountaineers
18. The closing of the observatory

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