THE EIFFEL TOWER. 733 



They are all worked by hydraulic power, and together are capable of 

 couveyiiig 2,350 persons in an hour to the first and second stories, and 

 750 to the summit, the whole ascent being effected in seven minutes. 

 If we include the staircases it will be possible for 5,000 persons to visit 

 the tower in the space of an hour. 



The tower is now known to the whole world ; it has struck the imagi- 

 oation of every nation, and inspired the most remote with the desire of 

 visiting the Exhibition. The press of all countries confirms this state- 

 ment, and I have myself received continual proofs of the universal curi- 

 osity and interest excited by the monument. 



The visitors who go to the top of the tower have beneath their eyes 

 a magnificent panorama. At their feet they see the great city, with 

 its innumerable monuments, its avenues, its towers, and its domes; the 

 Seine, which winds through it like a long ribbon of steel ; farther off, 

 the green circle of the hills which surround Paris; and beyond these, 

 again, the wide horizon stretching 112 miles from north to south. At 

 night the spectacle is no less beautiful. Paris with all its lights is like 

 fairyland, but in this aspect it has hitherto been known only to aeron- 

 auts, on whom its beauty has alwaj'S made a strong impression. The 

 construction of the tower will enable thousands to contemplate a spec- 

 tacle of new and incomparable loveliness. 



Then too for scientific and defensive purposes the gigantic monu- 

 ment will be of great utility. A recent writer, M. Max de ISTansouty, 

 says : 



" In case of war or seige the movements of the enemy might be ob- 

 served from the tower within a radius of 50 miles, and that above the 

 heights which encircle Paris, and on which are constructed our new 

 fortifications. Had we possessed the tower at the time of the seige of 

 Paris, in 1870, with the powerful electric lights with which it will be 

 furnished, who knows if the chances of the strife wouhl not have been 

 profoundly modified ? The tower would be a means of constant and 

 easy communication between Paris and the provinces by the aid of 

 optical telegraphy, which has in various forms attained such a remark- 

 able degree of ijerfection." 



The tower is itself at such a distance from the fortifications that it is 

 absolutely out of reach of the enemy's battery. 



It will be moreover a wonderful meteorological observatory, whence 

 the direction and the force of atmospheric currents can be usefully 

 studied, from the point of view of science and hygiene, as well as the 

 condition and the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the amount 

 of electricity and moisture it contains, the variations of temperature 

 at different heights, atmospherical polarization, etc. It is specially 

 adapted for an astronomical observatory ; for the ])urity of the air at 

 this great height above the low-lying mists, which so often cloud the 

 horizon of Paris, will allow of a number of observations often impossi- 

 ble in our climate. 



