12 MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORIES IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. 



and on kites will do away with the necessity for a great number of 

 mountain stations. A given amount of money expended in securing 

 such observations will, without doubt, produce the maximum of useful 

 result. 



It is important to remember that observatories on high mountains, 

 as at Etna, must either be abandoned altogether during the winter 

 season or, if occupied, the observer must be subjected to extremely 

 trying conditions and to some danger from terrific storms of wind, 

 snow, hail, from lightning, etc. The discomfort and monotony of such 

 a life, subjected to very low temperatures and surrounded by clouds 

 and snow for long periods, will unfit an ordinary individual for making 

 the best use of the few clear days which an alpine winter presents. 



Telephone and telegraph lines cannot be maintained in working 

 order under such conditions without taking extraordinary precautions, 

 and there must be days and weeks together when travel between the 

 summit and the valley is shut off.* 



Some of the material hindrances in the case of mountain-stations are : 



1. The great expense of erecting suitable and safe buildings at such 

 sites. The cost of building (M. Vallot's observatory) on the flanks of 

 Mont Blanc was $74 per cubic metre. 



2. The large cost of maintenance. 



8. The difficulty in arranging for an adequate water-supply. 



4. The great expense for freight. Transportation to the summit of 

 Mont Blanc costs 2.50 francs per kilogramme, or about 23 cents per 

 pound. Even at Mount Hamilton light parcels (food, etc.), delivered 

 daily, cost 1 cent per pound ; and heavy freight hauled from San Jose, 

 as occasion serves, costs $8 per ton. 



5 Forest- Fires. — Observers upon mountains in the United States 

 frequently report that the smoke from distant forest-fires is a great 

 hindrance to their work. The transparency and purity of the sky are 

 greatly affected by the smoke from a large fire, even if it is quite dis- 

 tant. Such hindrances will continue to be felt until the United States 

 and the several States adopt a rational system of forest conservation. 

 The waste lands are occupied by sheep-herders, and fires are deliber- 

 ately set by them so as to insure a better crop of grass for the next 

 season. In more settled regions, as near Mount Hamilton, forest-fires 

 are usually the result of carelessness and accident, but they are 

 frequent. 



6. Snow- Blindness. — Snow-blindness is a severe and sudden attack of 

 inflammation of the eyes. A few hours' use of the unprotected eyes 



* Even on Mount Hamilton we have been without any communication with the 

 valley for a week, and without stage communication for three weeks. And 

 Mount Hamilton winters are a bagatelle to the summers of Mont Blanc. 



