14 MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORIES IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. 



I am informed by those who have lived among the Indians of the 

 high Sierras of Chile that they are entirely exempt from mountain- 

 sickness, and, in fact, that they do not appear to experience any incon- 

 venience whatever from the thin air of great elevations. It is very 

 noticeable that their chests and the upper part of their bodies are dis- 

 proportionately large, and their lung-capacity far greater than ordinary. 

 Europeans do not, however, acquire immunity by long residence. 



8. Finally, the physical condition of persons living at high altitudes 

 is best described in the words of M. Vallot as "diminished living." 

 De Saussure says of his experiences on Mont Blanc that at the summit 

 he could not accom]3lish in four and a half hours the work he had 

 been used to do in less than three hours at the base. This is a kind of 

 numerical measure of the falling off of ability. 



A long experience in such residence or in mountaineering habituates 

 one to the new conditions more or less, and the " living " is " dimin- 

 ished " in a less degree. The effect remains, however, and must be 

 reckoned with in arranging for the occupation of high stations. 



Devoted men can always be found to undergo necessary hardships 

 in the pursuit of scientific truth. If the scientific results do not justify 

 the exposure, we no longer admire the effort as devotion, but blame it 

 as f oolhardiness. 



Following this introduction is a series of chapters dealing with the 

 high-level meteorological and astronomical observatories of Euroj)e, 

 North America, and South America. In these chapters the subjects 

 treated in the introduction in a general manner are again considered, 

 more minutely, in connection with the particular conditions which 

 subsist at the different stations. The main scientific and practical con- 

 clusions to be drawn from the facts here brought together are very 

 plain and obvious. 



Briefly they show the necessity for a careful examination of the 

 sites proposed for an astronomical, or meteorological, observatory 

 before a final choice is made. They prove that while some mountain- 

 stations present great advantages for astronomical and astrophysical 

 observatories this is by no means the case for all. And they point out 

 that the more frequent use of balloons, etc., in meteorology is likely to 

 result in a rapid advance in our knowledge of the jjhysics of the 

 atmosphere, and to do away, in a great degree, with the need for 

 permanent meteorological stations at high levels. 



It appears that different researches require different conditions. 

 All would be best done at a station where both steadiness and trans- 

 parency were absolute. But some can be very well performed under 



