20 MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORIES IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. 



"When the images were of class c it is obvious that few measures 

 would be made. It is not necessary nor perhaps practicable, to deduce 

 a numerical estimate of the average observing weather at Nice during 

 this period for comparision with that at other observatories. It is 

 obvious that the conditions are excellent, and distinctly better than 

 at most observing stations. 



Under good circumstances the transparency and purity of the sky at 

 Nice are remarkable. If the disc of the sun be hidden by a screen there 

 is no "glare" in the field even close to the point of tangency. For a 

 time this transparency was lost, during the time of the Krakatoa erup- 

 tion and the red sunsets, but it appears to be the normal condition. 

 M. Thollon remarks (vol. ii, p. E. 23) that the great comet of 1882 

 was seen by day from Mont Gros. 



Mont Mounier (8993 feet). 



The observatory of Nice, which was built by the gifts of M. Bis- 

 choffsheim, has an annex on the summit of the mountain le Mounier, 

 2741 metres (8993 feet) in altitude. The annex consists of a stone 

 cottage for lodging the observer and his assistant, a metallic dome some 

 24 feet in diameter, covering an equatorial telescope of 38 cm. (15 

 inches) aperture, and a wooden store-house. The station is equipped 

 not only for astronomical observations, but for meteorological as well ; 

 and it is connected by telephone with the neighboring village of Beuil. 

 M. Perrotin describes the astronomical conditions as of the best. 



Proposed Observatory on Mont Meige (Alpes dauphinoises) 



(13,000 FEET). 



It is proposed (December, 1894) to erect an observatory upon this 

 high peak. I have no further information regarding it than the 

 mere announcement. 



Observatories, etc., on Mont Blanc (15,780 feet). 



This is not the place to give even a resume of the interesting history 

 of Mont Blanc. It is necessary to confine this section to a bare recital 

 of the main facts which bear on the question of its suitability for astro- 

 nomical and meteorological stations. 



So far back as 1760 the naturalist De Saussure oiiered a prize 

 for the discovery of a practical route to the summit (15,780 feet), but 

 it was not until 1786 that such a route was found by Balmat, the 

 guide (and the ancestor of a family of guides). 



In the next year De Saussure himself made the ascent and spent 

 several weeks on the flanks of the mountain. Since that time many 



