80 



The mere statement of the number of hours which the 

 sun shone is exceedingly misleading, as the sun appears and 

 disappears above and below the mountains at quite different 

 times to the hours of sunrise and sunset for these latitudes, 

 and this difference cannot be estimated by people living at 

 a distance. A few observations each month as to the sunrise 

 and sunset, so that the percentage of the possible duration 

 could be given would add immensely to the value of the 

 figures, but this simple thing, which could so easily be 

 done, was officiall}'" discouraged by the Swiss Meteorological 

 Bureau. I therefore give a rough estimate of the percentage 

 of possible duration. 



Water. 

 I have on a previous occasion spoken about the time of 

 snow melting, and should like at some future time to enter 

 fully into it, as there is no doubt that many make unfor- 

 tunate choice as to the time they leave and the place to 

 which they go, but there are various dangers here during 

 the snow melting time, some of which might be mitigated. 

 One ver}'- important consideration is, how the drinking 

 water is collected. After suffering for a long time from 

 stomachic derangements, whicli had disappeared upon several 

 occasions on leaving Davos for a few days, I unexpectedly 

 found the explanation. For the purpose of washing some 

 microscopic preparations, I added a drop of drinking water, 

 and was surprised to find that this contained a large number 

 of fine particles of stone, and then putting on a higher 

 power the water was seen to be swarming with bacteria. 

 This led me to examine the way that the water was collected, 

 which was in a small wooden reservoir higher than the 

 hotel, but only about 100 metres distant, and instead of 

 being collected from a spring directly issuing from the rock 

 it is led under the earth for a short distance, in such a 

 manner that the water from the grassy slopes above can 



