MOUNTAINS. 
^viiich they had ordered to be constructed 
at Pierre Rondo, 7,808 feet above the ievei 
of the sea ; they passed the night at tliis un- 
comfortal)le elevation, and proceeding in 
the morning, tliey reached the hitherto de* 
cided boundary of researeii, the dome of 
Ooutf’, there a fresh fall of snow lay in so 
great a depth as to prevent the possibility 
of wading through it, and the party return- 
ed. M. de Saussure imagined he had as- 
cended to 8,S56 English feet, and he found 
that the barometer sunk eighteen inches 
and a half. The guides, those hardy sons 
of tile Alps, were not deterred by the. hard- 
ships endured on the.se occasions, and six 
once more entered upon an unsuccessihl 
ascent in July 1786; James Balraa, a young 
man of great strength and possessed of an 
excellent constitution, one of the numher, 
having missed his way in wandering upon 
the ice, was under the necessity of passing 
the night on a spot above the dome, this he 
accomplished in safety, and in the morning 
he had the resolution to examine the moun- 
tain, in order I o ascertain whether a more 
favourable patli might not be discovered 
for a.seendlng on any future occasion ; the 
result was according to his wishes, and he 
descended to Chamouny without accident, 
where he was afflicted with a very severe 
indisposition, the united effects of ex- 
treme cold and fatigue. Dr. Paccard, a 
resident physirian, attended Balma during 
iiis illness, to whom he related his observa- 
tions on the practicability of ascending 
Mont Blanc, and offered to attend him on 
his recovery as a mark of gratitude for tliat 
event; Paccard inspired by the hope of per- 
forming a task not iiitlierto accomplished 
accepted the proposal, and they departed 
from Chamouny on the 7th of Augirst, they 
reached La Cote before dark, and passed 
tlie night there, at three the following 
morning they recommenced their danger- 
ous excursion, ascended to the dome of 
Gont6, and at length arrived on the ridge 
of rocks seen from Geneva on the left of 
the summit ; when there the cold became 
almost intolerable, and their fatigue was 
such that Paccard was inclined to return, 
but Balma encouraging him by example 
and persuasion, he followed the courageous 
guide, each walking sideways to avoid, as 
much as possible, tlie pku cing effect of the 
wind, at six in the evening they accom- 
plished their wishes, and stooil with triumph 
on a pinnacle never before visited by man ; 
they remained half an hour on the summit 
exposed to a degree of cold which fioze 
VOL. IV. 
the provisions tliey carried in their pockets, 
and the ink in their inkhoriis. The diffi- 
culties of descending were almost as con- 
siderable as those they experienced in the 
ascent, but they returned to Chamouny 
without any other unpleasant occurrence 
titan blistered faces, swelled lips, and eyes 
injured by the brilliancy of the snow. 
M. de Saussure determined to follow 
this successful example, hired eighteen 
guides, provided a tent, matrasses, philoso- 
phical instruments and provisions, and left 
Chamouny to ascend to the summit of 
Mount Blanc on the IStli of August 1787. 
In order to render their expedition as safe 
and comfortable as the nature of it would 
permit, he had tlie precaution to have a 
hut constructed on La Cote, where the 
party jiassed the first night ; by four o’clock 
in the afternoon of the following day they 
bad ascended 1^,762 feet above the level 
of the sea, and at that vast elevation they 
excavated a hut in the fiozen snow, wliicli 
they covered with a tent, in this they re- 
galed tliemselvcs as well as they could, but 
M. de Saussure found the heat of the place 
so excessive, that lie was frequently ob- 
liged to leave it to recover from the debi- 
lity and suffocation he experienced; at 
seven o’clock tlie next morning tlie party 
proceeded on their enterprize, and at 
eleven they reached the object of fiieir 
hopes the top of the mountain ; there, lost 
ill wonder and admiration at the variety 
and extent of the view on every side, this 
adventurous band remained three hours and 
an half during which time they did not ex- 
perience that extremity of cold felt by Dr. 
Paccard and bis companion. 
M. de Saussure pursuing his intentions 
with that sagacity and method that distin- 
guishes the genuine philosopher, had sta- 
tioned M. Senebier at Geneva who made 
similar experiments in that city at the same 
moment that the former was employed on 
Mont Blanc, by these means he found, that 
at Geneva, Reaumur’s thermometer stood 
at St, 6 or 82 of Falirenheit’s, and on the 
mountain in the shade at 2 ^ below the 
freezing point of the former, or 27 of the 
latter, a difference of 45 degrees by Fahren- 
heit. De Luc’s barometer when on the 
mountain fell to 16.0 and at Geneva it 
stood at 27.2 ; and by making experi- 
ments with the same instrument, he calcu- 
lated that the spot on which he made them 
was 15,662 feet above the level of tlie sea 
agreeing almost exactly with the amount 
ascertained by Sir George Sluickbureli 
N n ■ 
