Abstract
THE project of establishing a meteorological and astronomical observatory on the summit of Mont Blanc has, under the care of M. J. Janssen, of the Meudon Observatory, made considerable progress during this year's summer months. It has been decided to use the snow itself as a foundation on which to rest the building. That this can be done with security was shown by some experiments carried out at Meudon last winter. A miniature mountain was made of snow pressed to the same density as that which is found on Mont Blanc at a depth of one or two metres below the surface. This being made level at the top, discs of lead 35 cm. in diameter, and weighing each about 30 kgr., were placed on the snow, one upon the other. After twelve of these had been piled up, with an aggregate weight of 360 kgr., they were removed and the depth of the impression measured. It was not more then 7 or 8 mm. Thus a structure measuring 10 m. by 5 m. might safely weigh 187,000 kgr. without sinking into the snow more than a few centimetres.
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d'A, E. The Mont Blanc Observatory. Nature 47, 204 (1892). https://doi.org/10.1038/047204a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/047204a0