IMAGINEMONMARTRE

PARIS, the capital of France and the department of Seine, situated on both banks of the Seine, 233 m. from its mouth and 285 m. S.S.E. of London by rail and steamer via Dover and Calais, in 48° 50' 14" N., 2° 20' 14" E. (observatory). It occupies the centre of the so-called Paris basin, which is traversed by the Seine from south-east to north-west, open towards the west, and surrounded by a line of Jurassic heights. The granitic substratum is covered by Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary formations; and at several points building materials - freestone, limestone or gypsum - have been laid bare by erosion. It is partly, indeed, to the existence of such quarries in its neighbourhood, and to the vicinity of the grain-bearing regions of the Beauce and Brie that the city owes its development. Still more important is its position at the meeting-place of the great natural highways leading from the Mediterranean to the ocean by way of the Rhone valley and from Spain northwards over the lowlands of western France. The altitude of Paris varies between 80 ft. (at the Point du Jour, the exit of the Seine from the fortifications) and 420 ft. at the hill of Montmartre in the north of the city; the other chief eminence is the hill of Ste Genevieve, on the left bank. Since 1840 Paris has been completely surrounded by a wall, which since 1860 has served also as the limit for the collection of municipal customs dues (octroi). Proposals are constantly being brought forward to demolish this wall - which, with its talus, is encircled by a broad and deep ditch - either entirely or at least from the Point du Jour, where the Seine intersects the wall below the city, to Pantin, so as to extend the limits of the city as far as the Seine, which runs almost parallel with the wall for that distance. Within the wall the area of the city is 19,279 acres; the river runs through it from east to west in a broad curve for a distance of nearly 8 m.

Paris has a fairly uniform climate. The mean temperature, calculated from observations extending over fifty years (1841-1890), is 49° 8 F. The highest reading (observed in July 1874 and again in July 1881) is 101 ° F., the lowest (in December 1879) is - 14°. The monthly means for the fifty years1841-1890were: January 35° 9, February 38° 3, March 42° 3, April 49° 5, May 55° 6, June 61°. 7, July 64° 6, August 63° 5, September 58°. 2, October 49° 8, November 40° 2, December 36°. 6. The Seine freezes when the temperature falls below 18°. It was frozen in nearly its whole extent from Bercy to Auteuil in the winters of 1819-1820, 1829-1830,1879-1880and 1890-1891. Rain falls, on an average, on about 200 days, the average quantity in a year being between 22 and 23 in. The rainfall from December to April inclusive is less than the average, while the rainfall from May to November exceeds the average for the whole year. The driest month is February, the rainiest June - the rainfall for these months being respectively 1.3 in. and 2.3 in. The prevailing winds are those from the south, south-west and west. The general character of the climate, somewhat continental in winter and oceanic in summer, has been more closely observed since the three observatories at different heights on the Eiffel Tower were added in 1889 to the old-established ones of the parks of St Maur and Montsouris. 1 The observatory at the old church-tower St Jacques (16th century) in the centre of the city, and since 1896 a municipal establishment, is of special interest on account of the study made there of the transparency and purity of the air. There are barely loo days in the year when the air is very clear. Generally the city is covered by floating mists, possibly 1500 ft. in thickness. During the prevalence of north-easterly winds the sky is most obscured, since on that side lies the greatest number of factories with smoking chimneys

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