7 degrees, we found the dew point at 24
degrees. The air contained only 16/100ths of aqueous vapor.*
[footnote] *For the particulars of this observation, see my 'Asie
Centrale', t. iii., p. 85-89 and 467; and regarding the amount of vapor in
the atmosphere in the lowlands of tropical South America, consult my 'Relat.
Hist.', t. i., p. 242-248; t. ii., p. 45, 164.
The accurate observers K??mtz, Bravais, and Martins have raised doubts
during the last few years regarding the greater dryness of the mountain air,
which appeared to be proved by the hygrometric measurements made by Saussure
and myself in the higher regions of the Alps and the Cordilleras. The
strata of air at Zurich and on the Faulhorn, which can not be considered as
an elevated mountain when compared with non-European elevations, furnished
the data employed in the comparisons made by these observers.*
[footnote] *K??mtz, 'Vorlesungen uber Meteorologie', s. 117.
In the tropical region of the Paramos (near the region where snow begins to
fall, at an elevation of between 12,000 and 14,000 feet), some species of
large flowering myrtle-leaved alpine shrubs are almost constantly bathed in
moisture; but this fqact does not actually prove the existence of any great
and absolute quantity of aqueous vapor at such an elevation, merely affording
p 335
an evidence of the frequency of aqueous precipitation, in like manner as do
the frequent mists with which the lovely plateau of Bogota is covered.
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