The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-02-15
PARISH CITY OF
MANY IN FLOODS
FOTty-six Serious Risings Of
the Seine Since 1892.
THREE EXCEPTIONAL ONES.

Hose to 2S.9 Feet in 1ooo-7oW Flooo
Predictions Are Multiplication
of the City.
Paris has had SO many floods that
the scientists and expert watchers Of
the Seine have classified them and d.
yfded them into three groups, accord
ing to the height of the water regis
tered ON the gauges. 1t was on this
system for forecasting foods was
worked out, in 1854, and it has been
In use ever since, SO the city authori-
ties of Paris knew two weeks or more
ago of the calamity that was In store
for them.
Since the daily readings Of the flow
OF the Seine at Paris and other points
were begun, in 1882, there have been
forty-six floods counting the present
one. According to the classification by
height, thirty-one of these were 'ordi-
nary twelve extraordinary" and
three Exceptional" the exceptional
ones being those of 174O, 1902 and 1910.
In the century preceding 1892 there
were five devastating foundations Of
the city, that of 1868 being the worst
ON record until the present time.
There is no record of what the Seine
did previous to 1852, but the natural
conditions have been the same since
long before the history of France be-
gan, so the little lie de la Cite, which
was the beginning of Paris and on
which the Cathedral of Notre Dame
was consecrated in 1882, must have
been many times submerged. When
Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 1851
B. G. the PARISH were a small tribe
settled on the island In the middle of
the Seine, and they called it Lutetia.
Constantius Chorus, a Roman emper-
or. who had his residence there In the
year 293. called it "his dear Lutetia,"
which may have been the beginning of
ssthat dear Paris" But there were no
quays and retaining walls then, so the
future lie de la Cite must have been
flooded after every torrential rain in
the valleys of the Seine and its chief
tributaries above Paris, the Marine and
the Yonne
Famous Buildings In Floods Course.
Most of the famous structures dam
aged or threatened by the present
food antedate the beginning of the
food records of Paris in 1649 by many
years, in some cases centuries. The
Jardin des Plantes, which was the first
institution to feel the effects of the
present rising, Is on the lower left
bank of the Seine, near the entrance Of
the river within the city limits. AL
though botanical garden, it includes
a museum of natural history and a
geological collection. The Jardin des
Plantes was founded In 1885 by Guy
de la Brosse, physician to Louis XIII,
and was originally nothing more than
a collection of medicinal herbs. The
celebrated Button was appointed di-
rector of the Jardin du Roi, as it came
to be called in 1889, and he extended
its sphere by founding collections in
every department of natural history.
In 1903 the royal menagerie was trans
Notre Dame, ON the lie de la Cite,
the famous walls of which have been
washed by many foods, was founded
in 1853 on the site of a church of the
fourth century and was consecrated in
1882, but the nave was not completed
until the thirteenth century. The
foundation stone was laid by Pope
ut hot ftxc 90
In France. In 1893 Notre Dame was
converted into the temple of reason.
The sculptures were mutilated and the
statue of the Virgin replaced by one
of Liberty. The orgies of which the
church became the scene led to its
being closed the following year. In
1895 it was restored to the Catholics.
@ Rendezvous of Wolf Hunters.
The Louvre, the basement of which
is flooded, is supposed to derive its
name from an ancient rendezvous Of
wolf hunters, known as the Louverie.
The beginning of building on this site
was in the time of Philip Augustus,
who lived in the latter part of the
twelfth century. But the present
structure was not begun until the
reign of Francis l., 1515-47.
The occurrence of high floods at
Paris is due, as rule, to the concen-
tration of the rainfall at certain peri
DDS of the YER and not to high aver
age for the whole Year so most of the
foundations have pome- In the winter,
helped along By the melting snow.
Floods of the Seine present a mixed
character owing to the torrential ma
fure of its tributaries, the Yonne and
the Marine, which, with their high
floods. exercise predominating In
fiuence on the foods of Paris. AS the
torrents from the farthest parts Of the
basin take only three or four days to
reach Paris, whereas the hoods of the
tranquil affiuents only arrive four OF
five days later, great food at Paris
is rarely the result of single fall
OF rain, Generally a high food is
caused by the arrival Of a second tor
rent from the rapidly flowing tribu
taries before the long continued floods
OF the slower branches have time II
Aubside All of the highest floods are
produced by this combination Of tor.
rents of different origin.
Exceptional Floods.
M Lemoine has divided the food Of
the Seine at Paris into three classes,
denOminating floods which rise be-
= n a. - =.