VOSGES MOUNTAINS (Wasgan, Vogeeen), a chain of mountains bounding the valley of the Rhine on the west from the neighbourhood of Miihlhausen to that of Mayence. The chitin is partly in France, and partly in the Ithenieh province of Bavaria, and in the territory of Hesse Darcoatadt in Germany.
The Vosges unite on the south-west with the Ramifies, and so with the Cbted'Or, and ultimately with the COvennes ; and on the south , they unite with the offsets of theJura. Caesar calls the range Vosegus, and evidently Included the Faucilles under the name, since he places in them the source of the Mesa, or Mouse, which is far westward of the Vosges in the present more limited acceptation of the name. The Vosges extend more than 170 miles from the depression through which the IthOne-and-Rhine Canal passes, between Mort and Altkirch, to the valley of the Rhine, at the elbow formed by that river between Mayence and Bingen. The breadth of the range varies. In tho northern part, about Mont-Tonnerre, It is nearly 30 miles ; but this breadth comprehends the lower slopes as well as the higher perta of the range. West of Strasbourg, between the valleys of the Rhino and the Sam., or Sarre, tho breadth is about 20 miles. Between Colmar and Plombieres, where a branch extends westward from the principal range, the breadth is nearly 40 mile.. Another branch extends in a south-western direction from the southern extremity of the main chain in the direotiou of VesouL The loftiest summits of the range are in a tolerably direct line, extending from Mont-Tonnerro, in tho Rhenish province of Bavaria, to the Ballon-d'Alaace, near Giromagny, iu the department of Haut Rhin in France ; and in a line extending nearly at right angles to the foregoing, from the Ballon-d'Alsace towards Plornbibres. The following are some of the principal summits, with their respective heights in feet :—Ballon-de-Lure,3721 ; Ballon-de-Servance, 3070 ; 11.11 Ion .d'Alsace,
4121—e1l near the sources and upper waters of the Moselle and Oignon : Ballon-de-Sottltz, or De Ouebwiller, 4605; Le-Ilaut-d'klonec, 9391; Les-Chaumes, 4203 ; Lo-Breasoir, 4019, near the source of the Meurthe ; Le-Champ-de-Feu, 3537, near Schlrmeck; Le-Grand-Donnou, 3314, at the source of the Saar, or Sarre; Mont-Totinerre, 2924.
The part of the range which is north of the valley of the Brucho is sometimes termed or Lower Vosges, and is known to the Germans by the name of Uardt. The Rhino slope of the Vosges consists of a succession of steep declivities, and the valleys on this side the range are deeper than those of the west side, where n slightly undulated surface gradually descends into the plain of Lorraine.
The highest summits of the Vora s are comprehended in triangularapace, of which the apex may he fixedat Schirmeek, in the valley of the Bruche, in the north-eastern corner of the department of 'Vosges, and the angles of the lase at PlombitNres, in the department of Vosges, and Masvanx, in that of Haut-Rhin. In this triangular space the rocks are eristalline, intermingled with sedimentary formations belonging to the transition series. They comprehend granite, gneiss, mica-slate (but in small quantity), sienite, porphyry, serpentine, taleose-slate, clay-slate, grauwacke, granular and compact limestone, and the forma tions of the carboniferous group. They ordinarily present rounded summits, called by the inhabitants of the district or balls. They abound with springs and with deposits of peat, which are met with at various elevations. The transition rocks appear but rarely beyond the limits of the space defined above.