ALPINIST OF THE HEROIC AGE 565 



tried to make this visit a scientific one. He secured extremely valuable 

 collections of the earthworms, beetles, centipedes, dragon-flies, butter- 

 flies, ants, moths, scorpions, Crustacea and the ferns and lichens of the 

 greatest altitudes. He was a man who knew just what was worth col- 

 lecting, and brought back numerous totally new species. He was able 

 also to collect quite a number of unusual ornaments, weapons and 

 implements made by the tribes of prehistoric days, and choice speci- 

 mens of volcanic rocks and dust. He had the good fortune to be on 

 the top of a near-by mountain at the time of an eruption of Cotopaxi; 

 he saw its very beginning and observed its progress; and has left us 

 admirable notes of the phenomena. 



His observations on mountain-sickness led him to conclude that it 

 was caused by diminution in atmospheric pressure, operating in at least 

 two ways : by lessening the value of the air that can be inspired in any 

 given time, and by causing the air or gas within the body to expand 

 and to press upon the internal organs. In the second case, the effects 

 may be temporary and pass away when equilibrium has been restored 

 between the internal and external pressure. 



The publication of his work on Ecuador was recognized by the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society, which made him a fellow, and gave him the 

 "Patron's Medal." The Eoyal Society of Edinburgh made him a 

 fellow and the Italian King made him a Knight of the Order of 

 St. Maurice and St. Lazare. Honorary memberships in geographical 

 and mountain-climbing clubs of Europe and America were thrust upon 

 him. 



His experiences in South America convinced him that the aneroid 

 barometer was unreliable at high altitudes, and he published a work on 

 " How to Use the Aneroid Barometer," 1891, and succeeded in causing 

 important improvements in the construction of this instrument. 



His extensive observations of glaciers led him to attack those who 

 claimed for glaciers great powers of erosion. He considered them of 

 secondary importance to the great forces of expansion and contraction 

 in the breaking-down of rock structures of the mountains. He con- 

 ceded that glaciers carried down large quantities of material, but would 

 not concede that they created much of this material. Everywhere he 

 went he set down interesting geological observations. 



Whymper's reputation as a mountaineer put him in demand for 

 articles on the Alps. In 1896, at the instance of John Murray, the 

 London publisher, he gathered a great quantity of information into a 

 "Guide-book to Chamonix and Mont Blanc" (206 pp.). This book 

 soon became the standard of its kind. It has had an immense sale, 

 reaching its fifteenth edition in 1910. In 1897 Murray brought out 

 Whymper's " Guide Book to Zermatt and the Matterhorn," which is, if 



