Mountain Journeys 85 



by excessive vomiting, they seemed to have lost both strength of 

 body and strength of mind. But shame came to our assistance. I 

 drank the last pint of water and felt refreshed. Yet the pain of my 

 knees had so increased, that every 20 or 30 steps I had to stop until 

 its acuteness had diminished. My lungs did their duty with difficulty, 

 and my heart throbbed with violent palpitations. Finally, however, 

 but with a sort of apathy which barred joy, we reached the summit. 

 Six of my guides and my servants immediately threw themselves 

 down with their faces against the ground and went to sleep. I 

 envied their repose. 



The colonel suffered greatly from the reflection of the sun upon 

 the snow; he had neither veil nor glasses. 



Some weeks later, De Saussure, in his ascent of Mont Cenis, 

 September 28, 1787, again made very interesting remarks from the 

 physiological point of view: 



§1280. At our departure from the summit, where we had stayed 

 for two hours, I counted by my watch with a second-hand the pulse 

 rate of all those who composed our little caravan, and counted it 

 again on our arrival at the post-house of Mont Cenis: 



J. B. Borot, guide, above 112, below 100 



B. Boch, guide above 112, below 96 



J. Tour, guide above 80, below 88 



Tetu, my servant, above 104, below 100 



My son above 108, below 108 



Myself above 112, below 100 



Average above 104% below 98% 



It will be noted that Joseph Tour was the only one whose pulse rate 

 was higher at the foot of the mountain than at the top; that for my 

 son, the number was the same, and that the other four had a more 

 rapid rate on the summit, so that the average gives six beats per 

 minute more above than below, with a difference of about 4 inches 

 2 lines in the height of the barometer. There is this also to be noted 

 that after I counted the pulse rate on the mountain after a stay 

 amounting to a rest of at least two hours for the guides; whereas on 

 the plain, as they wished to leave, I had to count it a few minutes 

 after our arrival. 



What is still more remarkable is that when I separate those who 

 were nauseated (three of the four guides, whose names De Saussure 

 does not give, were nearly sick on the summit) from those who 

 remained well, I find that the average difference was 9V3 for the 

 first, and only 2% for the second. This observation confirms what 

 I have always believed, namely, that this discomfort partly resembles 

 a sort of fever, produced by the frequency of the breathing, which 

 quickens the circulation of the blood. And as for me, if my pulse 

 was a dozen beats more above than below, even though I felt no 

 discomfort, that is because I did not rest a single moment; I was at 

 work continually during these two hours; if I had rested like those 



