88 Historical 



impulses of anger; our tempers were noticeably worse; hunger 

 appeared more disturbing and more imperious; but on the other hand 

 our appetites were more easily satisfied and digestion seemed to take 

 place more rapidly than on the plain. Moreover, it seemed to my 

 son and me that in our work and our observations relating to 

 physics, our minds were noticeably freer, more active and less easily 

 tired, I will even say more inventive, than on the plain, and I hope 

 our readers will find the proof of it in the report of our occupations 

 during these seventeen days. (Vol. IV; p. 315-318.) 



In his trip around Monte Rosa he also describes the distress felt 

 by animals. On August 14, 1789, he was on the glacier of Mont 

 Cervin (glacier Saint-Theodule) : 



2220. The mules, which were sinking in the snow up to their 

 girths, were unloaded; yet it was very hard for them to go on, they 

 were panting, obliged to stop for breath, as soon as they had made a 

 few steps. However the grade was not very steep, and the three or 

 four hours of walking which they had had could not have tired 

 them .... but it was the rarity of the air which affected them; they 

 experienced all that we had experienced when we ascended Mont 

 Blanc .... The breathing of these poor animals was extremely 

 painful, and at the very moments when they were stopping for 

 breath, they panted with such distress that they uttered a kind of 

 plaintive cry which I had never heard, even when they were very 

 weary. It is true that I had never travelled with mules at so great 

 an elevation .... we were then 1,736 fathoms above sea level. (Vol. 

 IV, p. 380.) 



Canon Bourrit, whose vain attempts had preceded the expedition 

 of De Saussure, made the ascent of Mont Blanc in 1788, accom- 

 panied by Woodley and Camper. I have not found any complete 

 description of this trip. But we owe to him a few details of a 

 somewhat later expedition, made August 11, 1802, by Forneret and 

 Dortheren: 



The rarity of the air (he says) 113 added to the difficulty of walking; 

 their chests felt lacerated, and they told me that nothing on earth 

 would induce them to undertake such an attempt again. (P. 431.) 



On July 14, 1809, the first ascent of Mont Blanc by a woman, 

 Marie Paradis, a maid-servant at Chamounix. She was so ex- 

 hausted at about the elevation of 4600 meters, that the guides who 

 accompanied her were forced to hold her up and carry her to the 

 crest. 



From 1809 to 1816, only one ascent (Rodaz, 1812) about which 

 we have no information. 



A German officer, Count de Lusy, left Chamounix September 14, 

 1816, to ascend Mont Blanc; he had eight guides with him. From 



