82 Historical 



two companions, especially Dr. Paccard, suffered keenly from the 

 rarefaction of the air. 



At the news of the success, De Saussure, who had promised a 

 prize to the person who should find the true way, though hoping to 

 use it first himself, made haste to organize a new expedition. But 

 judging that the season was too advanced, he had to put off until 

 the following year the realization of a desire which had interested 

 him deeply for so many years. 



August 1, 1787, he left Chamounix, accompanied by a servant 

 and eighteen guides. He slept under the tent on the summit of the 

 mountain La Cote. 



The evening of the second day of the ascent, he reached the 

 little' plateau; the barometer registered 17 inches 10 lines. They 

 made preparations to pass the night (1995 fathoms) : 116 



§1962. There (says De Saussure) my guides first began to exam- 

 ine the place in which we were to pass the night; but they very 

 quickly felt the effect of the rarity of the air. These sturdy men, for 

 whom the seven or eight hours of walking which we had just done 

 were absolutely nothing, had hardly lifted five or six shovelfuls of 

 snow when they found it absolutely impossible to continue; they had 

 to relieve each other constantly .... 



I myself, who am so accustomed to the air of the mountains, who 

 feel better in this air than in that of the plain, was completely 

 exhausted while examining my meteorological instruments. (Vol. 

 IV, p. 144.) 



The next day they continued to ascend, and reached "the cliff 

 which forms the left shoulder of the crest of Mont Blanc": 



§1985. When I began this ascent, I was already quite out of 

 breath from the rarity of the air ... . The kind of fatigue which 

 results from the rarity of the air is absolutely unconquerable; when 

 it is at its height, the most terrible danger would not make you take 

 a single step further. (P. 165.) 



Soon they were no more than 150 fathoms in elevation from the 

 summit of Mont Blano: . 



§1988. I therefore hoped to reach the crest in less than three 

 quarters of an hour; but the rarity of the air gave me more trouble 

 than I could have believed. At last I was obliged to stop for breath 

 every fifteen or sixteen steps; I usually did so standing, leaning on 

 my alpenstock, but about once out of every three times I had to sit 

 down. This need of rest was absolutely unconquerable; if I tried 

 to overcome it, my legs refused to move, I felt the beginning of a 

 faint, and was seized by dizziness quite independent of the effect of 

 light, because the double crape which covered my face protected my 

 eyes perfectly. Since it was with keen regret that I saw thus passing 

 the time which I hoped to devote to my experiments on the summit, 



