Lofty Regions of the Globe 21 



carried out with the purpose of studying the effect of diminished 

 pressure, the theoretical interpretations which various physiolo- 

 gists have given a priori of the symptoms observed in mountain 

 ascents, and finally the explanations suggested by the travelers 

 themselves, with the popular opinions about these strange illnesses. 

 Of course in this chapter I stop at the discussions which my own 

 researches have aroused; my purpose is to show the state of 

 knowledge when I began my experiments. Finally, the last chap- 

 ter summarizes both all the data observed and all the theories 

 suggested. 



'See, however, in Chapter III, the quotation from Bacon. 



2 The altitudes which I give in this general review were taken generally 

 from the last edition of Stieler's Hand-Atlas. Those which I did not 

 find in this atlas were taken, for Europe, from the Orographie of Brug- 

 niere; for France, from the Geographie of M. Levasseur; for South 

 America, from the works of Pentland and M. Pissiz. I used also the 

 information furnished by the recent work of Berghaus (Hdhentajel 

 von 100 Gebirgsgruppen aus alien Erdtheilen, Geogr. Jahrbuch. 1874). 

 My intended purpose evidently does not require absolute precision; 

 therefore I did not hesitate to use some rather old documents; for the 

 same reason, I omitted the units in the altitude figures. 



3 Strabo, Geography, Book VI, Chap. Ill, Section IX. 



4 Ibid., Book IV, Chap. VI, Section IV. 



6 See Schuechzer, Ovpeoupoirris Helviticus. Lugd. Bat., 1725. 



Harcourt, On the Himalayan valleys: Kooloo, Lahoul and Spiti. Journal 

 of the royal geogr. soc, Vol. LXI, p. 245-257; 1871. 



7 Nouvelle description des glacicres et des glaciers des Alpes, second 

 edition, Vol. II, p. 87. Geneva, 1785. 



"Besides the sources indicated above in a note, for these altitudes I 

 borrowed frequently from Kloden, Handbuch der Erdkunde, Berlin, 

 1869, and from Stein, edition of Wappens: Handbuch der Geographie, 

 Leipzig, 1863-70. 



9 Jourdanet, Influence de la pression de Vair sur la vie de Vhomme, Vol. 

 I, p. 108. Paris, 1875. 



10 Schlagintweit, Results of a scientific mission to India and High Asia in 

 1854-1858. 3 vol. 1861-1863; Vol. II, p. 477. 



