116 Historical 



Most of those who have made recent ascents of Mont Blanc, 

 the accounts of which have been preserved for us by the Alpine 

 clubs, say nothing of mountain sickness. They go on at length 

 about the preparations for the departure, the petty incidents of the 

 journey, the joys of the return, but maintain complete silence 

 about the physiological phenomena. And what I say of Mont Blanc 

 is true of all the other ascents, even of mountains rivaling it in 

 height. I have gone over, page by page, the journals of the English, 

 Swiss, Italian, Austrian, and French Alpine clubs; I have patiently 

 read hundreds of monotonous accounts, and have found very few 

 data relating to our study; I shall mention them chronologically. 



August 13, 1857, M. Hardy ir ' 4 made the ascent of the Finster- 

 aarhorn (4275 meters) : 



Wellig (inn-keeper of Eggischhorn), considering himself insulted 

 by our jokes, went on ahead to reach the summit first. But hardly 

 had he taken a hundred steps, when he fell as if some one had shot 

 him. Ellis, who was walking behind him, thought that he was resting, 

 and walked quietly up to him; but when I came, I perceived that it 

 was more serious. His eyes were turned up, his mouth open, and he 

 looked strangely like a fish. I did not know what to do; but Cruz 

 adopted a queer mode of treatment .... He raised him to a seated 

 posture and shook him so vigorously backward and forward, that after 

 a few vibrations he revived from his faint, got up, and went to join 

 Fortunatus. (P. 299.) 



Perhaps we may hesitate to attribute this sudden syncope to 

 mountain sickness; but in the narrative of Tuckett, 15 "' the doubt is 

 not possible. 



The matter in question is an ascent on Grivola (3960 meters), 

 made in June 1859; an avalanche threatened to carry away the 

 travellers: 



Chabot, one of the guides, complained of painful sensations in 

 the chest and stomach, loss of appetite, vertigo, nausea, headache, 

 resulting partly from fear and fatigue, and partly also, perhaps, due 

 to the rarity of the air, for we had reached the height of 12,028 feet 

 (3665 meters). (P. 297.) 



In my opinion, in spite of the complication of a somewhat 

 exaggerated consumption of alcoholic beverages, the influence of 

 rarified air is incontestable again in the following observation 158 : 



A young Englishman about twenty-four years old, a regular 

 picture of health and strength, passed the Weissthor by Macugnagna. 

 He was not much accustomed to difficult ascents .... and to give 

 himself strength drank brandy and water frequently. The result was 

 soon seen. The guides had to pull him along with ropes, in a state of 



