Mountain Journeys 121 



M. de Puymaurin and M. Lapeyrouse, his travelling companions, were 

 for an instant almost without pulse. M. Dusaulx, before reaching the 

 plateau of the peak of Midi, felt dizziness and a sort of weakness, 

 without his companions experiencing any such symptoms. These facts 

 seem to prove, according to the opinion of M. de Saussure, that nature 

 has fixed for the constitution of each person the altitude to which he 

 can ascend without discomfort and without danger. But it should be 

 noted that certain travellers have been affected at a moderate height, 

 although accustomed to climbing very high mountains without any 

 trouble. (Vol. I, p. 38.) 



After that time, the traveller and naturalist Ramond made the 

 first ascent of Mont Perdu (3350 meters). His very interesting 

 account 17 ° gives proof of very uncommon sagacity; at least he does 

 not deny what he was fortunate enough not to feel: 



We were breathing without difficulty this light air which was no 

 longer sufficient for the respiration of many others. I have seen 

 vigorous men forced to stop at much lower elevations . . . Here we 

 felt nothing of the sort; only the condition of the pulse indicated a 

 change independent of the excitement of the trip: rest did not quiet 

 it. As long as we remained on the summit, it was small, dry, difficult, 

 and quickened in the ratio of 5 to 4; this fever, which is nervous, 

 announced plainly the illness which we should have felt at a greater 

 elevation; but at the point where we were affected by it, it produced 

 an effect just the opposite of that which a degree more would have 

 produced. Far from causing exhaustion, it seemed as if it aided my 

 physical powers and raised my spirits. I am convinced that we often 

 owe to it this nimbleness of limb, this acuteness of the senses, this 

 activity of thought which suddenly dispel the prostration of fatigue 

 and the apprehension of danger; perhaps we need not seek elsewhere 

 the secret of the enthusiasm which permeates the accounts of all who 

 have mounted above ordinary heights. (P. 84.) 



Likewise Arbanere 1T1 declares that on the summit of Mont Perdu 

 in 1821 he: 



Experienced no effect of the rarefaction of the air, that distress, 

 that anxiety, that nausea which often cause prostration at such a 

 height. (Vol. II, p. 85.) 



On Vendemiaire 11, in the year XI, Cordier and Neergaard 

 made the ascent of the Maladetta. One of them was seriously 

 affected; here is the account the celebrated geologist gives of this 

 complication: 172 



Shortly afterwards, the ridge became wholly impassable and we 

 had to go out upon the glacier. We were then at a height of about 

 3000 meters. M. Neergaard was so distressed by nausea and dizziness, 

 caused by the rarity of the air, that it was absolutely impossible for 

 him to go any further. I will note, by the way, that mountain sickness 



