Mountain Journeys 105 



usually produced by alcohol. We also drank a little wine, during the 

 first two hours of our stay on the summit. A moment after he reached 

 the crest, M. Martins was attacked by nausea, and vomited some seeds 

 of raisins which he had eaten an hour before. Vomiting relieved him. 

 He compared his illness to seasickness. When he lay down, he had 

 no trouble, but moving about and standing brought back the nausea. 

 An hour afterwards, he was better; after two hours, the sickness was 

 completely gone. He drank a little wine, but did not wish to eat. The 

 six men we had with us ate hardly anything, but they drank about 

 two bottles of wine and half a bottle of brandy. All were in perfect 

 health; only two were evidently fatigued, although they would not 

 admit it ... . 



We could walk without any difficulty on an almost horizontal 

 plane; but as soon as we had to climb, we were affected by panting 

 and general lassitude .... 



There was a white coating on the tongues of all of us, but less 

 in the guides than in us, and their appetites were not, like ou^s, 

 completely or almost completely wanting. (P. 44-54.) 



After a few hours of observations, they descended to the Grand- 

 Plateau; M. Martins was attacked by panting, palpitations, and 

 throbbing in the carotids, so that he had to sit down. During the 

 night, M. Lepileur felt violent sciatic neuralgia on the left side. 

 His appetite did not return until the next day when he reached 

 the altitude of 3000 meters while returning to Chamounix; during 

 the whole day, he had eaten only a small piece of bread dipped 

 in a little wine. He sent fresh provisions to Martins and Bravais, 

 who had remained on the Grand-Plateau; they received them with 

 great pleasure and made a good meal; however, what five of them 

 ate would hardly have equalled the ration of one man in the 

 valley. 



The urine of all of them was scanty and dark. 



The work of M. Lepileur is finished by a series of tables indi- 

 cating the pulse rate of himself, Martins, and three guides from 

 Servoz or Chamounix to the summit of Mont Blanc. He summar- 

 izes it as follows: 



The increase of the pulse rate is a constant result, when one is 

 ascending, beginning with a certain elevation, .... which may vary 

 with the individual .... My pulse was less frequent at Chamounix 

 (60) than at Paris (67.25) ; . . . . the contrary was true of M. Martins 

 .... The ratio of frequency between Chamounix and the summit is: 

 for M. Martins 0.82; for me 0.68; for Muguier 0.67; for Couttet 0.60; 

 for Simond 0.61. (P. 77-80.) 



M. Martins 143 much later narrated the same journey; his recol- 

 lections agree with those of M. Lepileur: 



On the Grand-Plateau the guides began to clear snow off the tent. 



