1008 Summary and Conclusions 



19 Nachrichten uber die letsten Tage dcr vcrstorbencn D. F. Stoliczka. Verhandl. dcr K. K. 



gcologischen Reichsanstaltj 1874, p. 279-285. 



20 Recherche s d'anatomie, de physiologic et d'organogenic pour la determination des lois dc la 

 genese et de I evolution des especes animates. First memoir. Physiologic de la respiration chez 

 les oiseaux. Paris, 1875. 



21 Contribution a V etude de la physiologic comparee du sang des vertebres ovipares. Comptcs 

 rendus de la Societe de biologie, Vol. XXVI, p. 278, 1874. 



22 Influence de la pression de I'air sur la vie de I'hommc. 2 vol. Paris, 1875. 



23 I take these figures from the diagram in Figure 87; supposing that the first descent took 

 place regularly, the stay between 500 meters and 70O0 meters would have lasted 45 minutes and 

 the stay above 7000 meters about an hour. 



24 By reducing the apparatus to a single cylinder, which each traveller would carry, one could 

 have 230 liters of capacity at a pressure of 30 atmospheres, with a weight of 8 kilograms; by mass- 

 ing three cylinders, carried by a special guide serving several travellers, one would have a capacity 

 of 510 liters with a weight of 17 kilograms. 



25 Recherches physiques sur la respiration de I'homme. Journal de Robin, Vol. I, pages 

 523-555, 18&4. 



26 The analysis on the spot of the gases of the arterial blood of thoroughly acclimated ani- 

 mals or the wild animals of high regions (yaks, llamas, especially condors) cannot be made for a 

 long time. But, since the work of M. Jolyet (Comptcs rendus de la Societe de biologie, 1874) has 

 shown that the capacity of the blood to absorb oxygen does not change after putrefaction, noth- 

 ing would be easier than to collect the venous blood of a healthy and vigorous man (a.i acclimated 

 European or an Indian) or of an animal, defibrinate it, and send it in a well-corkeidl flask: it 

 would then be sufficient to shake it vigorously in the air to judge its capacity of absorption dur- 

 ing life. Fifty cubic centimeters are enough for each analysis. 



27 In this reference see the judicious remarks of M. Gavarret: De la chale-ur produite dans 

 les etres vivants, Paris, 1855, p. 277. After 20 years, they are still applicable to present science. 



28 Lavoisier had found, per kilogram and per hour, a production of 22.9 calories. Barral an 

 average of 23 calories, which would make, for 60 kilograms and 24 hours, 3300 calories. M. Beclanl 

 estimates 2500. (Traite elementaire de physiologie humaine, section 166.) 



28 Peclet worked with this problem in its most general form. (See his Traite de la chalcur 

 consider^ dans ses applications. Third Edition, Vol. Ill, p. 418-453. Paris, 1861.) Two causes co- 

 operate in taking from the body under experiment the heat which must be restored to it: radia- 

 tion and contact with the air. Peclet has found that, within the limits of temperature with which 

 we are dealing, the amount of the cooling by radiation in an hour and for a square meter of sur- 

 face is expressed by the formula kt (1 + 0.0056t) and that of the loss of air in contact by k.'t 

 (1 + 0.0075O, t designating the excess of the initial temperature of the body over that of the 

 ambient medium. Now the coefficient k varies considerably according to the nature of the 

 radiating surface, since it amounts to 0.26 for polished yellow copper and 4.01 for soot: we cannot 

 guess what it is for human skin and for clothing. 



On the other hand, the coefficient -k' depends on the form and size of the body; we can. 

 according to Peclet, by likening the human body to a cylinder 1.70 meters high and 0.12 meters 

 in diameter (surface 12,832 square centimeters) get from it the approximate formula. 



0.0345 0.8758 



k' = (0.726 4 ) (2.43 + ■ ) 



V 12 V 170 



This amount too would be "only a somewhat inaccurate estimate." 



We see that the elements necessary for solving the problem that we have set ourselves 

 are absolutely wanting. To determine the value of the coefficients k and k', we should resort to 

 direct experimentation, based on the principles indicated by Peclet. It could be done by covering 

 with human skin, freshly removed and kept moist, a hollow cylinder of metal, of about the form 

 and dimensions of the body, filling this cylinder with water at 38°, with an agitating system 

 and thermometers intended to stir the water thoroughly, and following then the decrease of the 

 temperature. 



We would thus get the amount of heat necessary to maintain our temperature at its normal 

 degree during repose, in a vertical position and a state of nudity (let us note that we could 

 by this same method study the influence of different kinds of clothing). If the number obtained 

 was considerably less than 2500 calories, we would conclude that our hypothesis is probable. 



30 To support the statement of M. Jourdanet about the real dangers of continued residence 

 in high altitudes, a subject which I am only skimming over, referring to his fine book for a com- 

 plete study, I shall quote the following assertion of Reissacher (Chemische Brief e, Vol. II, p. 48). 

 which I borrow from George von Liebig, p. 450 (Deutch. Archiv. f. Klin. Med. f., 1971) : 



"According to statements of the managers of the mines of Bockstein, at the top of the 

 Goldberg, in the Rauris (2433 meters, pressure 56 centimeters), miners are unable to work after 

 the age of 40, and at Rathausberg, on the Bockstein (from 1996 meters, pressure 59 cm. to 

 2166 meters, pressure 58 cm.), they are past work at 50 ... . Dogs and cats cannot live on the 

 Goldberg: they succumb t.) paralysis of the extremities and respiratory disturbances." 



31 Les derniers progres de la science— Paris, 1868. p. 108. 



