Theories and Experiments 233 



he gives some very strange information about the symptoms of 

 the Veta and their possible causes: 



The inhabitants of the coast, when they climb the chain of the 

 Andes, feel their respiration oppressed in places where the Indians 

 do not experience this distress, because of the much greater develop- 

 ment of their respiratory organs .... 



The pulse accelerates and the lungs act much more rapidly than 

 normally. Their free play is hindered, however, by the accumulation 

 of blood and a considerable degree of congestion, resulting, in my 

 opinion, on the one hand from the lessened atmospheric pressure, 

 which causes an expansion of the fluids in circulation, and on the 

 other hand from the resistance of the cutaneous and pulmonary 

 capillaries enlarged by the cold. 



The result of this is that strangers to these climates are very 

 subject to stomach disturbances, dyspnea, apoplexy, or other hemor- 

 rhages when they cross the passes of the Cordilleras . . . Cats which 

 have been taken to the snow line and have been well-fed are very 

 subject to sudden death ... I have heard that at Cerro de Pasco a 

 terrier suddenly fell dead, probably from apoplexy, while he was 

 jumping with joy and caressing his master. (P. 356.) 



An English traveller, Hill, 03 who was quite sick while crossing 

 the Andes, and who saw two children stricken with the soroche 

 so violently that they "were almost lifeless in the arms of their 

 father", lays stress upon the effect of different temperaments in 

 reference to the severity of the illness: 



The illness, in its most serious form, is accompanied by very 

 alarming symptoms and is generally fatal; in a traveller of a plethoric 

 constitution it is usually very serious; it is characterized then by 

 vertigo, weakness of vision and hearing, and very often by a flow of 

 blood from the eyes, the nose, and the lips and by violent headaches 

 and vomiting.- But in thin travellers, not very strong in constitution, 

 it is more likely to cause fits of weakness, accompanied by the spitting 

 of blood. In persons who enjoy good health, vomiting is one of the 

 most frequent symptoms, and the others generally consist of lassitude 

 and difficulty in breathing, such as appeared in my companions and 

 myself. (P. 68.) 



Coming to the causes of the symptoms, he repeats, without seem- 

 ing to attach real importance to it, the opinion of the natives about 

 metallic emanations: 



This illness has been noted to be more common in the provinces 

 where metals abound; so the general opinion among the natives is 

 that it owes its appearance or its increase of violence to the metallic 

 exhalations which are supposed to saturate the atmosphere of those 

 regions. This opinion is undeniably based on the fact that the disease 

 particularly attacks prospectors for metals, men who are usually not 



