290 Historical 



In the session of the Diablerets section of the Swiss Alpine 

 Club, on January 27, he expressed the idea 



That the somewhat undefined unhealthy state called mountain sick- 

 ness results from the absence in the blood of the ternary elements 

 which are used in combustion. (P. 72.) 



M. Dufour is especially struck by the contrast between travel- 

 lers and aeronauts, since the latter are in good condition at eleva- 

 tions which the former cannot reach without serious symptoms: 



If the mere rarefaction of the air were injurious to health, how 

 much more seriously affected Glaisher and Coxwell should have been, 

 who in 25 minutes rose from about sea level to the level of the summit 

 of Mont Blanc! 



Besides, when aeronauts finally experience pathological symptoms, 

 these symptoms do not at all resemble those of mountain sickness. 

 M. Glaisher gives a description which resembles a paralysis of sensi- 

 tivity and movement extending regularly from the extremities to the 

 center. Is this paralysis produced by a stoppage or a slackening of 

 the circulation, or is it a direct effect upon innervation? We cannot 

 tell. The fact that M. Coxwell's hands were blue for a moment seems 

 to support the first hypothesis, whereas the fact that M. Glaisher lost 

 the use of the retina, while his mental powers were still intact, would 

 rather support the second. 



At any rate, and this is the point which is important to us, the 

 pathological symptoms come very late, and when they do come, they 

 are not the symptoms of mountain sickness. 



We are therefore led to consider muscular work as the principal 

 factor in the production of mountain sickness, and if the rarefaction of 

 the air makes some contribution to it, it is through the combustion 

 which the work requires. (P. 76.) 



M. Dufour thinks that inanition produced by work is the prin- 

 cipal cause of mountain sickness. He says that he experienced the 

 symptoms of it on the plain after great muscular efforts: 



M. Dufour experienced several symptoms of mountain sickness, 

 including nausea, when he was mounting from the bottom of the 

 mines of Freiberg in a shaft and by vertical ladders. He had walked 

 in the mine for about three hours, and had eaten nothing; the distress 

 attacked him while he was ascending, and was still 50 or 60 meters 

 below the surface of the ground. In covering this short vertical dis- 

 tance, he had to rest two or three times. 



Likewise in an ascent of Pilate, after too rapid a walk from 

 Hergiswyl, he was seized by extreme prostration, throbbing in the 

 neck, headache, and dyspnea. At that moment, feeling mechanically 

 in the pocket of his coat, he found a morsel of bread which he put 

 into his mouth. After taking five minutes to get enough saliva to 

 moisten his bread, he swallowed it. A few minutes afterwards, the 

 symptoms of distress disappeared as if by magic, and he was able to 

 ascend very easily the remaining 100 or 200 meters. (P. 76.) 



