Summary and Discussion 325 



by novices or even by "mountaineers" who have experience, but 

 who a few days before were living in the atmosphere of London 

 or Paris, whereas usually no one attempts Monte Rosa without a 

 series of preliminary exercises which have disciplined the loco- 

 motor apparatus. 



Examples of the effect of fatigue are numerous in the very 

 accounts which we have quoted. 



While listing the symptoms of mountain sickness, we must 

 dwell on the fact of its aggravation by exercise, even the most 

 moderate. Here, we should simply mention the cases in which it 

 appears only under the influence of fatigue, and we may even say 

 a passing fatigue, due to violent exercise. I myself have felt rather 

 serious symptoms because I climbed a hill about a kilometer long 

 at a quick step, on the road to the Grand Saint Bernard at an 

 elevation not above 1500 meters. It is to the effect of fatigue, of 

 burdens borne on the backs of men, that we should chiefly attri- 

 bute the violent symptoms which sometimes attack the peons of 

 the Andes and especially the coolies of the Himalayas Defore the 

 European travellers are affected. 



The latter, moreover, usually allow themselves to be borne 

 quietly along on the backs of horses, mules, or yaks. We have 

 mentioned many cases in which the sickness attacked them sud- 

 denly, as soon as they dismounted to walk beside their animals. 

 If they are walking on difficult footing or on new snow into which 

 the body sinks, the fatigue is increased and with it the intensity of 

 the symptoms. 



If, as travellers usually do, we apply the word fatigue not 

 only to the result of exaggerated muscular contractions but also 

 to the effect of other exhausting causes, this factor of mountain 

 sickness takes on still more importance. So insomnia and lack 

 of rest and comfort are not to be neglected. On their second ascent 

 of Mont Blanc, MM. Lortet and Marcet were much less ill than 

 on the first; they had passed a good night at the Grands-Mulets. 

 Most of the symptoms, when one is climbing this mountain, are 

 partially caused by the fact that the resting place, the hut of the 

 Grands-Mulets, is very poorly furnished; on the contrary, on Monte 

 Rosa there is the inn of the Riffelberg, where one rests comfort- 

 ably, and where one can stay several days at an elevation of 2570 

 meters. 



To fatigue and insomnia we must add insufficient or poor food. 

 The guides are unanimous in urging one to eat little, but often 

 and substantially. A bad condition of the stomach or the intes- 

 tine infallibly brings on the symptoms long before the usual level. 



