FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



137 



considered. There is a call made on the 

 contractibility of the small arteries on 

 the one hand, and on the amount of 

 muscular force of the heart on the 

 other hand, and if the structures in 

 question can not respond to this call, 

 rupture of an artery or dilatation of the 

 heart may ensue. In the case of a nor- 

 mal condition of the circulatory organs 

 little harm is done beyond some tran- 

 sient discomfort, such as dizziness, buzz- 

 ing in the ears, palpitation, general ma- 

 laise, and this often only in the case of 

 people totally unaccustomed to high al- 

 titudes. For such it is desirable to take 

 the high altitude by degrees in two or 

 three stages, say first stage 1,500 feet, 

 second stage from 2,500 to 3,000 feet, 

 and third stage from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, 

 with a stay of one or two days at the 

 intermediate places. The stay at the 

 health resort will be shortened, it is 

 true, but the patient will derive more 

 benefit. On the return journey one short 

 stay at one intermediate place will suf- 

 fice. Even a fairly strong heart will not 

 stand an overstrain in the first days 

 spent at a high altitude. A Dutch lady, 

 about forty jears of age, who had spent 

 a lifetime in the lowlands, came directly 

 up to Adelboden (altitude, 4,600 feet). 

 After two days she went on an excur- 

 sion with a party up to an Alp 7,000 

 feet high, making the ascent quite slow- 

 ly in four hours. Sudden heart syncope 

 ensued, which lasted the best part of an 

 hour, though I chanced to be near and 

 could give assistance, which was urgent- 

 ly needed. The patient recovered, but 

 derived no benefit from a fortnight's 

 stay, and had to return to the low 

 ground the worse for her trip and her 

 inconsiderate enterprise. Rapid ascents 

 to a high altitude are very injurious to 

 patients with arterio-sclerosis, and the 

 mountain railways up to seven thousand 

 and ten thousand feet are positively dan- 

 gerous to an unsuspecting public, for 

 many persons between the ages of fifty- 

 five and seventy years consider them- 

 selves to be hale and healthy, and are 

 quite unconscious of ha\ing advanced 

 arterio-sclerosis and perchance contract- 

 ed kidney. An American gentleman, 

 aged fifty-eight years, was under my 

 care for slight symptoms of angina pec- 

 toris, pointing to sclerosis of the coi'O- 

 nary arteries. A two-months' course of 

 treatment at Zurich with massage, baths, 



and proper exercise and diet did away 

 with all the symptoms. I saw him by 

 chance some months later. ' My son is 

 going to St. Moritz (six thousand feet) 

 for the summer,' said he ; ' may I go 

 with him?' 'Most certainly not,' was 

 my answer. The patient then consulted 

 a professor, who allowed him to go. Cir- 

 cumstances, however, took him for the 

 summer to Sachseln, which is situated 

 at an altitude of only two thousand feet, 

 and he spent a good summer. But he 

 must needs go up the Pilatus by rail 

 (seven thousand feet), relying on the 

 professor's permission, and the result was 

 disastrous, tor he almost died from a vio- 

 lent attack of angina pectoris on the 

 night of his return from the Pilatus, 

 and vowed on his return to Zurich to 

 keep under three thousand feet in fu- 

 ture. I may here mention that bad re- 

 sults in the shape of heart collapse, an- 

 gina pectoris, cardiac asthma, and last, 

 not least, apoplexy, often occur only on 

 the return to the lowlands." 



The Parliamentary Amenities 

 Committee. — ^Under the above rather 

 misleading title there was formed last 

 year, in the English Parliament, a com- 

 mittee for the purpose of promoting con- 

 certed action in the preservation and 

 protection of landmarks of general pub- 

 lic interest, historic buildings, famous 

 battlefields, and portions of landscape of 

 unusual scenic beauty or geological con- 

 formation, and also for the protection 

 from entire extinction of the various 

 animals and even plants which the 

 spread of civilization is gradually push- 

 ing to the wall. In reality, it is an of- 

 ficial society for the preservation of 

 those things among the works of past 

 man and Nature which, owing to their 

 lack of direct money value, are in dan- 

 ger of destruction in this intensely com- 

 7nercial age. Despite the comparative 

 newness of the American civilization, 

 there are already many relics belonging 

 to the history of our republic whose 

 preservation is very desirable, as well 

 as very doubtful, if some such public- 

 spirited committee does not take the 

 matter in hand; and, as regards the re- 

 mains of the original Americans, in 

 which the country abounds, the neces- 

 sity is still more immediate. The of- 

 ficial care of Nature's own curiosities is 

 equally needed, as witness the way in 



