MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORIES IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. 43 



high to low pressures it certainly would liave been of no service in his 

 own experience. 



Finally his conclusions are that ascents sLcnikl be made gradually, 

 so as to avoid the acute symptoms above mentioned ; but that it is and 

 will alwa3^s be impossible for persons to live at extreme altitudes with- 

 out a great loss of muscular powers. The question of a corresponding- 

 loss of mental alertness he does not examine. (See in this connection 

 the remarks of M. Janssen, page 24, note. 



The heights of the mountains climbed by Mr. Whymper are 

 materially greater than that of the highest peak in Europe, but it is to 

 be remarked that Mr. AYliymper's experiments prove that even at 

 comparatively moderate elevations (9,850 feet) he was " materially 

 affected and weakened," and this at a time when he was in the best 

 of training. The conclusions bear directly on the main question (^f 

 this book. It is clear that the generality of persons can become 

 habituated to low pressures so as to escape all the acute symptoms of 

 mountain-sickness ; but if Mr. Whymper s conclusions are to be 

 relied upon it is not possible to live at elevations of 10,000 feet or so 

 without losing a considerable part of one's normal muscular powei's. 

 At elevations of 15,000-16,000 feet this loss will be very considerable. 



Boussingault, in his account of the ascent of Chimborazo (1831), 

 sj)eaks of all his predecessors in the Andes as having been much 

 affected with the mountain-sickness. For himself and his companion, 

 Colonel Hall, the case was different. No acute symptoms were felt, 

 which he attributes to the fact that they had lived for a long period at 

 very great elevations. He notes the fact that the inhabitants of cities 

 in the high Andes (Bogota, Potosi,''^ etc.) at 2900 to 4000 metres are 

 not so affected, and describes balls in these cities where the young 

 women dance the whole night, just as in Europe; bull-fights in Quito; 

 and a pitched battle at Pichincha, which is about the height of Mont- 

 Blanc. The lighters, men and bulls, were equally affected by the 

 height, and their combats may not have been up to a European stand- 

 ard ; but the dances are conclusive ! The best evidence on the 

 subject, however, comes from Dr. Copeland, who found the hammers 

 in a machine shop in the Andes (14,000 feet) of the same weight as 

 those at home in England. All the evidence shows that the natives of 

 the Andes do not suffer materially at high elevations, even up to 

 19,000 feet. 



The National Observatory of Brazil (3500 feet). 



The observatory of Rio de Janeiro is to be removed to Petropolis 

 (3500 feet), but I have not been able to find any reports on the astro- 

 nomical conditions which prevail there. 



* Potosi (4100 metres) formerly contained 100,000 inhabitants. 



