1922] on The Mount Everest Expedition 481 



atmosphere. AY hen you are observing a high Himalayan peak from 

 a place in the plains of India more than a hundred miles distant, the 

 ray of light is considerably refracted, and corrections for this have to 

 be made. But what amount of correction has to be applied is not 

 certainly known, and it is now believed that the original computers 

 of the height of Mount Everest applied too great a correction and 

 consequently decreased the height of the mountain. At present the 

 height is computed at 29,141 feet. But further corrections may have 

 still to be made, more particularly on account of the attraction of 

 the Himalaya itself which slightly deflects the levels. And these 

 corrections would add still further to the height of the mountain. 

 So the figure 2 may be taken as very modestly representing the fact 

 that quite certainly the height of Mount Everest is in excess of 

 29,000 feet. 



We know very fairly well the height of the mountain. Why do 

 we want to climb it ? "What scientific result shall be obtained ? 

 The reply to this question is that the Mount Everest Expedition 

 must be regarded as a scientific experiment carried out in the field 

 and on a gigantic scale. It is an experiment to test the capacity 

 of the human race. We know that at those great altitudes the 

 amount of oxygen in the air will be extremely small, but we do 

 not know whether the human organism has the capacity to adapt 

 itself to the unfavourable conditions there prevailing. We cannot 

 know till we try, and the Mount Everest Expedition will try. Not 

 much more than a century ago it was thought remarkable that men 

 should be able to ascend Mont Blanc, which is 14,000 feet lower 

 than Mount Everest. But during the last fifty years higher and 

 higher peaks have been climbed, till en altitude of 24,600 feet has 

 been attained by the Duke of the Abruzzi. 



This altitude may be the highest it is possible to attain, but we 

 have not the slightest reason to suppose it is. For experience has 

 shown that as men's minds get accustomed to the idea of reaching 

 higher heights they actually reach them. Once men have climbed to 

 20,000 feet they think it is possible to climb to 21,000 feet. They 

 make the attempt, and they succeed. Then they want to go on to 

 22,000 feet, and so on. And perhaps there is the possibility that by 

 extending the use of their capacities men actually increase their 

 capacities. It seems so when we think of the pan tings of the first 

 climbers of Mont Blanc and the matter-of-fact way in which 

 hundreds of mountaineers climb that peak every year nowadays. 



But the Mount Everest Expedition will be equipped with oxygen 

 apparatus. The only difficulty in ascending Mount Everest is that 

 presented by the lack of oxygen in the air. The mountain itself 

 presents no insuperable difficulties. By a piece of unusual good 

 fortune it happens to be an easier mountain to climb than any of the 

 next dozen highest peaks. And if climbers had sufficient oxygen 

 they would without serious difficulty reach the summit. But oxygen 



2 M 2 



