328 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
a hawk hovering in the air above our heads. One would 
have said that our presence excited its curiosity, for it de- 
seribed many circles around us, but not sufficiently near to 
enable us to distinguish the species to which it belonged. 
There is another point on which it remains for me to say a 
single word, and that is the influence of the air, in elevated 
situations, on the human frame. Many naturalists and phy- 
siologists will doubtless expect that some new facts were ob- 
served by us; but I must confess, that during the whole time 
we were on the summit, and also during the ascent, we ex- 
perienced none of those occurrences, such as nausea, bleeding 
at the nose, ringing of the ears, acceleration of the pulse, and 
so many other inconveniences which those who have ascended 
Mont Blane tell us they were subject to. Must we ascribe 
this to the difference of 1500 feet which there is between the 
height of Mont Blane and that of the Jungfrau? Or rather 
should we not seek the cause in the habit we had contracted 
while living for many weeks at the height of near 8000 fect ? 
But it ought to be remarked, that M. Du Chatelier, who had 
been among the mountains for only a few days, was not more 
affected than we. Without pretending to decide this ques- 
tion, which belongs more particularly to the domain of phy- 
siology, I am, however, inclined to believe that there is some 
degree of exaggeration in all that has been said on the sub- 
ject. Perhaps, also, some travellers have allowed their ima- 
gination to deceive them, like those students of medicine who 
believe themselves every day affected with the malady their 
professor has been describing. The German physiologists even 
pretend, if I am not mistaken, to have observed the most ex- 
traordinary symptoms on mountains of a few thousand feet in 
height. 
We could not quit the summit of the Jungfrau without 
leaving some traces of our visit; and as we had not brought 
a flag with us, it was determined that we should employ M. 
Agassiz’ pole for this purpose, as it happened to be the longest. 
For my part I was willing to sacrifice my cravat, and was 
about to attach it to the end of the pole by means of some 
holes I had pierced in the wood; but one of the guides, la- 
menting the fate of the cravat, which he doubtless thought 
