608 PHYSIOLOGY OF ALPINISM 



stand why the symptoms of mountain sickness, as a rule, 

 first appear in the Andes and in the Himalayas at much 

 greater heights than in the European Alps. Obviously 

 there must be, aside from the rarefaction of the atmosphere, 

 quite a number of other climatic factors which are to be 

 taken into consideration. 



Nitrogen Retention. Besides the increased energy ex- 

 change there is manifested in elevated climates a notably 

 increased tendency to the retention of nitrogen. This was 

 observed by Jaquet and by Durig, as well as by G. v. Wendt, 

 and must necessarily be regarded as a protein storage. The 

 observations of Durig upon the nitrogen f ractionation in the 

 urine showed no basis (contrary to A. Lowy, who holds that 

 there are faults of protein metabolism and an increase of 

 aminoacids in the urine in individuals sojourning at high 

 levels) for the idea that protein catabolism takes place 

 at all differently from the process as seen in the 

 lower plains. G. v. Wendt 67 holds, as the result of his in- 

 vestigations, that the often observed nitrogen retention of 

 elevated places is not to be explained as a retention of 

 intermediate compounds, but as connected with the new 

 formation of living substance, particularly of the muscles. 

 This in no wise excludes the possibility that under certain 

 circumstances mountain sickness may bring about a toxic 

 protein destruction; but we may well regard an abnormal 

 accumulation of fatigue products and not the elevated cli- 

 mate itself as responsible for this, if the author be correct 

 in his conjecture. Then, too, one should think of the proc- 

 esses of protein destruction and fatty change observed by 

 Zuntz and his pupils occasionally in locations of atmospheric 

 rarefaction as perhaps connected with accumulation of an 

 excessive amount of lactic acid in the tissues. 



All in all it may be seen that friend Mephisto was not 

 very far wrong when he answered Faust who was striving 

 to gain the mountain heights in the rush of the Walpurgis 



91 G. v. Wendt, Skandin. Arch. f. Physiol., 24, 247, 1911. 



