not with alcohol. The peculiar effects of laugh- 

 ing-gas and carbon-monoxide gas on people are 

 due to the lack of oxygen in the gas; and the 

 same applies to the air at high altitudes." 



The summit of Pike's Peak is roomy and com- 

 paratively level, and is composed of broken 

 granite, many of the pieces being of large size. 

 A stone house stands upon the top. In this 

 for many years was a government weather- 

 observer. A weather station has just been re- 

 established on its summit. This will be one of 

 a line of high weather stations extending across 

 the continent. This unique station should con- 

 tribute continuously to the weather news and 

 steadily add to the sum of climatic knowledge. 



This one peak has on its high and broken 

 slopes a majority of the earth's climatic zones, 

 and a numerous array of the earth's countless 

 kinds of plant and animal life. One may in two 

 hours go from base to summit and pass through 

 as many life zones as though he had traveled 

 northward into the Arctic Circle. Going from 

 base to summit, one would start in the Upper 

 Sonoran Zone, pass through the Transition, 



305 



