214 EFFECT ON LIFE OF BAROMETRIC PRESSURE 



of the shepherds of the high Alps. This is probably an effect of 

 poor food rather than lessened barometric pressure. 



No cats, it is said, live at altitudes above 3500 m. They 

 sicken in the villages of the Cordillera, become dejected, have con- 

 vulsions of an epileptic character, and finally die. On the other 

 hand, the condors fly from the sea -level to the tops of the peaks 

 of the Andes in a few minutes. From the average stretch of 

 wings (8-14 ft.) and the visual angle Humboldt calculated the 

 altitude of these birds. To him, stationed at an altitude of some 

 13,000 ft. on Cotopaxi, they appeared as mere black specks. 

 Now Humboldt found he could detect the long white poncho of 

 a rider in the clear air of the Cordillera at a distance of some 

 80,000 ft. Irradiation would lessen the size of the image of the 

 birds in the sunlit air. Taking this into account, it seems possible 

 that these birds attain to a height of half this, say five 

 miles ! 



