216 MOUNTAIN SICKNESS 



the guides had to take breath every time a few blows were 

 struck. At 6000 m. in the Himalayas Zurbriggen found he could 

 not strike more than five blows with an ice-axe without having 

 to pause for one minute to regain his breath. U. Mosso at Turin 

 could execute 3 '48 kg. metres of work with the ergograph, while 

 2'82S kg. metres produced fatigue in the Monte Rosa hut at 

 4560 m. Whymper found he could walk a level mile in II 7 4" 

 at London, while at Quito he took IT 58". Mountain sickness 

 decreases in the Alps every year as the training of the Alpinists 

 becomes more complete and as the refuge-huts increase in number 

 and comfort. Training gets rid of superfluous fat and water, in- 

 creases weight of muscle and muscular power, develops the economy 

 of the nerve-muscular mechanism, the breathing and the heart's 

 action. New movement complexes are established, fewer muscles 

 are used, and the needless tension of antagonists corrected. The 

 greater concentration of the tissue fluids produced by training must 

 favour osmotic change and cell activity, and lightens the load 

 which is lifted. Manca after seventy days' training could with 

 dumb-bells do five times the work of the first day. The output 

 of C0 2 was at first increased fourfold by the ascent of Berne 

 Cathedral tower, but after training only threefold (Kronecker and 

 Grube). The body temperature may rise from 37 to 39-5 (103 F.) 

 in the untrained, while an Alpine soldier of splendid physique 

 carried a pack of 40 kg. up the glacier of the Gnifetti peak with 

 a rise of temperature not greater than a few points of a degree 

 (Mosso). Owing to the diathermancy of the air the sun's rays 

 have a most powerful effect, and Conway recommends that peaks 

 should be attacked from a north- south valley to win shade, and 

 in bad weather and by night as much as possible. Windy ridges 

 rather than gullies should be chosen. The adaptation of the 

 nervous system to danger is most important. Feelings of insecurity 

 and anxiety which arise in snow-storms, fog, and darkness rapidly 

 exhaust the Alpinist. Bert became dizzy at 420 mm. Hg in 

 his pneumatic chamber, while Mosso by practice and aided by 

 oxygen inhalations had the resolution to expose himself to 

 192 mm. Hg when his hand covered the height of the barometric 

 column. A debauch makes a great difference in the capacity 

 of a man to climb. At 4560 m. a soldier, under Mosso's observa- 

 tion, lifted 5 kg. dumb-bells at 4" intervals 104 times. His pulse 

 rose from 80 to 100, his respiration from 20 to 28. After a 



