NORWAY. 359 



except a slight languor, or other trifling 

 indisposition. But as soon as I got upon 

 the alps, I seemed to have acquired a new 

 existence. I felt as if relieved from a 

 heavy burthen ; and after having spent a 

 few days in the low country of Norway, 

 though without having committed the least 

 excess, I found my languor or heaviness 

 return. When I again ascended the alps, 

 I revived as before, to which the pure and 

 well ventilated atmosphere did not a little 

 contribute. It is a prevaihng opinion that, 

 at a great elevation, the air is so much 

 thinner, as to render it necessary to 

 breathe through wet sponges held to the 

 nose and mouth. I can aver that the 

 difficulty of breathing is only caused by 

 the exertion of climbing the mountains, 

 as a person who runs fast, or uses any other 

 violent exercise, oppresses his lungs by ac^» 

 celerating the circulation of the blood.* 



* This opinion of Linnaeus coincides with what 

 M. de Saussure observed In ascending Mont Blanc. 

 We cannot say so much in favour of his subsequent 

 theory. 



