178 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 



in South America, the barometer stands at 20J inches, and 

 the pressure is 21,750 lbs. Condamine and Bouguer, 

 "fvitli their attendants, lived three v/eeks at a height of 2434 

 toises, or 14,604 French feet, where the barometer stood at 

 15 in. 9 lines, and the pressure must consequently have been 

 16',920lbs*. In the Peruvian territory, extensive plains 

 occur possessing an altitude of 9000 feet ; and three-fifths 

 of the vice-royalty of Mexico, comprehending the interior 

 provinces, present a surface of half a million of square miles, 

 which runs nearly level, at an elevation between 6000 and 

 8000 feet. Mexico is 7475, and Quito 9550 feet above the 

 level of the sea. The hamlet of Antisana, 13,500 feet above 

 that level, is the highest inhabited spot on the surface of our 

 globe; but Humboldt ascended Chimbora9o, to 19,300 

 feet f. There are no instances of men living under a pressure 

 much greater than what has been mentioned : the depths, to 

 wliich tlie earth has been penetrated in the operations of 

 minhig, are trifling in this point of view. In diving, however, 

 the body is subject to, and can bear, several atmospheres; 

 as, on the contrary, in balloons, men have ascended beyond 

 any point of elevation on the surface of the earth J, and have 

 consequently been exposed to a much more considerable 

 diminutionN^f the ordinary pressure than what I have stated 

 above. 



As the pliysical capabilities of his frame enable man to 

 occupy "every variety of climate, soil, and situation, it fol- 

 lows of necessity, that he must be omnivorus, that is, ca- 

 pable of deriving sufficient nourishment and support from 

 all kinds of food. The power of living in various situ- 

 ations would be rendered nugatory by restriction to one 

 kind of diet. 



* Mem. deV Acad, des Sciences, a.nn6e 17-44; p. 262 — S. 



+ Tableau Phys.des Regions Equatoriales ; and Tableaux de la Nature. 



X The height of 23,040 feet above the level of the sea, reached by INI. Gay 

 LussAc in his second ascent, although considerably higher than the summit of 

 Chimbora^o, may however be surpassed by some peaks of the Himmaleh 

 mountains; if the recent suppositions concerning their altitude should be 

 hereafter verified. 



