May 9, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



435 



and oxygen shortage which appear in the 

 over-trained athlete. 



The classic description of collapse from 

 oxygen deficiency is that written by Tis- 

 sandier,^ the sole survivor of a fatal bal- 

 loon ascent in -1875. 



I now come to the fateful moments when we 

 were overcome by the terrible action of reduced 

 pressure. At 7,000 meters (Bar. 320 mm.) we 

 were all below in the car. . . . Torpor had seized 

 me. My hands were cold and I wished to put on 

 my fur gloves; but without my being aware of it, 

 the action of taking them from my pocket required 

 an effort which I was unable to make. At this 

 height I wrote, nevertheless, in my notebook al- 

 most mechanically, and reproduce literally the fol- 

 lowing words, though I have no very clear recol- 

 lection of writing them. They are written very 

 illegibly by a hand rendered very shaky by the 

 cold. My hands are frozen. I am well. We are 

 well. Haze on the horizon, with small rounded 

 cirrus. We are raising. Croc6 is panting. We 

 breathe oxygen. Sivel shuts his eyes. Croce also 

 shuts his eyes. I empty aspirator. 1.20 p.m.,- 

 11°, Bar. 320. Sivel is dozing. 1.25-11°, Bar.= 

 300. Sivel throws ballast. Sivel throws ballast. 

 (The last words are scarcely legible.) ... I had 

 taken care to keep absolutely stUl, without sus- 

 pecting that I had already perhaps lost the use of 

 my limbs. At about 7,500 meters (Bar. 300 mm.) 

 the condition of torpor which comes over one is 

 extraordinary. Body and mind become feebler 

 little by little, gradually and insensibly. There is 

 no suffering. On the contrary one feels an inward 

 joy. There is no thought of the dangerous posi- 

 tion; one rises and is glad to be rising. The ver- 

 tigo of high altitudes is not an empty word; but 

 so far as I can judge from my own impressions 

 this vertigo appears at the last moment, and im- 

 mediately precedes extinction, sudden, unexpected 

 and irresistible. ... I soon felt myself so weak 

 that I could not even turn my head to look at my 

 companions. I wished to take hold of the oxygen 

 tube, but found that I could not move my arms. 

 My mind was still clear, however, and I watched 

 the aneroid with my eyes fixed on the needle, 

 which soon pointed to 290 mm. and then to 280. I 

 wished to call out that we were now at 8,000 

 meters; but my tongue was paralyzed. All at 

 once I shut my eyes and fell down powerless, and 

 lost all further memory. It was about 1.30. 



3 Quoted from Paul Bert, op. cit, p. 1061. 



In this ascent the balloon continued to 

 rise until a minimum pressure, registered 

 automatically, of 263 mm. was reached. 

 When Tissandier recovered consciousness 

 Sivel and Croee-Spinelli were dead. They 

 were all provided with oxygen, ready to 

 breath ; but all were paralyzed before they 

 could raise the tubes to their lips. Tis- 

 sandier 's notes are characteristic of the 

 mental condition when oxygen-want is be- 

 coming dangerous. 



In marked contrast to this condition is 

 that of men who, gradually ascending into 

 the mountains, day by day become accli- 

 matized without realizing that any change 

 has occurred. The record for the greatest 

 altitude attained by mountaineers is held 

 by the Duke of Abruzzi and his party in 

 the Himalayas. They reached an altitude 

 of 24,000 feet, where the atmospheric pres- 

 sure is only two fifths of that at sea level, 

 or practically the same as that at which 

 Tissandier 's companions lost consciousness. 

 At this tremendous altitude the Duke and 

 his Swiss guides were not only free from 

 discomfort, but were able to perform the 

 exertion of cutting steps in ice and climb- 

 ing. Dr. Filippi, the physician who ac- 

 companied them, in discussing this matter 

 says that the fact of their immunity admits 

 of but one interpretation: 



Rarefaction of the air under ordinary condi- 

 tions of the high mountains to the limits reached 

 by man at the present day (307 mm.) does not 

 produce mountain sickness.-i 



In this statement, however, he is certainly 

 mistaken, for the observations of others 

 show conclusively that the sudden exposure 

 of unacclimatized men to an altitude con- 

 siderably less than that reached by this 

 party would either produce collapse like 

 that of Tissandier's companions, or if long 



* Quoted from Douglas, Haldane, Henderson and 

 Schneider, "Physiological Observations on Pikes 

 Peak," P/ii7. Trans., 1913, B. 203, p. 310. 



