814 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 360. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF DIMINISHED AIR 



PRESSURE. 



To THE Editor op Science : In a commu- 

 nication published in SCIENCE foi- November 1 

 (p. 696), Mr. H. H. Clayton, of Blue Hill 

 Observatory, gives some observations on the 

 number of his pulse-beats, noted during a recent 

 ascent of Pikes Peak by railroad. The pulse 

 increased from 78 beats per minute at Manitou 

 (6,662 ft.) to 92 at the summit of the mountain 

 (14,147 ft.). Mr. Clayton's note recalls some 

 similar observations made by the writer in Peru 

 in 1897, during two ascents of El Misti (19,200 

 ft.), then the site of the highest meteorological 

 station in the world, established by Professor S. 

 I. Bailey, and operated by the southern station 

 of the Harvard College Observatory at Are- 

 quipa. Both ascents were made on mule-back, 

 so that no physical exertion was necessary. The 

 first ascent was on October 7, the start being 

 from the Observatory (8,050 ft.) on October 6. 

 Although provided with clinical thermometers 

 and with a sphygmograph, the writer suffered 

 so severely from mountain sickness that he 

 made very little use of his instruments. His 

 temperature at 5:30 p. m., October 5, twelve 

 hours before leaving Arequipa, was 98°. 4; his 

 respiration 24, and his pulse 90. On the sum" 

 mit of El Misti the body temperature was 

 96°,4 ; the respiration 34, and the pulse 110. 

 Twelve hours after arrival at Arequipa the 

 figures were 98°. 0, 24 and 85 respectively. A 

 rather unsatisfactory sphygmograph curve was 

 obtained on the summit. 



The second expedition to El Misti was made 

 on November 9, 1897, and on this trip the 

 writer suffered much less from mountain sick- 

 ness than on the previous one. At an alti- 

 tude of 15,700 ft. a short walk of about 100 

 yards was taken to the instrument shelter. 

 Two stops were necessary on the way, to get 

 breath. An hour after this exercise, the pulse 

 was 128, the body temperature 97°.0, and the 

 respiration 30. The corresponding figures 

 twelve hours before leaving Arequipa were 91, 

 98°. 6 and 20. The night was spent at 15,700 

 ft. The body temperature immediately after 

 waking in the morning was 96°. 2 ; the pulse 

 112, and the respiration 30. Twenty minutes 



after reaching the summit, the temperature was 

 97°. 2, the pulse 120, and the respiration 32. 

 In an hour and a half the respiration was 35, 

 the pulse and temperature remaining the same. 

 In two hours the temperature was 96°. 8, the 

 pulse 112, and the respiration 34. Three 

 fairly good sphygmograph curves were obtained 

 on the summit. These curves possess some 

 interest as being, so far as I have been able to 

 learn, the first, with possibly one exception, to 

 be secured at so great an altitude as 19,200 ft. 

 At any rate, no curve from so great an altitude 

 was reproduced until a copy of one of these 

 tracings from the Misti summit was printed in 

 an article by the writer in the Journal of the 

 Boston Society of Medical Sciences for June, 1898. 



On the second expedition to El Misti the 

 descent was begun two hours and a half after 

 reaching the top. At the hut at the base of 

 the mountain (15,700 ft.), after walking to and 

 from, the shelter, the pulse was 130, but the 

 respiration had decreased to 30. One hour 

 after arriving at Arequipa the temperature was 

 98°. 2, the pulse 116, and the respiration 22, 

 and twelve hours after arrival the pulse had 

 fallen to 82 — about the writer's normal at the 

 Observatory — and the respiration to 22, the 

 normal being 20. 



In counting the pulse on the summit it was 

 quite unnecessary to place the finger on the 

 wrist. The heart-beats could plainly be heard. 



E. Dec. Ward. 



Harvard University, 

 November 2, 1901. 



PRACTICAL AMELIORATIONS OP ENGLISH 

 GRAMMAR. 



Every year or so a * practical grammar ' of 

 our mother-tongue is announced as on the eve 

 of publication, and, when the book appears, 

 every teacher and student who had been hoping 

 for some real progress in ridding the language 

 of the impedimenta of barbarism and the use- 

 less paraphernalia inherited from classical sche- 

 matism, experiences a keen sense of disappoint- 

 ment. 



Perhaps the greatest intellectual feat so far 

 accomplished by English-speaking peoples all 

 over the globe has been to free their mind-tool 

 so largely from the shackles of grammar. So 

 much having been done already in this direc- 



