PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS 
1. A Chemical Inquiry into the Phenomena of Human Pespiration. 
By William Marcet, M.D., F.P.S. 
Received June 3,—Read June 20, 1889. 
[Plates 1, 2.] 
A LOVE of mountaineering is a natural inducement to inquire into the influence 
of altitude on the phenomena of respiration, and I began giving attention to that 
subject in 1875; my first results, however, were not communicated to the Poyal 
Society till the month of Alarch, 1878. In September, 1877, Dr. A. Mermod, then 
Mr. Mermod, had contributed to the “ Bulletin de la Societe Vaudoise des 
Sciences Naturelles,” an interesting paper on this same subject, which lie had 
treated in its chemical aspect, much in the same way as I had done. The title 
of his paper is “Nouvelles recherches physiologiques sur I’influence de la depression 
atinospherique sur Phabitant des montagnes.” The following are the conclusions he 
arrives at:— 
(1.) The uninterrupted and prolonged stay at increasing altitudes is attended with 
a greater frequency of the pulse. 
(2.) The uninterrupted and prolonged stay at 1100 metres above the sea level is 
not attended with any acceleration of the respiratory movements. 
From these two laws the author concludes that— 
(3.) The mean fraction showing the relation between the respiratory frequency 
and the pulsations of the heart, becomes smaller and smaller on removing to stations 
increasing in altitude. 
(4.) The temperature of the body does not appear markedly diminished by 
removing from a dwelling at 142 metres to another at 1100 metres. 
MDCCCXO. — B. 
B 
28.4.90 
