Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-06-15
Human Life and Atmospheric Pressure

The circumstances under which two
French acronauts recently lost their
lives give additional interest to a work
lately published in Paris of the influ-
ence of the air pressure on human life.
1t is an established fact that the death
of the two explorers was due not to
the want of oxygen, but to the insult
ficiency Of outward atmospheric pres
sure. At the height reached, that
pressure was reduced to one-half of
what it Is on the surface of the earth,
This creates conditions 0flife to which
the mechanism of the hnman body Is
not adapted. Nor is 1t at all necessa-
ry to ascend to uncolnmonly high al
titudes to feel the beginning ofsimilar
disturbances.
Mountain air has stimulating prop
critics, but it is question whether the
temporary excitement felt by inhabi-
tants Of the plains on rising into
mountainous regions is favorable evil
dence of the healthfulness of rarified
air. At any rate, it may be assumed
that, beyond certain limit, the hui
man organism does not find what is
necessary to continue it unchecked
and unimpaired, and there is then q
decided falling off in the general vi
tality. Travellers have often had oc-
casion to mention peculiar sense of
discomfort connected with mountain
travel. They ascribe it to the novelty
of unaccustomed exercise and hard
ships. Habit, it was thought, would
overcome it, but careful observations
have ascertained that a rarefied at
mosphere produces injurious effects
even on people whose ordinary dwell
ing-place is on high lands.
A dimunition of physical and intel
lectual activity has been noticed
again and again among some of the
Alpine populations. In the highlands
of Engardine, for instance, the visitor
is impressed with the low standard
of vital energies which he finds in the
inhabitants. A few of them only
take part in public affairs. They
mostly live in state of mental torpor
and political indifference. Statistical
tables have peen drawn up by French
physician for the purpose of classify
ing the French Departments accord
ing to their respective rates of mortal
ity, and these tables show that the
highest mortality prevails in the
mountainous districts, such as the
Alps, Savoy, the Jura, the Vosges.
The differences drawn from this are
confirmed by the observations of an
other French physician, who spent
ten years on the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico and on the Mexican table
lands. When he left the plain for the
highlands he expected to find physi-
cal signs of increased vital power and
activity. Instead of that he noticed
a general depression. In place of
lively full l-blooded, well-developed,
and robust race, he found people of
quiet sluggish disposition, with Jal-
lid and sallow complexion, and fab
by, unimproved muscles. He dis
covered from repeated experiments,
that this was due to diminution of
oxygen in the blood, the result Of an
insufficient condensation of that gas
under too feeble an atmospheric pres
sure. The oxygen is no longer forced
into the blood in normal proporti on
and the system is consequently i'm
poverished and weakened.
In Mexico, at a height of about 1000
feet, the symptoms of the debilita-
ting action of raretied air are clearly
manifest. All animals are subject to
them. The Mexican OF the highl ands
is not energetic; he is fond of relaxa-
ton and rest. The natives of the low
er levels are more enterpising and
more active, and statistical returns
show that the incraese of the popula-
ton is much smaller above an eleva-
ton of 5000 feet than it is below that
limit. The sluggishness and degen-
erency of the Peruvian race are prob
ably due to similar cause and the
decline of the Thibetan population
may be tracable to the same origin
". Y. Times.