The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-07
tome Correspondence Edinburgh Scots

Rome Correspondence Edinburgh scots-
 man.
 The close of the last and the conn mencement of the current century has witnessed the continuation of a new cult.a As In the medical world we have the ''valetudinarian." and in the cieri- cal the "latitudinarian" Of "broad"J, tIA "altitudinarian" (if "high",. and the "platitudinarian'. eff 'Tow''). so in the world of the holiday hunter we have the "altitudinarian," whose aim and delight 1t is to ascend to the nigh est elevation possible above sea level
 Year by year the votaries of this cult are adding to the tale of victims, but year by year. in spite of such q deter rent. the said votaries seem to "mui- tiply" and to "replenish"--not the "earth." in the theologian's sense. but the earth in the grave diggers Strangely enough. 1t Is the peak stormerr south of the Alps who Is now most In evidence. greatly outnumber- Ing his rivals from the north. and even outclassing him in the daring and variety of his adventures, and all so Cit need scarcely be added) in the list of casualties. You cannot open a Piedmontese. Lombardy or a vene- tian newspaper without coming on q prominent headline such as Drama Alpino" or 'Impressionate Digrazia" '{seffsa tlonai fafa1fty), narfating the disappearancel and death of this or that 'Alpinist.o haiing from Turin or Milan or Venice, who. either singly or as one of q party has strayed in a mist and been subsequently, found at the foot of precipice more or less mutilated. or. who. having lost his head or his footing, has plunged Into a crevasse. to be recovered corpse af- ter days of abortive search.
 Truth to tell, the Italian adventuret is apt to study economy in his under taking--to sally forth imperfectly equipped or Ca still graver miscalcu- lation) unaccompanied by an experI- enced guide, and to suffer accordingly. This seems to have been the policy and procedure of the three Milanese "Alpinisti." who started from Macug- intending to gain the highest point of the Noriend and come down again by the same route. Every effort has since been made to get news of them, but without success.
 This '.misadventure' has for its scene the Monte Rosa, that fascinating and fatal temptress; but the Splugen. not to be behindhand in her tale of vic- tims. has just registered another. | AkdIu, A Uuilanc8es d Woll AIltWu macist of the Lombard capital. start ed thence last Sunday evening with two others, and was making the ascent of the Picola Soretta. some 3,025 me- ters above the sea level, when an ava lanche. with scarce a minutes warning. descended and swept him to instant de- struction. miraculously sparing his companions.
 And so. week by week-I had al- most said day by day--the death roll of Alpine misadventure unfolds itself till the stay-at-home world begins to wonder and speculate as to where the attraction resides in the peak-storm- ing metier Swiss physicians. I may add, have a special admonition to give to the "altitudinarian." to wit, the state of his health--above all, the con- dition of his heart-before he starts on his adventure.
 Some twelve years ago the Dowager Queen Margherita. a passionateiy de- voted Alpinista, had in the company of well known peak stormer," Baron Peccoz. been for days on the Mont Rosa. and was in the act of crossing the Lyss- Kamm, when the baron, 8 few yards in front of her and on the brink of a crevasse, dropped suddenly dead-not from misplaced footing, as was at first given out. but from in- staneous heart failure. Such occur rences, the Swiss faculty foresee, will occur frequently in the case of middle aged tourists whom the funicular railways. now in working or in con- temptation on all the Alpine ranges. transport rapidly to great elevations, at which the sufferer from unsuspec- ted or even partial cardiac lesion must inevitably collapse.
 This consideration. these ,clrcums- pect consultants point out. must have due weight in regulating the mode of travel ere long to become fashionable that of aerial navigation. which. be- sides the perils peculiarly It's own and as yet but imperfeetIy realized. has ai- so those inherent in the individual pas senger, exposed as he will be to new conditions under which his point of least resistance" physiologicalIy speaking. is found sooner or later. to be attacked and in the encounter to succumb.