There has been an interesting correspondence in the Times as
to the degree of comfort with which men can live at great heights. Mr. Webber, writing from the Grindelwald, in Switzerland, to Monday's Times, states that in Thibet he has lived for months together at a height of more than 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and that the result was as follows pulse, at normal heights only 63 per minute, seldom fell below 100 per minute during the whole time he was at that level. His respirations were often twice as numerous in the minute as they are at ordinary levels. A run of 100 yards would quicken both pulse and respiration more than a run of 1,000 yards at the sea-level, and the higher the level, the greater the difficulty of walking or running fast. He crossed the shoulder of the Gurla Mandhata at a height of some 20,000 feet, measured "by the thermometer," (surely a mis- print or a slip of the pen for the " barometer ? ") and found the greatest difficulty in getting his breath quickly enough, had frequent and violent headaches, and found that his native guides and companions suffered much more even than he did. Clearly, the physical constitution of man has not been naturally selected so as to admit of great variations in the altitude of his dwelling-place.
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