The Last Thousand Feet on Everest: Possible Bacterial Factor

Abstract

PROF. YANDELL HENDERSON, in his article in Nature, of June 3, p. 921, emphasizes some of the difficulties facing the members of the expeditions to Mount Everest. The main handicap is the small amount of oxygen which can be breathed in per minute from such rarified air as exists at 29,000 ft. Prof. Henderson refers to my experiments on animals, which show clearly that mammals cannot be fully acclimatized to live under an oxygen pressure below 10 per cent of an atmosphere such as exists above 20,000 ft. These results have been confirmed by attempts of South American sulphur miners to establish permanent villages near this level. The highest permanent village is at 17,500 ft.¹.