Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1874 — High Living. [ARTICLE]

High Living.

The highest spot on the globe inhabited by human beings is the Buddhist cloister of Hanle, in Thibet, where twenty-one priests live at an altitude of 16,000 feet. The monks of St. Bernard, whose monastery is 8,117 feet high, are obliged to descend frequently to the valleys below in order to obtain relief from the asthma, induced by the rarity of the atmosphere about their mountain-eyrie. At the end of ten years’ service in the monastery they are compelled to change their exalted abode for a permanent residence al ihe ordinary level. When the brothers Schlaginswell explored the gla ; ciers of the Ibi-Gamin. in Thibet, they once encamped at 21,000 feet—the highest altitude-at which a European ever passed the night. At the top of Mt. Blanc, 15,781 feet above the level of the sea. Prof. Tyndall spent a night, and with less discomfort than his guide, who found it very unpleasant. In Jtily, 1872, Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell ascended in a balloon to the enormous height of 38,000 feet. Before starting. Mr? Glasher's pulse beat 76 strokes per minute, and Mr. Coxwell’s 74. At 17,000 feet Mr. Glaisher’s pulse bad increased to 84, and Mr. Coxwell’s to 1001 * At 19,000 feet the hands and lips of the aeronauts turned quite blue. At 29,000 feet Mr. Glaisher could hear his heart beat, and his breathing became oppressed. At 30,000 feet he became senseless; notwithstanding which he ascended still another 8,000 feet, when his hands were paralyzed, and he Ifad to open the valve with his teeth. In the Alps, at the height of 13.000 feet, climbers suffer from the rarity of the air; yet. in the Andes, persons can dwell", as, at Potosi. at a height of from 13.000 to 15.000 without inconvenience.