"
The following is their report to the Galvanic Society--
"We have known for a long time that no animal can with safety
pass into an atmosphere much more dense or much more rare than
that to which it has been accustomed. In the first case it
suffers from the outer air, which presses upon it severely; in
the second case there are liquids or fluids in the animal's body
which, being less pressed against than they should be, become
dilated, and press against their coverings or channels. In both
cases the symptoms are nearly the same--pain, general illness,
buzzing in the ears, and even haemorrhage. The experience of the
diving-bell has long made us familiar with what aeronauts suffer.
Our colleague (Robertson), and his companion, have experienced
these effects in great intensity. They had swelled lips, their
eyes bled, their veins were dilated, and, what is very
remarkable, they both preserved a brown or red tinge which
astonished those that had seen them before they made the ascent.
This distension of the blood-vessels would necessarily produce an
inconvenience and a difficulty in the muscular action."
Chapter II. Ascent of M. Gay-Lussac Alone--Excursions of MM.
Barral and Bixio.
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