Motivated by both science and empire, European explorers increasingly ventured into the high Himalaya after 1800, where they encountered the insidious yet little understood effects of altitude sickness. They did not, however, do so alone. Tensions arising from the highly unpredictable distribution of symptoms were exacerbated by explorers’ dependence on pre-existing networks of labour and expertise, which forced them to measure their bodies against those of their Asian companions. This article examines altitude physiology in the early nineteenth century, largely overlooked by scholars in favour of the more systematic scientific studies of the later period. I consider engagement with indigenous explanations (resulting from poisonous miasmas from plants), the tropes travellers used in their accounts to avoid inverting hierarchies around bodily performance, and attempts to quantify symptoms and instrumentalise bodies by measuring pulses. I argue that high mountains became spaces of comparison, intensified by uncertainty over the scientific status of altitude sickness, and use this to bring into focus the practical, everyday aspects of relationships between explorers, guides, and porters. By considering comparisons at multiple scales, this article also historicises the formulation of high mountain medical topographies in the context of upland frontiers and imperial expansion.

中文翻译：

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高处的尸体：1800-1850 年喜马拉雅山的探险、高原反应和身体比较问题

在科学和帝国的推动下，1800 年后，欧洲探险家越来越多地冒险进入喜马拉雅山，在那里他们遇到了高原反应的阴险但鲜为人知的影响。然而，他们并不是单独这样做的。探险者对预先存在的劳动力和专业知识网络的依赖加剧了由高度不可预测的症状分布引起的紧张局势，这迫使他们根据亚洲同伴的身体来衡量自己的身体。这篇文章考察了 19 世纪早期的高原生理学，在很大程度上被学者们忽视，而支持后期更系统的科学研究。我考虑参与土著解释（由植物的有毒瘴气引起），旅行者在他们的描述中使用的比喻是为了避免围绕身体表现颠倒层次结构，并试图通过测量脉搏来量化症状和工具化身体。我认为高山变成了比较空间，因高原反应的科学状况的不确定性而加剧，并以此来关注探险者、向导和搬运工之间实际的、日常的关系。通过考虑多尺度的比较，本文还历史化了高地边疆和帝国扩张背景下高山医学地形的形成。并使用它来关注探索者、向导和搬运工之间关系的实际日常方面。通过考虑多尺度的比较，本文还历史化了高地边疆和帝国扩张背景下高山医学地形的形成。并使用它来关注探索者、向导和搬运工之间关系的实际日常方面。通过考虑多尺度的比较，本文还历史化了高地边疆和帝国扩张背景下高山医学地形的形成。