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WHYMPER, EDWARD (1840- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 617 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WHYMPER, See also:EDWARD (1840- ) , See also:British artist, explorer and mountaineer, was See also:born in See also:London on the 27th of See also:April 1840. The son of an artist, he was at an See also:early See also:age trained to the profession of a See also:wood-engraver. In 186o he was commissioned to make a See also:series of sketches of Alpine scenery, and undertook an extensive See also:journey in the Central and Western See also:Alps. Among the See also:objects of this tour was the See also:illustration of an See also:attempt, which proved unsuccessful, made by See also:Professor See also:Bonney's party, to ascend Mont Pelvoux, at that See also:time believed to be the highest See also:peak of the See also:Dauphine Alps. He successfully accomplished the ascent in 1861—the first of a series of expeditions that threw much See also:light on the See also:topography of a See also:district at that time very imperfectly mapped. From the See also:summit of Mont Pelvoux he discovered that it was overtopped by a neighbouring peak, subsequently named the Pointe See also:des Ecrins, which, before the See also:annexation of See also:Savoy added Mont See also:Blanc to the possessions of See also:France, was the highest point in the See also:French Alps. Its ascent by Mr Whymper's party in 1864 was perhaps the most remarkable feat of See also:mountaineering up to that date. The years 1861 to 1865 are filled with a number of new expeditions in the Mont Blanc See also:group and the Pennine Alps, among them the ascent of the See also:Aiguille Verte and the See also:crossing of the See also:Morning Pass. Professor See also:Tyndall and Mr Whymper emulated each other in fruitless attempts to reach the summit of the See also:Matterhorn by the See also:south-western or See also:Italian See also:ridge. Mr Whymper, six times repulsed, determined to try the eastern See also:face, convinced that its precipitous See also:appearance when viewed from See also:Zermatt was an See also:optical illusion, and that the See also:dip of the strata, which on the Italian See also:side formed a continuous series of overhangs, should make the opposite side a natural See also:staircase. His attempt by what is now the usual route was crowned with success (14th of See also:July 1865); but on the descent four of the party slipped and were killed, andonly the breaking of the rope saved Mr Whymper and the two remaining guides from the same See also:fate. The See also:account of his attempts on the Matterhorn occupies the greater See also:part of his Scrambles among the Alps (1871), in which the illustrations are engraved by the author himself, and are very beautiful.

His See also:

campaign of 1865 had been planned to exercise his See also:judgment in the choice of routes as a preparation for an expedition to See also:Greenland (1867). This resulted in an important collection of fossil See also:plants, which were described by Professor Heer and deposited in the British Museum. Mr Whymper's See also:report was published in the Report of the British Association for the See also:year 186q. Though hampered by want of means and by the prevalence of an epidemic among the natives, he proved that the interior could be explored by the use of suitably constructed sledges, and thus contributed an important advance to See also:Arctic exploration. Another expedition followed in 1872, and was devoted to a survey of the See also:coast-See also:line. He next organized an expedition to See also:Ecuador, designed primarily to collect data for the study of See also:mountain-sickness and of the effect of diminished pressure on the human See also:frame. He took as his See also:chief See also:guide See also:Jean-See also:Antoine See also:Carrel, whose subsequent See also:death from exhaustion on the Matterhorn after bringing his employers into safety through a snowstorm forms one of the noblest pages in the See also:history of mountaineering. During 188o Mr Whymper on two occasions ascended Chimborazo, whose summit, 20,500 ft. above See also:sea-level, had never before been reached; spent a See also:night on the summit of See also:Cotopaxi, and made first ascents of See also:half-a-dozen other See also:great peaks. In 1892 he published the results of his journey in a See also:volume, entitled Travels amongst the Great See also:Andes of the See also:Equator. His observations on mountain-sickness led him to conclude that it was caused by "diminution in atmospheric pressure, which operates in at least two ways—namely, (a) by lessening the value of the See also:air that can be inspired in any given time, and (b) by causing the air or See also:gas within the See also:body to expand, and to See also:press upon the See also:internal See also:organs"; and that " the effects produced by (b) may be temporary and pass away when See also:equilibrium has been restored between the internal and See also:external pressure." The publication of his See also:work was recognized on the part of the Royal See also:Geographical Society by the See also:award of the See also:Patron's See also:medal. His experiences in South See also:America having convinced him of certain serious errors in the readings of aneroid barometers at high altitudes, he published a work, entitled How to Use the Aneroid See also:Barometer, and succeeded in introducing important improvements in their construction. He afterwards published two guide-books to Zermatt and See also:Chamonix.

In 1901-1905 he undertook an expedition in the region of the Great See also:

Divide of the See also:Canadian Rockies.

End of Article: WHYMPER, EDWARD (1840- )

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