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SEVENTH EDITION

ESSENTIAL
MATLAB
for Engineers and Scientists
®

Brian D. Hahn
Daniel T. Valentine
 Essential MATLAB
for Engineers and Scientists
This page intentionally left blank
 Essential MATLAB
for Engineers and Scientists
Seventh Edition

Brian D. Hahn
Daniel T. Valentine

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2013, 2010 Daniel T. Valentine. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007, 2006, 2002 Brian D. Hahn and Daniel T. Valentine. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
MATLAB® is a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. and is used with permission.
The MathWorks does not warrant the accuracy of the text or exercises in this book.
This book’s use or discussion of MATLAB® software or related products does not constitute endorsement
or sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular pedagogical approach or particular use of the
MATLAB® software.
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Typeset by VTeX
 Contents

PREFACE ........................................................................................................... xv

Part 1 Essentials
CHAPTER 1 Introduction.............................................................................3
1.1 Using MATLAB................................................................5
1.1.1 Arithmetic...........................................................6
1.1.2 Variables .............................................................7
1.1.3 Mathematical functions.....................................8
1.1.4 Functions and commands .................................8
1.1.5 Vectors ................................................................9
1.1.6 Linear equations ..............................................11
1.1.7 Tutorials and demos ........................................12
1.2 The desktop ..................................................................13
1.2.1 Using the Editor and running a script ............14
1.2.2 Help, Publish and View ....................................16
1.2.3 Symbolics in live scripts ..................................19
1.2.4 APPS .................................................................20
1.2.5 Additional features...........................................22
1.3 Sample program ..........................................................24
1.3.1 Cut and paste ...................................................24
1.3.2 Saving a program: Script files.........................26
1.3.3 A program in action .........................................28
Summary ......................................................................29
Exercises ......................................................................30
Appendix 1.A Supplementary material ..............................30
CHAPTER 2 MATLAB Fundamentals........................................................31
2.1 Variables .......................................................................31
2.1.1 Case sensitivity ................................................32
2.2 The workspace .............................................................32
2.2.1 Adding commonly used constants to the
workspace ........................................................33 v
vi Contents

2.3 Arrays: Vectors and matrices......................................34

2.3.1 Initializing vectors: Explicit lists .....................34
2.3.2 Initializing vectors: The colon operator ..........35
2.3.3 The linspace and logspace functions .............36
2.3.4 Transposing vectors.........................................37
2.3.5 Subscripts.........................................................37
2.3.6 Matrices ............................................................38
2.3.7 Capturing output ..............................................39
2.3.8 Structure plan ..................................................39
2.4 Vertical motion under gravity......................................40
2.5 Operators, expressions, and statements ...................42
2.5.1 Numbers...........................................................43
2.5.2 Data types.........................................................43
2.5.3 Arithmetic operators .......................................44
2.5.4 Operator precedence .......................................44
2.5.5 The colon operator...........................................45
2.5.6 The transpose operator ...................................46
2.5.7 Arithmetic operations on arrays .....................46
2.5.8 Expressions ......................................................47
2.5.9 Statements .......................................................48
2.5.10 Statements, commands, and functions..........49
2.5.11 Formula vectorization......................................49
2.6 Output ...........................................................................52
2.6.1 The disp statement ..........................................52
2.6.2 The format command.......................................54
2.6.3 Scale factors.....................................................55
2.7 Repeating with for .......................................................55
2.7.1 Square roots with Newton’s method ..............56
2.7.2 Factorials!.........................................................57
2.7.3 Limit of a sequence..........................................58
2.7.4 The basic for construct ...................................58
2.7.5 for in a single line............................................60
2.7.6 More general for..............................................60
2.7.7 Avoid for loops by vectorizing!........................60
2.8 Decisions ......................................................................63
2.8.1 The one-line if statement...............................63
2.8.2 The if-else construct......................................65
2.8.3 The one-line if-else statement .....................66
2.8.4 elseif................................................................ 66
2.8.5 Logical operators .............................................68
2.8.6 Multiple ifs versus elseif ..............................68
2.8.7 Nested ifs ........................................................70
2.8.8 Vectorizing ifs?................................................71
2.8.9 The switch statement ......................................71
2.9 Complex numbers........................................................71
 Contents vii

Summary ......................................................................73
Exercises ......................................................................75
Appendix 2.A Supplementary material ..............................81
CHAPTER 3 Program Design and Algorithm Development ...................83
3.1 The program design process ......................................84
3.1.1 The projectile problem.....................................87
3.2 Programming MATLAB functions ...............................92
3.2.1 Inline objects: Harmonic oscillators...............92
3.2.2 MATLAB function: y = f (x) .............................94
Summary ......................................................................96
Exercises ......................................................................97
CHAPTER 4 MATLAB Functions and Data Import-Export Utilities ........99
4.1 Common functions.......................................................99
4.2 Importing and exporting data....................................104
4.2.1 The load and save commands .......................104
4.2.2 Exporting text (ASCII) data ............................104
4.2.3 Importing text (ASCII) data ............................ 105
4.2.4 Exporting binary data.....................................105
4.2.5 Importing binary data ....................................106
Summary ....................................................................106
Exercises .................................................................... 106
CHAPTER 5 Logical Vectors.................................................................... 109
5.1 Examples ....................................................................110
5.1.1 Discontinuous graphs....................................110
5.1.2 Avoiding division by zero................................ 111
5.1.3 Avoiding infinity .............................................. 112
5.1.4 Counting random numbers ...........................113
5.1.5 Rolling dice.....................................................114
5.2 Logical operators .......................................................115
5.2.1 Operator precedence .....................................116
5.2.2 Danger ............................................................ 116
5.2.3 Logical operators and vectors....................... 117
5.3 Subscripting with logical vectors..............................118
5.4 Logical functions........................................................119
5.4.1 Using any and all ...........................................120
5.5 Logical vectors instead of elseif ladders ................121
Summary ....................................................................123
Exercises .................................................................... 124
Appendix 5.A Supplementary material ............................126
CHAPTER 6 Matrices and Arrays ........................................................... 127
6.1 Matrices......................................................................127
6.1.1 A concrete example ....................................... 127
6.1.2 Creating matrices .......................................... 129
viii Contents

6.1.3 Subscripts.......................................................129
6.1.4 Transpose ....................................................... 130
6.1.5 The colon operator......................................... 130
6.1.6 Duplicating rows and columns: Tiling .......... 133
6.1.7 Deleting rows and columns........................... 134
6.1.8 Elementary matrices .....................................135
6.1.9 Specialized matrices......................................136
6.1.10 Using MATLAB functions with matrices .......137
6.1.11 Manipulating matrices...................................138
6.1.12 Array (element-by-element) operations on
matrices..........................................................138
6.1.13 Matrices and for ............................................139
6.1.14 Visualization of matrices ............................... 139
6.1.15 Vectorizing nested fors: loan repayment
tables ..............................................................139
6.1.16 Multi-dimensional arrays.............................. 142
6.2 Matrix operations.......................................................143
6.2.1 Matrix multiplication......................................143
6.2.2 Matrix exponentiation ....................................145
6.3 Other matrix functions ..............................................145
6.4 Population growth: Leslie matrices .........................146
6.5 Markov processes ......................................................149
6.5.1 A random walk ...............................................150
6.6 Linear equations ........................................................152
6.6.1 MATLAB’s solution ......................................... 153
6.6.2 The residual....................................................153
6.6.3 Over-determined systems.............................154
6.6.4 Under-determined systems .......................... 155
6.6.5 Ill conditioning................................................155
6.6.6 Matrix division ................................................ 156
6.7 Sparse matrices.........................................................157
Summary ....................................................................160
Exercises ....................................................................160
CHAPTER 7 Function M-files..................................................................163
7.1 Example: Newton’s method again ............................ 163
7.2 Basic rules.................................................................. 165
7.2.1 Subfunctions ..................................................170
7.2.2 Private functions ............................................170
7.2.3 P-code files.....................................................170
7.2.4 Improving M-file performance with the
Profiler............................................................171
7.3 Function handles........................................................171
7.4 Command/function duality........................................ 173
7.5 Function name resolution .........................................173
 Contents ix

7.6 Debugging M-files......................................................174

7.6.1 Debugging a script.........................................174
7.6.2 Debugging a function.....................................176
7.7 Recursion ...................................................................176
Summary ....................................................................177
Exercises .................................................................... 179
Appendix 7.A Supplementary material ............................180
CHAPTER 8 Loops ...................................................................................181
8.1 Determinate repetition with for................................181
8.1.1 Binomial coefficient .......................................181
8.1.2 Update processes...........................................182
8.1.3 Nested fors ....................................................184
8.2 Indeterminate repetition with while .........................184
8.2.1 A guessing game............................................184
8.2.2 The while statement ...................................... 185
8.2.3 Doubling time of an investment .................... 186
8.2.4 Prime numbers ..............................................187
8.2.5 Projectile trajectory ....................................... 188
8.2.6 break and continue......................................... 190
8.2.7 Menus .............................................................191
Summary ....................................................................192
Exercises .................................................................... 192
CHAPTER 9 MATLAB Graphics...............................................................197
9.1 Basic 2-D graphs .......................................................197
9.1.1 Labels .............................................................198
9.1.2 Multiple plots on the same axes ................... 199
9.1.3 Line styles, markers and color ..................... 200
9.1.4 Axis limits .......................................................200
9.1.5 Multiple plots in a figure: subplot .................202
9.1.6 figure, clf and cla ........................................ 203
9.1.7 Graphical input...............................................203
9.1.8 Logarithmic plots...........................................203
9.1.9 Polar plots ......................................................204
9.1.10 Plotting rapidly changing mathematical
functions: fplot .............................................. 205
9.1.11 The Property Editor........................................206
9.2 3-D plots .....................................................................206
9.2.1 plot3 ...............................................................206
9.2.2 Animated 3-D plots with comet3 .................... 207
9.2.3 Mesh surfaces ................................................ 207
9.2.4 Contour plots..................................................209
9.2.5 Cropping a surface with NaNs ........................211
9.2.6 Visualizing vector fields.................................211
x Contents

9.2.7 Visualization of matrices ............................... 212

9.2.8 Rotation of 3-D graphs ..................................213
9.3 Handle Graphics.........................................................214
9.3.1 Getting handles ..............................................215
9.3.2 Graphics object properties and how to
change them...................................................216
9.3.3 A vector of handles ........................................ 218
9.3.4 Graphics object creation functions ...............218
9.3.5 Parenting ........................................................219
9.3.6 Positioning figures .........................................219
9.4 Editing plots ...............................................................220
9.4.1 Plot edit mode ................................................220
9.4.2 Property Editor...............................................221
9.5 Animation ...................................................................222
9.5.1 Animation with Handle Graphics .................. 223
9.6 Color etc. ....................................................................225
9.6.1 Colormaps ......................................................225
9.6.2 Color of surface plots ....................................227
9.6.3 Truecolor ........................................................228
9.7 Lighting and camera.................................................. 229
9.8 Saving, printing and exporting graphs ..................... 230
9.8.1 Saving and opening figure files ..................... 230
9.8.2 Printing a graph .............................................230
9.8.3 Exporting a graph...........................................230
Summary ....................................................................231
Exercises ....................................................................232
CHAPTER 10 Vectors as Arrays and Other Data Structures ..................237
10.1 Update processes ......................................................237
10.1.1 Unit time steps ...............................................238
10.1.2 Non-unit time steps....................................... 240
10.1.3 Using a function .............................................242
10.1.4 Exact solution................................................. 243
10.2 Frequencies, bar charts and histograms .................244
10.2.1 A random walk ...............................................244
10.2.2 Histograms .....................................................245
10.3 Sorting ........................................................................246
10.3.1 Bubble Sort..................................................... 246
10.3.2 MATLAB’s sort ...............................................248
10.4 Structures...................................................................249
10.5 Cell arrays .................................................................. 251
10.5.1 Assigning data to cell arrays.........................251
10.5.2 Accessing data in cell arrays.........................253
10.5.3 Using cell arrays ............................................ 253
10.5.4 Displaying and visualizing cell arrays .......... 254
 Contents xi

10.6 Classes and objects ................................................... 254

Summary ....................................................................255
CHAPTER 11 Errors and Pitfalls ..............................................................257
11.1 Syntax errors..............................................................257
11.1.1 Incompatible vector sizes..............................257
11.1.2 Name hiding ...................................................258
11.2 Logic errors................................................................ 258
11.3 Rounding error........................................................... 259
Summary ....................................................................260
Chapter exercises ......................................................260

Part 2 Applications
CHAPTER 12 Dynamical Systems ............................................................ 265
12.1 Cantilever beam .........................................................267
12.2 Electric current .......................................................... 268
12.3 Free fall....................................................................... 271
12.4 Projectile with friction ...............................................280
Summary ....................................................................284
Exercises .................................................................... 284
CHAPTER 13 Simulation ...........................................................................285
13.1 Random number generation .....................................285
13.1.1 Seeding rand ...................................................286
13.2 Spinning coins ............................................................ 286
13.3 Rolling dice.................................................................287
13.4 Bacteria division.........................................................288
13.5 A random walk ........................................................... 288
13.6 Traffic flow ..................................................................290
13.7 Normal (Gaussian) random numbers.......................293
Summary ....................................................................293
Exercises .................................................................... 294
CHAPTER 14 Introduction to Numerical Methods ..................................299
14.1 Equations....................................................................299
14.1.1 Newton’s method ...........................................299
14.1.2 The Bisection method....................................301
14.1.3 fzero ...............................................................303
14.1.4 roots ...............................................................303
14.2 Integration ..................................................................304
14.2.1 The Trapezoidal rule ......................................304
14.2.2 Simpson’s rule ...............................................305
14.2.3 quad .................................................................306
14.3 Numerical differentiation .......................................... 306
14.3.1 diff .................................................................307
xii Contents

14.4 First-order differential equations ............................. 308

14.4.1 Euler’s method ...............................................308
14.4.2 Example: Bacteria growth ............................. 309
14.4.3 Alternative subscript notation.......................311
14.4.4 A predictor-corrector method.......................312
14.5 Linear ordinary differential equations (LODEs) ....... 313
14.6 Runge-Kutta methods ...............................................313
14.6.1 A single differential equation ........................313
14.6.2 Systems of differential equations: Chaos..... 314
14.6.3 Passing additional parameters to an ODE
solver ..............................................................317
14.7 A partial differential equation ...................................318
14.7.1 Heat conduction .............................................318
14.8 Complex variables and conformal mapping.............322
Joukowski airfoil ............................................ 322
14.9 Other numerical methods ......................................... 323
Summary ....................................................................325
Exercises ....................................................................325
CHAPTER 15 Signal Processing ...............................................................329
15.1 Harmonic analysis .....................................................330
15.2 Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)....................................335
CHAPTER 16 SIMULINK® Toolbox ........................................................... 341
16.1 Mass-spring-damper dynamic system .................... 347
16.2 Bouncing ball dynamic system .................................349
16.3 The van der Pol oscillator.......................................... 352
16.4 The Duffing oscillator ................................................ 353
Exercises ....................................................................355
CHAPTER 17 Symbolics Toolbox ..............................................................359
17.1 Algebra .......................................................................360
17.1.1 Polynomials ....................................................361
17.1.2 Vectors ............................................................ 363
17.1.3 Matrices ..........................................................364
17.2 Calculus...................................................................... 368
17.3 Laplace and Z transforms .........................................370
17.4 Generalized functions∗ ..............................................371
17.5 Differential equations ................................................373
17.6 Implementation of funtool, MuPAD and help........... 374
17.6.1 The funtool .....................................................374
17.6.2 The MuPAD notebook∗ and Symbolic help... 375
Exercises ....................................................................377
APPENDIX A Syntax: Quick Reference ....................................................379
A.1 Expressions ................................................................379
A.2 Function M-files .........................................................379
 Contents xiii

A.3 Graphics......................................................................379
A.4 if and switch .............................................................. 380
A.5 for and while ..............................................................381
A.6 Input/output................................................................381
A.7 load/save..................................................................... 382
A.8 Vectors and matrices .................................................382
APPENDIX B Operators ............................................................................385
APPENDIX C Command and Function: Quick Reference ....................... 387
C.1 General-purpose commands ....................................387
C.1.1 Managing variables and the workspace ....... 387
C.1.2 Files and the operating system..................... 387
C.1.3 Controlling the Command Window...............388
C.1.4 Starting and quitting MATLAB....................... 388
C.2 Logical functions........................................................388
C.3 MATLAB programming tools.....................................388
C.3.1 Interactive input .............................................389
C.4 Matrices......................................................................389
C.4.1 Special variables and constants ................... 389
C.4.2 Time and date.................................................389
C.4.3 Matrix manipulation....................................... 389
C.4.4 Specialized matrices......................................390
C.5 Mathematical functions.............................................390
C.6 Matrix functions .........................................................391
C.7 Data analysis ..............................................................391
C.8 Polynomial functions ................................................. 392
C.9 Function functions .....................................................392
C.10 Sparse matrix functions ............................................392
C.11 Character string functions ........................................ 392
C.12 File I/O functions........................................................392
C.13 2D graphics ................................................................393
C.14 3D graphics ................................................................393
C.15 General .......................................................................393
APPENDIX D Solutions to Selected Exercises......................................... 395
INDEX ..............................................................................................................407
This page intentionally left blank
Preface

The main reason for a seventh edition of Essential MATLAB for Engineers and
Scientists is to keep up with MATLAB, now in its latest version (9.5 Version
R2018b). Like the previous editions, this one presents MATLAB as a problem-
solving tool for professionals in science and engineering, as well as students in
those fields, who have no prior knowledge of computer programming.
In keeping with the late Brian D. Hahn’s objectives in previous editions, the
seventh edition adopts an informal, tutorial style for its “teach-yourself” ap-
proach, which invites readers to experiment with MATLAB as a way of discov-
ering how it works. It assumes that readers have never used this tool in their
technical problem solving.
MATLAB, which stands for “Matrix Laboratory,” is based on the concept of
the matrix. Because readers may be unfamiliar with matrices, ideas and con-
structs are developed gradually, as the context requires. The primary audience
for Essential MATLAB is scientists and engineers, and for that reason certain ex-
amples require some first-year college math, particularly in Part 2. However,
these examples are self-contained and can be skipped without detracting from
the development of readers’ programming skills.
MATLAB can be used in two distinct modes. One, in keeping the modern-age
craving for instant gratification, offers immediate execution of statements (or
groups of statements) in the Command Window. The other, for the more pa-
tient, offers conventional programming by means of script files. Both modes
are put to good use here: The former encouraging cut and paste to take full
advantage of Windows’ interactive environment. The latter stressing program-
ming principles and algorithm development through structure plans.
Although most of MATLAB’s basic (“essential”) features are covered, this book
is neither an exhaustive nor a systematic reference. This would not be in keep-
ing with its informal style. For example, constructs such as for and if are not
always treated, initially, in their general form, as is common in many texts, but
are gradually introduced in discussions where they fit naturally. Even so, they
are treated thoroughly here, unlike in other texts that deal with them only su- xv
xvi Preface

perficially. For the curious, helpful syntax and function quick references can be
found in the appendices.
Essential MATLAB is meant to be used in conjunction with the MATLAB soft-
ware. The reader is expected to have the software at hand in order to work
through the exercises and thus discover how MATLAB does what it is com-
manded to do. Learning any tool is possible only through hands-on expe-
rience. This is particularly true with computing tools, which produce correct
answers only when the commands they are given and the accompanying data
input are correct and accurate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Mary, Clara, Zoe Rae and Zach T. for their support and en-
couragement. I dedicate the seventh edition of Essential MATLAB for Engineers
and Scientists to them.

Daniel T. Valentine
 1
Part 1 concerns those aspects of MATLAB that you need to know in order to
come to grips with MATLAB’s essentials and those of technical computing. Be-
cause this book is a tutorial, you are encouraged to use MATLAB extensively
while you go through the text.
PA R T

Essentials
This page intentionally left blank
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS CHAPTER ARE: CONTENTS

■ To enable you to use some simple MATLAB commands from the Com- Using MATLAB . 5
mand Window. Arithmetic ............ 6
■ To examine various MATLAB desktop and editing features. Variables .............. 7
Mathematical
■ To learn some of the new features of the MATLAB R2018b Desktop. functions .............. 8
■ To learn to write scripts in the Editor and Run them from the Editor. Functions and
■ To learn some of the new features associated with the tabs (in particular, commands ........... 8
Vectors ................ 9
the PUBLISH and APPS features).
Linear equations.... 11
Tutorials and demos 12
MATLAB is a powerful technical computing system for handling scientific and The desktop ..... 13
engineering calculations. The name MATLAB stands for Matrix Laboratory, be- Using the Editor and
cause the system was designed to make matrix computations particularly easy. running a script ..... 14
Help, Publish and
A matrix is an array of numbers organized in m rows and n columns. An exam- View .................... 16
ple is the following m × n = 2 × 3 array: Symbolics in live
  scripts ................. 19
1 3 5 APPS ................... 20
A= Additional features . 22
2 4 6
Sample program 24
Any one of the elements in a matrix can be accessed by using the row and Cut and paste ........ 24
column indices that identify its location. The elements in this example are ac- Saving a program:
cessed as follows: A(1, 1) = 1, A(1, 2) = 3, A(1, 3) = 5, A(2, 1) = 2, A(2, 2) = 4, Script files ............ 26
Current directory ...... 27
A(2, 3) = 6. The first index identifies the row number counted from top to bot- Running a script from
tom; the second index is the column number counted from left to right. This is the Current Folder
the convention used in MATLAB to locate information in a matrix. A computer browser .................. 28
A program in action 28
is useful because it can do numerous computations quickly, so operating on
large numerical data sets listed in tables or matrices (or arrays) of rows and Summary ........ 29
columns is quite efficient. Exercises ........ 30
This book assumes that you are an engineer, a scientist or an undergraduate Supplementary
student majoring in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathemat- material .......... 30
ics) field. Hence, it is assumed that students and practitioners in STEM have
been introduced to matrices in their mathematics courses prior to entering a
college or university. On the other hand this book assumes that you have never
used MATLAB to solve engineering or scientific problems and are interested in 3

Essential MATLAB for Engineers and Scientists. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102997-8.00007-5

Copyright © 2019 Daniel T. Valentine. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
4 CHAPTER 1: Introduction

discovering the technical computing capabilities of this tool. Hence, it is also

assumed that you can find your way around the keyboard and know your op-
erating system (e.g., Windows, UNIX or MAC-OS). Some experience using a
computer is expected, e.g., doing word processing, doing basic text editing, etc.
One of the many things you will like about MATLAB (and that distinguishes
it from many other computer programming systems, such as C++ and Java) is
that you can use it interactively. This means you type some commands at the
special MATLAB prompt and get results immediately. The problems solved in
this way can be very simple, like finding a square root, or very complicated, like
finding the solution to a system of differential equations. For many technical
problems, you enter only one or two commands—MATLAB does most of the
work for you.
There are three essential requirements for successful MATLAB applications:

■ You must learn the exact rules for writing MATLAB statements and using
MATLAB utilities.
■ You must know the mathematics associated with the problem you want
to solve.
■ You must develop a logical plan of attack—the algorithm—for solving a
particular problem.

This chapter is devoted mainly to the first requirement: learning some basic
MATLAB rules. Computer programming is the process of writing a collection
of instructions that performs a specific task when executed by a computer. In
this book you are introduced to programming by using some of the capabilities
of MATLAB to do technical computing.
With experience, you will be able to design, develop and implement compu-
tational and graphical tools to do relatively complex science and engineering
problems. You will be able to adjust the look of MATLAB, modify the way you
interact with it, and develop a toolbox of your own that helps you solve prob-
lems of interest. In other words, you can, with significant experience, customize
your MATLAB working environment.
In the rest of this chapter we will look at some simple examples. Don’t be
concerned about understanding exactly what is happening. Understanding will
come with the work you need to do in later chapters. It is very important for
you to practice with MATLAB to learn how it works. Once you have grasped
the basic rules in this chapter, you will be prepared to master many of those
presented in the next chapter and in the Help files provided with MATLAB. This
will help you go on to solve more interesting and substantial problems. In the
last section of this chapter you will take a quick tour of the MATLAB desktop.
 1.1 Using MATLAB 5

FIGURE 1.1
MATLAB desktop illustrating the Home task bar (version 2018b).

1.1 USING MATLAB

Either MATLAB must be installed on your computer or you must have access
to a network where it is available. Throughout this book the latest version at
the time of writing is assumed (version R2018b).
To start from Windows, double-click the MATLAB icon on your Windows desk-
top. To start from UNIX, type matlab at the operating system prompt. To start
from MAC-OS open X11 (i.e., open an X-terminal window), then type matlab
at the prompt. The MATLAB desktop opens as shown in Fig. 1.1. The window
in the desktop that concerns us for now is the Command Window, where the
special >> prompt appears. This prompt means that MATLAB is waiting for a
command. You can quit at any time with one of the following ways:

■ Click the X (close box) in the upper right-hand corner of the MATLAB
desktop.
■ Type quit or exit at the Command Window prompt followed by pressing
the ‘enter’ key.

Starting MATLAB automatically creates a folder named MATLAB in the user’s

Documents Folder. This feature is quite convenient because it is the default
working folder. It is in this folder that anything saved from the Command
Window will be saved. Now you can experiment with MATLAB in the Com-
mand Window. If necessary, make the Command Window active by placing
the cursor in the Command Window and left-clicking the mouse button any-
where inside its border.
6 CHAPTER 1: Introduction

1.1.1 Arithmetic
Since we have experience doing arithmetic, we want to examine if MATLAB
does it correctly. This is a required step to gain confidence in any tool and in
our ability to use it.
Type 2+3 after the >> prompt, followed by Enter (press the Enter key) as in-
dicated by <Enter>:

>> 2+3 <Enter>

Commands are only carried out when you enter them. The answer in this case
is, of course, 5. Next try

>> 3-2 <Enter>

>> 2*3 <Enter>
>> 1/2 <Enter>
>> 23 <Enter>
>> 2\11 <Enter>

What about (1)/(2) and (2)^(3)? Can you figure out what the symbols *, /,
and ^ mean? Yes, they are multiplication, division and exponentiation. The
backslash means the denominator is to the left of the symbol and the numer-
ator is to the right; the result for the last command is 5.5. This operation is
equivalent to 11/2.
Now enter the following commands:

>> 2 .* 3 <Enter>
>> 1 ./ 2 <Enter>
>> 2 .ˆ 3 <Enter>

A period in front of the *, /, and ^, respectively, does not change the results
because the multiplication, division, and exponentiation is done with single
numbers. (An explanation for the need for these symbols is provided later
when we deal with arrays of numbers.)
Here are hints on creating and editing command lines:

■ The line with the >> prompt is called the command line.
■ You can edit a MATLAB command before pressing Enter by using various
combinations of the Backspace, Left-arrow, Right-arrow, and Del keys.
This helpful feature is called command-line editing.
■ You can select (and edit) commands you have entered using Up-arrow
and Down-arrow. Remember to press Enter to have the command carried
out (i.e., to run or to execute the command).
 1.1 Using MATLAB 7

■ MATLAB has a useful editing feature called smart recall. Just type the first
few characters of the command you want to recall. For example, type the
characters 2* and press the Up-arrow key—this recalls the most recent
command starting with 2*.

How do you think MATLAB would handle 0/1 and 1/0? Try it. If you insist
on using ∞ in a calculation, which you may legitimately wish to do, type the
symbol Inf (short for infinity). Try 13+Inf and 29/Inf.
Another special value that you may meet is NaN, which stands for Not-a-
Number. It is the answer to calculations like 0/0.

1.1.2 Variables

Now we will assign values to variables to do arithmetic operations with the

variables. First enter the command (statement in programming jargon) a = 2.
The MATLAB command line should look like this:

>> a = 2 <Enter>

The a is a variable. This statement assigns the value of 2 to a. (Note that this
value is displayed immediately after the statement is executed.) Now try en-
tering the statement a = a + 7 followed on a new line by a = a * 10. Do you
agree with the final value of a? Do we agree that it is 90?
Now enter the statement

>> b = 3; <Enter>

The semicolon (;) prevents the value of b from being displayed. However, b still
has the value 3, as you can see by entering without a semicolon:

>> b <Enter>

Assign any values you like to two variables x and y. Now see if you can assign
the sum of x and y to a third variable z in a single statement. One way of doing
this is

>> x = 2; y = 3; <Enter>
>> z = x + y <Enter>

Notice that, in addition to doing the arithmetic with variables with assigned
values, several commands separated by semicolons (or commas) can be put
on one line.
8 CHAPTER 1: Introduction

1.1.3 Mathematical functions

MATLAB has all of the usual mathematical functions found on a scientific-
electronic calculator, like sin, cos, and log (meaning the natural logarithm).
See Appendix C for many more examples.
√
■ Find π with the command sqrt(pi). The answer should be 1.7725.
Note that MATLAB knows the value of pi because it is one of its many
built-in functions.
■ Trigonometric functions like sin(x) expect the argument x to be in
radians. Multiply degrees by π/180 to get radians. For example, use
MATLAB to calculate sin(90◦ ). The answer should be 1 (sin(90*pi/180)).
■ The exponential function ex is computed in MATLAB as exp(x). Use this
information to find e and 1/e (2.7183 and 0.3679).

Because of the numerous built-in functions like pi or sin, care must be taken
in the naming of user-defined variables. Names should not duplicate those
of built-in functions without good reason. This problem can be illustrated as
follows:

>> pi = 4 <Enter>
>> sqrt(pi) <Enter>
>> whos <Enter>
>> clear pi <Enter>
>> whos <Enter>
>> sqrt(pi) <Enter>
>> clear <Enter>
>> whos <Enter>

Note that clear executed by itself clears all local variables in the workspace (the
workspace is where the local variables defined on command lines are stored;
see the Workspace pane on the right side of the default desktop); >> clear pi
clears the locally defined variable pi. In other words, if you decide to redefine
a built-in function or command, the new value is used! The command whos
is executed to determine the list of local variables or commands presently in
the workspace. The first execution of the command pi = 4 in the above exam-
ple displays your redefinition of the built-in pi: a 1-by-1 (or 1x1) double array,
which means this data type was created when pi was assigned a number.

1.1.4 Functions and commands

MATLAB has numerous general functions. Try date and calendar for starters.
It also has numerous commands, such as clc (for clear command window). help
is one you will use a lot (see below). The difference between functions and
commands is that functions usually return with a value (e.g., the date), while
 1.1 Using MATLAB 9

commands tend to change the environment in some way (e.g., clearing the
screen or saving some statements to the workspace).

1.1.5 Vectors

Variables such as a and b that were used in Section 1.1.2 above are called scalars;
they are single-valued. MATLAB also handles vectors (generally referred to as
arrays), which are the key to many of its powerful features. The easiest way
of defining a vector where the elements (components) increase by the same
amount is with a statement like

>> x = 0 : 10; <Enter>

The symbol between the 0 and the 10 is a colon (:). There is no need to leave
a space on either side of it, except to make it more readable. Enter x to check
that x is a vector; it is a row vector—consisting of 1 row and 11 columns. Type
the following command to verify that this is the case:

>> size(x) <Enter>

Part of the real power of MATLAB is illustrated by the fact that other vectors
can now be defined (or created) in terms of the just defined vector x. Try

>> y = 2 .* x <Enter>
>> w = y ./ x <Enter>

and

>> z = sin(x) <Enter>

(no semicolons). Note that the first command line creates a vector y by multi-
plying each element of x by the factor 2. The second command line is an array
operation, creating a vector w by taking each element of y and dividing it by
the corresponding element of x. Since each element of y is two times the cor-
responding element of x, the vector w is a row vector of 11 elements all equal
to 2. Finally, z is a vector with sin(x) as its elements.
To draw a reasonably nice graph of sin(x), simply enter the following com-
mands:

>> x = 0 : 0.1 : 10; <Enter>

>> y = sin(x); <Enter>
>> plot(x,y), grid <Enter>
10 CHAPTER 1: Introduction

FIGURE 1.2
Figure window.

The graph appears in a separate figure window. To draw the graph of the sine
function illustrated in Fig. 1.2 replace the last line above with

>> plot(x,y,’-rs’,’LineWidth’,2,’MarkerEdgeColor’,’k’,’MarkerSize’,5),grid
<Enter>
>> xlabel(’ x ’), ylabel(’ sin(x) ’) <Enter>
>> whitebg(’y’) <Enter>

You can select the Command Window or figure windows by clicking anywhere
inside them. The Windows pull-down menus can be used in any of them.

Note that the first command line above has three numbers after the equal sign.
When three numbers are separated by two colons in this way, the middle num-
ber is the increment. The increment of 0.1 was selected to give a reasonably
smooth graph. The command grid following the comma in the last command
line adds a grid to the graph.

Modifying the plot function as illustrated above, of the many options available
within this function, four were selected. A comma was added after the variable
y followed by ’-rs’. This selects a solid red line (-r) to connect the points at which
the sine is computed; they are surrounded by square (s) markers in the figure.
The line width is increased to 2 and the marker edge color is black (k) with
size 5. Axis labels and the background color were changed with the statements
following the plot command. (Additional changes in background color, object
colors, etc., can be made with the figure properties editor; it can be found in
 1.1 Using MATLAB 11

the pull-down menu under Edit in the figure toolbar. Many of the colors in the
figures in this book were modified with the figure-editing tools.)
If you want to see more cycles of the sine graph, use command-line editing to
change sin(x) to sin(2*x).
Try drawing the graph of tan(x) over the same domain. You may find aspects
of your graph surprising. To help examine this function you can improve the
graph by using the command axis([0 10 -10 10]) as follows:

>> x = 1:0.1:10; <Enter>

>> z = tan(x); <Enter>
>> plot(x,z),axis([0 10 -10 10]) <Enter>

An alternative way to examine mathematical functions graphically is to use the

following command:

>> ezplot(’tan(x)’) <Enter>

The apostrophes around the function tan(x) are important in the ezplot com-
mand. Note that the default domain of x in ezplot is not 0 to 10.
A useful Command Window editing feature is tab completion: Type the first
few letters of a MATLAB name and then press Tab. If the name is unique, it is
automatically completed. If it is not unique, press Tab a second time to see all
the possibilities. Try by typing ta at the command line followed by Tab twice.

1.1.6 Linear equations

Systems of linear equations are very important in engineering and scientific

analysis. A simple example is finding the solution to two simultaneous equa-
tions:

x + 2y = 4
2x − y = 3

Here are two approaches to the solution.

Matrix method. Type the following commands (exactly as they are):

>> a = [1 2; 2 -1]; <Enter >

>> b = [4; 3]; <Enter >
>> x = a\b <Enter >

The result is
12 CHAPTER 1: Introduction

x =
2
1

i.e., x = 2, y = 1.
Built-in solve function. Type the following commands (exactly as they are):

>> syms x y; [x,y] = solve(x+2*y-4, 2*x - y-3) <Enter >

>> whos <Enter >
>> x = double(x), y=double(y) <Enter >
>> whos <Enter >

The function double converts x and y from symbolic objects (another data type
in MATLAB) to double arrays (i.e., the numerical-variable data type associated
with an assigned number).
To check your results, after executing either approach, type the following com-
mands (exactly as they are):

>> x + 2*y % should give ans = 4 <Enter >

>> 2*x - y % should give ans = 3 <Enter >

The % symbol is a flag that indicates all information to the right is not part of
the command but a comment. (We will examine the need for comments when
we learn to develop coded programs of command lines later on.)

1.1.7 Tutorials and demos

If you want a spectacular sample of what MATLAB has to offer, type the com-
mand demo on the command line. After entering this command the Help docu-
mentation is opened at MATLAB Examples (see Fig. 1.3). Left-click on “Getting
Started”. This points you to the list of tutorials and demonstrations of MATLAB
applications that are at your disposal. Click on any of the other topics to learn
more about the wealth of capabilities of MATLAB. You may wish to review the
tutorials appropriate to the topics you are examining as part of your technical
computing needs. Click on “View more MATLAB examples” and scroll down to
“Animations” and to “Images” to learn more about the features of MATLAB to
produce motion pictures as a way to analyze various unsteady problems. New
features are continually added to MATLAB; all new features are reported on the
MathWorks website. MathWorks is the company that sells and supports the
continued development of enhancements for MATLAB and SIMULINK and a
variety of toolboxes that they offer to the science, engineering, technology and
mathematics communities.
 1.2 The desktop 13

FIGURE 1.3
The Help documentation on MATLAB Examples.

1.2 THE DESKTOP

A very useful feature of MATLAB R2018a is the fact that when you first open
it, it creates the folder named MATLAB (if it does not already exist) in your
Documents folder. The first time it does this, there are no items in the folder
and, hence, the Current Folder panel will be empty. This new folder in your
Documents is the default working folder where all the files you create are saved.
The location of this folder is given in the first toolbar above the Command
Window. The location is C:\Users\Clara\Documents\MATLAB. This format of the
location was determined by pointing and left-clicking the mouse in the line
just above the Command Window.
Let us examine the Desktop from the top down. On the left side of the top line
you should see the name of the version of MATLAB running. In this case it is
MATLAB R2018a. On the right side of the top line are three buttons. They are
the underscore button, which allows you to minimize the size of the Desk-
top window, the rectangle button, which allows you to maximize the size
of the Desktop, and the × button, which allows you to close MATLAB (see
Fig. 1.4).
On the next line of the Desktop there are three tabs on the left side. The first
tap is most forward in the figure and, hence, the Home toolbar is displayed
(the tabs and the toolbars associated with the tabs are the main new features
of this release of MATLAB). If you are already familiar with a previous release
of MATLAB, you will find that these new features enhance significantly the use
of MATLAB. In addition, all previously developed tools operate exactly as they
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Alpine notes
and the climbing foot
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Alpine notes and the climbing foot

Author: George Wherry

Release date: April 10, 2024 [eBook #73368]

Language: English

Original publication: Cambridge: Macmillan & Bowes, 1896

Credits: Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALPINE NOTES

AND THE CLIMBING FOOT ***
ALPINE NOTES AND THE
CLIMBING FOOT

W. ALOIS KALBERMATTEN. XAVER IMSENG. A. B.

Alpine Notes
&
 The Climbing Foot

By
George Wherry
MA., M.C.Cantab., F.R.C.S.
Surgeon to Addenbrooke’s Hospital,
Cambridge; University Lecturer in
Surgery; Member of the Alpine Club

Cambridge: Macmillan & Bowes

1896
 PREFACE
The following pages were mostly written with pencil in the railway
train when the writer was returning from Alpine holidays. The letters
were published in the Cambridge Chronicle as a record of the
mountaineering season, and extend over the past five years.
A few serious remarks on the climbing foot, and on accidents, are
added separately, and little attempt has been made to retouch these
yearly letters. Being “touched for the evil” has been known,
according to the court wags, to kill a feeble son of Tom Esmond’s.
There being little but evil in the lad’s composition, the royal touch
which expelled the evil from the patient was a fatal performance.
Fearing it might prove so for my poor tracts, they remain much as
they were originally printed. Only of this I feel assured, that similar
notes, put into my hands when I began climbing, would have been
read by me with avidity.
If one of these papers be found now and then somewhat
technical, and to savour of another craft, more useful even than
mountaineering, that possible usefulness must be my excuse for
these digressions.
The series of pictures to illustrate the chapter on the climbing foot
I hope will prove of interest. Mr. Stearn, the photographer, of Bridge
Street, Cambridge, has caught the expression in the infant’s foot,
which I kept in position with my finger, and the remarkable
adaptation of the tiny infant’s foot for climbing and all-four
progression is very well shown; also those by Captain Abney of the
Swiss guides have come out exceedingly well.
These notes may be found acceptable to any novitiate, who, after
making his first climb, can feel what Meredith’s hero in The Amazing
Marriage so well expresses to his comrade:
 “I shall never forget the walk we’ve had. I have to thank you for
the noblest of pleasures. You’ve taught me—well, a thousand things;
the things money can’t buy. What mornings they were! and the
dead-tired nights! Under the rock, and up to see the snowy peak
pink in a gap of thick mist. You were right: it made a crimsoning
colour shine like a new idea. Up in those mountains one walks with
the divinities, you said. It’s perfectly true. I shall remember I did. I
have a treasure for life! Now I understand where you get your ideas.
The life we lead down there is hoggish. You have chosen the right.”
A small matter will suggest pleasant memories of mountaineering
to those (harmless degenerates, according to Max Nordau) who see
the Mer de Glace in every frozen puddle, as a child sees pictures in
the fire.
Many a man helping a dish of Devonshire junket on his table,
thinking of Forbes’s viscous theory, watches for the place opposite
the first gap made by the spoon, where in the junket there forms a
chasm parallel with the side, still leaving a fringe or shelf attached to
the edge of the dish—for him at the moment that crack is a
bergschrund—there he finds at one point a bridge convenient for
crossing, at another an impossible yawning crevasse.
Such a man will not find these notes dull, for he can enjoy the
plainest junket, and though he finds recorded few new things, yet
pleasant thoughts will be suggested of the past, and infinite
possibilities for the future.
Cambridge, May 1, 1896.
 CONTENTS
PAGE
An Alpine Letter, 1895, 1
Mountaineering in Dauphiné, 1894, 19
Switzerland and Savoy in 1893, 42
An Alpine Letter, 1892, 67
A Month upon the Mountains, 1891, 93
On the Climbing Foot, 119
On Accidents, 145
Index, 168
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Group of Climbers, Frontispiece
“The New Route,” Vignette
A Regiment of Larches advancing on Veteran Pines, 6
Melchior Anderegg, 1895, 16
Sketch Map of the Highest Point of the Dauphiné, 20
Les Ecrins from the Glacier Blanc, 26
Group of Climbers, 32
La Meije from the Val des Etançons, 36
Icebergs stranded on the bed of the Märjelen See, 80
Old Stone Bridge at Saas Fée, 108
Foot of an Infant Five Weeks Old, showing the Instep
touching the Shin on slight pressure of the Finger, 122
Foot of an Infant Five Weeks Old, touched with the Finger
to show the Angle of the Foot with the Leg and the
Prehensile Toes, 124
Foot of an Infant Five Weeks Old. The Instep is made to
touch the Shin by slight pressure of the finger, 126
Foot of an Infant nearly a Year Old—
First Position, 128
Second Position, 130
Guide’s Foot in Climbing Position against the Shoehorn
Rock at Zermatt (Alois Kalbermatten), 134
Do. (Peter Perren), 136
Guide’s Foot, to show the Angle made by the Foot with the
Leg without pressure, 138
Do., Another Position, 140
Foot of Experienced Amateur, 143
Act of Sitting Down, using only One Limb—
First Position, 142
Second Position, 144
 ALPINE NOTES

An Alpine Letter
1895
Training at Kandersteg—Climbing the south face of the Birrenhorn—The viper’s
cast—The larches replacing the pines—The ascent of the Doldenhorn—The
Petersgrat—The ascent of the Bietschhorn—An interesting anniversary ascent
—Ascent of Monte Rosa by the Lys Pass—Cold feet on the glacier—The
Furggen Joch—Accident to a guide—Traverse of the Matterhorn—Naked feet
of guides photographed in climbing position—The Traverse of the Charmoz—
Farewell to Melchior—Lines to my lantern.

Every one should try to be in good training once a year, and

experience has confirmed my opinion that Kandersteg, in the
Bernese Oberland, is a good place to train for a climbing holiday.
There the expeditions are interesting enough without being too
serious. The enervating effect of what is ironically called carriage
exercise, which only exercises the carriage, and does nothing for the
man inside, must be gradually counteracted by hard work in fine air.
Also it must be remembered that as one grows older, training is
more difficult, and too often hurried in the process.
With a friend of former years, our first little climb up the
Tschingellochtighorn resulted in a ducking, and for myself it must be
confessed that the bodily fatigue of the first tug up steep slopes
hardly permits of the usual interests and enjoyments of the way.
Now it is rather sad to reflect upon those two black sluggish lizards
that I was too lazy to collect, and that a fine crop of yellow Gentians
were merely noticed without pleasure. Climbing the
Tschingellochtigrat—a yellow Gentian it was that: and very little
more.
 Every struggle makes the next more easy—at first it is a purgatory
for the pie-crust of the past year, then the later labour is all delight.
Mr. M., that veteran climber, hailed me on my arrival at Kandersteg
with a shout: with him was his son, already at sixteen well
experienced in mountain craft, and the well-beloved Melchior
Anderegg. Mr. M. says “a man is always at his best on the Alps,” and
surely this is true; his body is most freed from disorder, and his mind
from cant, as he climbs away from all the worries of life.
We had an expedition together, a pretty climb up the steep south
face of the Birrenhorn; on our way up to the rock we killed an adder.
Near this spot last year I found a perfect viper’s cast (eye-covers and
lips also quite entire). It is now in the Cambridge Museum, and
proves that Gilbert White is correct in his statement that the snake’s
cast is turned completely inside out. Here too are a great number of
large white snails like escargots—“O helix infelix tui quam miseresco
sine sheetis aut blankets dormientis al fresco.”
As my friend had made with me this same ascent last year, we
were allowed to lead the way up, and had a nice scramble, notes of
which are to be found in the Alpine Journal, and seen on a later
page. This excursion gives a good view of the forests of the two
valleys seen from many points above the Kander stream and
Oeschinen See. No one can fail to note, when once attention is
aroused to it, how the larch is gaining ground in the struggle for
existence, and the pine is rapidly diminishing. Rarely does one see a
young Arolla pine, and the old trees are picturesque ruins. In the
Arolla valley the same observation may be made, and there are
decaying stumps of trees, 200 or 300 years old, remaining high up,
near the glaciers, where once a forest stood. A great advantage the
larch has in being a deciduous tree, shedding its thin and spiky
leaves every winter, and riding out the storm with bare poles, when
the pine holds on its evergreen branches a great weight of snow,
and presents a large surface for the tempest to burst upon.
When these pine trees stand together collecting snow, more
opportunities for avalanches occur, and ruin is scattered on the
forest beneath. The lovely green tints of the sprouting larches in
Spring will bring us some compensation if the pines are to be lost.

A REGIMENT OF LARCHES ADVANCING ON VETERAN PINES.

According to Mr. Sowerby, in his Forest Cantons, the larches
always choose the crystalline rocks, while the pines prefer the
limestone.
Starting from the Hotel at half-past one in the morning, we had a
roasting hot day on that beautiful snow-peak, the Doldenhorn. With
Hari as guide, we followed a large swinging oil-lamp, instead of the
usual lantern, and toiled up through jungle, to find the snow all fresh
and soft; lovely to look upon, but wearisome to travel up; a long ice-
slope at the top gave rest to all except our leader, who had to cut
steps to the final corniced ridge; there we held him with the rope in
leaning over to judge whether we might safely sit down upon the
summit.
On our departure from Kandersteg, a lady and her husband joined
us in a delightful walk over the Petersgrat. We rested a night at the
Selden châlets in the hay, giving the lady the only bed of the place,
and, starting the next morning early, had an easy day over that
beautiful glacier pass, arriving at Ried in the Lötschen Thal in a
broiling sun. Nothing more was then known of those two poor
fellows who went for their last climb a few weeks before, left the
little inn and never returned.
My companion had come with me to ascend the Bietschhorn, and
we found it a first-rate climb, requiring continual care because of the
rotten state of the rock arête. Every stone has to be tested before
the weight is allowed to rest upon it, and the movements over the
ridge must be lovingly and embracingly made without jerk or hurry.
In Alpine slang the mountain is badly in need of repair. We were on
the summit during an earthquake, of which we felt nothing, though
at Zermatt there was considerable alarm, and a climber on the
Rothhorn is reported to have had to sit tight as though on a bucking
horse!
Next day we walked down to the Rhone valley, and came to
Zermatt with our guides, Alois Kalbermatten and Peter Perren. Here
again Mr. M. was actively at work with Melchior, and as he came
down from Monte Rosa, he told me how pleased he was to have
made an anniversary ascent of a mountain he had climbed forty
years ago!
 We made for the highest point of Monte Rosa by starting from the
hut by lantern-light, and going up the glacier as if to cross the Lys
Joch, then taking a rock arête to the summit, we descended by the
usual snowy route to the Gorner glacier, and so back to Zermatt. My
feet had been very cold on the glacier; the mass of nails carried,
unless the soles of the boots be very thick, chills the feet as the iron
gets cold upon the ice, and in this respect there is more to say for
Mummery spikes, which carry the feet slightly off the ice. F.
Andenmatten, of Zermatt, made such a successful improvement in
clumping my boots, that he obtained an order for another pair on
the spot, and I believe him to be an artist of the first rank for
climbing boots.
On our next climb, in crossing the Furggen Joch to reach the
Italian hut above the Col du Lion, on the Italian side of the
Matterhorn, we had an awkward adventure. Perren was helping a
porter, who carried up wood for us, over the bergschrund, and was
leaning forwards to reach him with his axe, when down came a
stone from above—“a bolt from the blue” and struck poor Perren on
the head. The blood ran over his face and gave him a ghastly look.
The blow did not result in ordinary shock, it only excited him so that
he would not sit down to have his hurt dressed, but shouted out a
noisy account of the accident. Fortunately I had an antiseptic
dressing and bandage in my rücksack, and though he had a nasty
torn wound of the scalp, I decided to proceed at least as far as the
hut, though it was five hours’ hard climb, and I felt doubtful as to
whether he would be fit to traverse the Matterhorn in the morning.
The main object of our expedition was to climb over the top of the
mountain from Italy and down the Swiss side to Zermatt. However,
when day broke he wished to proceed, and assured me that he
could manage the climbing. Rather than risk the success of the
expedition, I offered to come down with him, and pay him the same
price, but he would not hear of it, and the other guide being quite
confident, with some misgiving I went over the mountain with the
wounded man. My fear was of brandy combined with a hot sun, and
images arose before me of a strong man delirious on the awful
precipices of this south side of the Matterhorn. It was very soon
apparent that my guide’s powers were fully equal to his work, for
our party went strongly and at a fair pace. We had breakfast and
rested half an hour on the classic rocks of the Tyndallgrat, and
reached the summit in less than five hours from the start, the
second time we have stood together on that snowy ridge which
crowns the majestic mountain. “Long Biner,” a Zermatt guide, who
came up with a party from the other side, here told us of the death
of Emile Rey, and we were filled with wonder that the famous
climber should have ended his career by a fatal slip when all his
serious work was done on the Aiguille du Géant—a mountain which
he knew so well.
Returning to the Monte Rosa Hotel for a rest, I was fortunate in
falling in with Captain Abney, who kindly photographed for me the
naked feet of my guides in the act of climbing a rock. It has often
been noticed that a guide can go face forward, and whole-footed up
a slope, while the amateur following, and coming to the steep part,
has to go on his toes or turn sideways. It seems possible that the
angle made by the foot with the leg may be more acute in the guide
who has climbed from infancy, and though it is probably very much a
matter of balance, I wished to compare photographs of amateurs’
feet when put into similar action. The guides wear thick leather
boots loosely laced at the top, so that it is difficult to see the play of
the ankle.
There is a most interesting discussion by Darwin, in his voyage of
the Beagle, on muscular action and balance in riding, but of course
in the case of the guides’ feet there may be some structural
difference, hereditary and acquired, actually permitting more
freedom of movement at the ankle joint, which neither muscular
action nor power of balance could give to the amateur. These points
are separately considered in another chapter on the “Climbing Foot.”
On a memorable morning at the end of August, the morning of
Miss Sampson’s fatal accident upon the Triftjoch, while we were
packing up to travel over that same pass, my friend had a telegram
to report the death of his mother at Chamounix. It was his first great
grief, and seemed the one unbearable thing in life. With him I
travelled to join his afflicted family. The sorrow of others thus threw
a strong shadow over me, and my friend having gone to England, I
had now little heart for further climbing.
Nevertheless, taking my guides to Montanvers I traversed the
Charmoz, a very fine rock climb, in which five points of varying size
are scrambled over. There is a good deal of standing on one
another’s shoulders in acrobatic fashion in the ascents, and the use
is frequent of a second rope looped over a point of rock in the
descents. The highest peak is the last climbed, and its couloir is
descended to the base of the rock to join the route below the couloir
of the first ascent. The glacier which it is necessary to cross is, this
year, in a dangerous state; falls of ice are seriously frequent. When
on the highest point of the Charmoz, the most awful avalanche of
stones came thundering down from near the top of the adjacent
Grépon. The noise was deafening, and a strong sulphurous smell,
which lasted some time afterwards, suggested, as Whymper says,
that the Devil was at the bottom of the business.
 MELCHIOR ANDEREGG, 1895.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MR. MYLES MATHEWS.
Wandering into Couttets’ Hotel at Chamounix quite without
intention, I witnessed a touching farewell between Mr. M. and
Melchior. To see an undemonstrative Englishman kiss his grey-
bearded old guide on both cheeks, when these two have climbed
together for forty years, gives one suddenly a glimpse of the pathos
of life impossible to recall without emotion.
Beautiful for weather, dreadful for disasters, this season will be
remembered as the year in which Emile Rey was killed on the Alps,
and Mummery lost in the Himalayas. All who knew the strong and
genial Benjamin Eyre have felt his loss, and he was a man with
many friends. Then alas! there were others to whom we say farewell
for ever.
For this season I have said good-bye to my faithful guides, one of
whom is a friend of many other climbs, giving them a modest
addition to their moderate fees and the old rope, which I leave
behind. My folding lantern shall come away with me for future use; it
shuts up into a leather case no larger than the little sketch-book in
which I write the following somewhat heathenish, but very hopeful
hymn:
Guide, who breaks my midnight sleep,
Leads me up the glacier steep,
Where the lantern’s feeble beams
Shine on snow and icy streams;
We fear no darkness in the night
While your strong hand controls the light.

Dawn will for the climber rise,

Daylight point him to the skies—
What if all be mist and cloud
When we reach that summit proud?
Who, conquering, can victory cry,
More gladly lives, dreads less to die!

Mighty Guide! who woke and led me here,

Lend Thy light to make my pathway clear.
Though dim at first on Life’s all doubtful way,
The struggle ends in dawn and perfect day;
Obscuring daylight hides my lantern and Thy star,
But purple glows with gold on glorious peaks afar.
 Mountaineering in Dauphiné
1894
Wet weather at Kandersteg—Fly-fishing there—The fisherman’s fear of a precipice
—Birrenhorn ascent—Ascent of the Blümlis-Alphorn—Chateau at Vizille—La
Bérarde in the Dauphiné—Accident to a guide’s tongue—Traverse of the Pointe
des Ecrins—Guide’s hand benumbed—Wild and impressive scenery—Ascent of
the Grande Aiguille—A frost-bitten porter—My ascent of the Meije with a
broken rib—The heel spikes of the district.

The Alps of Dauphiné, which may be said to lie in France between

the Mont Blanc range and the Mediterranean Sea, would be best
approached by Paris, Lyons, and Grenoble, but as my climbing
friend, A. B., was at Kandersteg, I went there to meet him and a
guide, and to stretch my legs on the Swiss mountains. On the first
day after my arrival we inspected, with a view to attack the steep
south face of the Birrenhorn, and surmounted the only difficulty of
the climb, a steep chimney where a rope is useful to avoid risk. We
planned to complete the ascent on the first fine day. On this little
mountain I found the most perfect snake’s cast I ever saw, which I
gave to Professor Newton. Its head end was in the hole where its
owner got rid of it. The films over the eyes were present, and by
blowing into the mouth I could inflate the cast to a lively
resemblance of the creature it had covered.
 MAP OF THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS IN THE DAUPHINÉ.
Walker & Bontall sc.
The weather in the Bernese Oberland was very bad, every day it
rained in the valleys and snowed on the peaks; on any expedition
one was sure to get wet, and mountains of any magnitude were
impossible. With a Surgeon-Major on leave from India I took a turn
at fly-fishing, not in the glacier water of the Kander, but in a pretty
stream with pools, where the trout, though small, would rise to a fly.
His Himalayan experience made the Surgeon-Major anxious to stock
the glacier torrents of Switzerland with Mahsir, a fish more powerful
than the salmon, whose first wild rush on tasting the hook gives
such a fierce joy to the sportsman.
My companion, who was a strong walker, described to me his
horrible sensations at the sight of a precipice. He told me that his
father, though he had shot game in the Himalayas, could never
overcome this fear. If the idea of space was absent my friend could
climb well, but I gathered that horizontal as well as vertical distance
was concerned, because he could not comfortably eat his lunch on a
flat platform of an acre of grassland when there were miles of
country far distant below and beyond. Mountain climbing for him
was out of the question, his condition was almost that of one
suffering from agoraphobia or la peur des espaces.
We engaged Joseph Truffer as guide, and as soon as he joined us
we completed the Birrenhorn expedition. It was a satisfaction to me
to find that he did not climb the couloir easily or at the first attempt,
but we had a good scramble on an interesting arête rather like the
Portjengrat, in which there is a rock hole or window to crawl
through. We went home by a long route up by way of the Ober-
Oeschinen Alp, and got thoroughly wet as usual.
To climb the Blümlis-Alphorn, the highest point of the range, we
slept out at a hut, which was unluckily occupied by workmen, who
were building another hut close by. Our night in dirty straw was not
so pleasant in dirty company, and the early morning was dark and
threatening; we started however at 4.30, led by Joseph Hari, a local
man. After crossing the glacier he took us over some smooth slabs
of rock arranged like a slated roof and coated with ice to make us
careful. These safely crossed, Truffer took the lead, and up the final
steep everything was ice wherein steps had to be laboriously cut to
the summit. We stood on the top at 10 o’clock, but saw little of our
surrounding glories, except occasionally a brief glance round through
the mists while standing perched in an ice step. The weather ended
up in snow, which shut us in on the glacier below, and made us
thankful to be well off the ice, and safely quit of a mountain which,
though usually an easy climb, could assert itself seriously in a storm.
Taking Truffer with us, A. B. and I travelled to Dauphiné; we spent
a few hours at Grenoble to see the old church and the Bayard
statue. While at lunch at the Hotel Monnet I admired the oak wine
jugs, which are called there “Brocs.” There is a charming old chateau
at Vizille, with a lovely trout stream in the grounds full of big fish.
The tennis court no longer stands in which in 1788 a memorable
meeting took place to protest against the tax. The late President
Carnot unveiled a statue in 1888 in memory of this Revolutionary
event and slept at the chateau as the guest of Madame Casimir-
Périer. The old soldier who took us round showed an oubliette in the
old part of the building—beneath its horrible shaft he had seen
armour-coated skeletons dug up.

LES ECRINS FROM THE GLACIER BLANC.

We walked up to La Bérarde, a mule carrying our baggage.
Immediately on my arrival I was told of an awkward accident which
had just happened. Two parties were ascending a slope of ice when
the last man of the first caravan slipped out of his step and sent his
iron-shod heel into the jaw of the leader of the second caravan, who
was too near. Poor Maximin Gaspard got a bad torn wound of his
tongue, cut by his teeth, which I had to stitch up with silk and
horse-hair. As he was in fine health the wound healed well, and in a
few days, in fact, as soon as ever he could feed, he was climbing
again. Maximin’s father, Pierre Gaspard, is the fine old fellow who
has made so many first ascents in these districts, and still makes the
great climbs.
The highest mountain in the Dauphiné, is the Pointe des Ecrins,
13,462 feet, its summit is a ridge of several beautiful points of snow
and rock. With Hippolyte Rodier to assist Truffer we started to
traverse this peak. We met on the way to the Challeret hut, a native
with a dead sheep on his shoulders; it had been killed by a stone
falling from the height above, and no doubt was to be made into
“precipice mutton.” After sleeping a few hours at the hut we got off
at 1.30 in the morning, over the glacier to the Col des Avalanches.
Rodier led us to the couloir on the south face, and we began to
crawl up; this was a rock couloir, which at a steep part was iced and
caused some delay. Our leader, however, got up to a firm position
and I followed, but no one else came, and looking down I saw
Truffer wringing his hands and in distress. He explained that his right
hand was frost-bitten and he could not proceed; nevertheless, he
was pulled up by the help of the rope, and finding from the
appearance of the hand and from the pain, which is really a good
sign of reaction, that recovery was sufficient, we decided to proceed,
with some misgiving on my part. We gained the highest part of the
Ecrins about 10 o’clock. There was a great deal of fresh snow on the
arête, and in coming down to the glacier Blanc on the north side we
worked hard for five hours without a halt to reach the Col des Ecrins.
Here we rested and then descended a couloir of 1,000 feet to the
glacier de la Bonne Pierre, with its long and dreary moraine. There is
a measurement station on this moraine to register the movements of
the glacier, and here we found a marmot recently killed, its flesh
almost entirely eaten, the entrails strewn around. An eagle’s feather
on the body suggested the mode of death. The sight of the sheep
killed by a stone, and still more the beautiful furry marmot killed by
an eagle, added in a strange way to the savagery of the scene. In
this wild region stern Nature seems to cry, “I care for nothing, all
shall go.” We had a long walk home, the last half-hour by lantern
light, having been eighteen hours over our expedition.
 We wished next to traverse the Meije from La Bérarde to La Grave,
which neither of our guides had ever done, so it seemed best to let
Truffer go back to Switzerland, lest on a serious expedition his hand
should fail him again and its recovery be delayed. His helpless
condition in the iced couloir was explained by the fact that months
before he had been ill with a bad hand, and its vitality had been
impaired by what was probably a previous attack of frost-bite.
Before his departure we had a lovely day on the Grande Aiguille; on
the top we basked and slept in the sun after a lunch of tinned fruits
and bread and butter. There is a little ice and snow requiring care on
this beautiful peak, but we climbed it up and down without a rope,
and here we passed over the slope where the tongue accident
occurred.
One evening I was aware of a pain in my chest, especially when I
laughed, and I was reminded that at Easter I had broken a rib—in
climbing to the top of a cromlech on Dartmoor called “The Spinster’s
Rock,” but the bone seemed to have mended in spite of some
neglect, and was forgotten until my compass box in the breast
pocket jammed against the hurt in some scramble and found out the
weak point. I was warned by pains in certain movements of the
arms against any attempt to traverse the Meije, and very sadly I had
to see my friend take off our guides for a successful expedition; for
though with a suitable bandage on my chest I was quite active, yet
could not pull myself up by my arms in climbing.
JOSEPH TURC. PIERRE GASPARD. MATHON. HIPPOLYTE RODIER.
 W. HERR VON RATH. A. B. HERR GRISAR.
We had parted from Truffer with mutual regrets, for he was a very
good fellow, and taken on Joseph Turc, a more experienced man
than Rodier, and they worked well together. This Turc had just come
over from La Grave with a porter named Etienne. The latter, a poor
wizened sun-baked little man, had all his finger tips on each hand
blackened with frost-bite; his thumbs had escaped. It appears that a
Frenchman who could not climb well was taken by Turc to traverse
the Meije from La Bérarde. They got no further than the Pic Central,
there they had to spend the night—next day getting into La Grave.
The poor porter was allowed to sleep with his fingers in this bad
state, and come back over a pass to La Bérarde where in the
afternoon I saw him. He had had some pain in the morning of this
day, and this encouraged me to attempt treatment; so during two or
three hours I rubbed him and watched him, and was assisted by my
friend; it was satisfactory to find a considerable improvement,
especially in his right hand, which next morning was even more
apparently improved when the limits of the black dead portions were
more defined—his nails will probably come off, and there will be
ulcerated surfaces on his finger ends, which will be months in
healing. The aspect of this man presented a pitiable combination of
apathy and patience, reminding me of the wolf-bitten Russian
peasants I saw in Pasteur’s laboratory in the Rue D’Ulm years ago.
The guide with the frost-bitten feet, of whom I wrote in my letter
last year, is only now hobbling about with sticks, the wounds of his
amputated toes still unhealed, so much is the process of repair
hindered in tissues damaged by frost-bite.
What I call determination, but my friends describe as obstinacy,
now induced me, after three days’ rest, to climb the Meije, 13,081
feet. It is a serious rock climb, decidedly stiffer than the Matterhorn,
and I did not attempt the traverse, but it was an error of judgment
to have climbed it in my crippled condition. Doubtless the fine air,
which makes a man laugh so easily, and makes the careworn light-
hearted, steals away the reason like champagne—making the old
man seem young—so the poet writes—
“The plague of guide and chum, and wife and daughter
Is Senex who will climb and didn’t oughter.”
 LA MEIJE FROM THE VAL DES ETANÇONS.
My friend having returned to rest from his expeditions I took off
the guides for the ascent of the Meije. We walked up the valley and
halted at the hut. Joseph Turc wanted to put his skin of wine,
containing over five bottles, into my rücksack, and we had a
difference, as I objected to his claret leaking into my shirts, so he
had to carry it separately; it was quite an easy matter, as I had a
porter to carry my sleeping bag to a rock gîte where the night was
to be passed, a climb of several hours. On reaching the glacier,
Joseph and I being in front of the others, who carried the rope, he
asked me if I was afraid to go over the glacier. Probably he meant
without the rope. I said it was what I had come for; but when we
began to get to steep ice I found he did not cut steps, and as he had
three large spikes in each of his heels he could go where I could not
follow without using my axe vigorously. He then said he could not
cut the steps because of his wine skin, and thus I was left either to
cut on up all the slopes or carry his skin. After a little hesitation I
offered to carry the wine for fear of hurting my rib, and I carried it
up to the sleeping place, though I did not find the steps cut much
better after his burden was removed.
We went to sleep under the stars on a lovely night, but the day
broke dark and gloomy, so that it was half-past four before we could
start. We roped at once, leaving the porter to take the things back,
and Turc led, but instead of placing me second I was left to the last.
With my own rope of 80 feet long it happened frequently that the
men passed out of sight, and I had no sort of communication with
them unless I chose to pull and shout. But this is well enough when
going straight up. It is a difficult corner or traverse where the
position is a bad one; the experts who have been on their own
mountain before, leave the traveller alone to get round his corner as
best he can. “In medio tutissimus ibis,” is a good motto.
I gained the summit at nine o’clock, but just at the final struggle,
where it is necessary to straddle on a sharp red rock ridge, called
the “cheval rouge,” with fine precipices below, my rib gave way, and
went completely broken through. In spite of firm bandaging, the
coming down was a painful experience, for I could feel and even
hear the ends of the broken bone grating together; but I kept at it,
going down steadily and slowly with groans and grunts. The guides
sang and shouted and drowned my feeble exclamations. They had
had a good feed with tinned peaches and plenty of wine on the top
when we rested, and it seemed to make them very happy. They
carried seven bottles of wine on this expedition, besides each man a
flask of brandy, and as I do most of my climbing on cold tea, they
had a good allowance.
Joseph Turc is a real genius at rock climbing, a truly brilliant
performer; but on ice, as he can’t cut steps, another time I should
get spikes or crampons. The guides here use three spikes in each
heel, driven in, fixed by gomphosis, not like the Mummery spikes
with a screw.
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