"
Can you substitute _altitude_? Is _altitude_ used of persons?
"At an altitude of eleven feet from the ground." Would _height_ be
more natural? Does _altitude_ betoken great height? If so, does
Hamlet speak jestingly when he greets the player, "Your ladyship is nearer
heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine?" What of
the sentence: "The altitude of Galveston was not sufficient to protect it
from the tidal wave"? Does the magnitude or importance of the object
(Galveston) compensate for its lack of elevation and thus justify
_altitude_? Could _height_ be substituted? If so, would the
words _above sea-level_ have to follow it? Does this fact give you a
further clue as to the distinction between the two words? You are
comparing the elevation of two peaks, both plainly visible; you measure
them merely by your eye. Do you say "This exceeds the other in height" or
"This exceeds the other in altitude"? Suppose the peaks are so distant
from each other that the two are not visible simultaneously, and suppose
you are speaking from a knowledge of the scientific measurements. Do you
say "This exceeds the other in height" or "This exceeds the other in
altitude"?
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