Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-01-27
THE CHRONICLE.
Hard Winters.

OllI ICNOLhc Vi - NANCAlN I
back to the fifth century, and show
i'm those early days a degree of cold
was sometimes experienced to which
the winters of this dayafford no paral-
lei. In the wear 40l, the Black Sea, an
immense body of water, in the SOUTH
ern part of Europe, was entirely fro
zen over. In As, the Danube was fro
zen. In 642, the Black Sea was again
frozen over, and with it, the strait of
Dardanells. The snow, in some pla-
ces, was drifted to the enormous depth
of ninety feet, and the ice was heaped
in such masses upon cities in Europe
as to the walls of houses to TALL
down. In $50, the Adriatic, in the
latitude of oranges and lemons, was
frozen over. In the year S92 and S9S,
the vines were killed by frost, and the
cattle died in their stalls. In 1907, the
| cold was so intense that most of the
travellers in Germany were frozen to
death on the roads. In 1898, the cold
was so severein Italy that the Pc was
| frozen from Cremona to the sea, the
roads were entirely blockaded by heaps
of snow, wine casks burst, and trees
were split open by the frost, with loud
detOnatiOns. In 1884, the Rhine was
| lAOEChN dIu ii STA VI
1867, the winter was sOseVere in flan-
ders that the frozen wine had to. be
/ chopped to pieces with hatchets to be
distributed to the soldiers. In 1872,
the winter was so long and severe that
| starved wolves came out of the forests
| into Vienna, and attacked both cat
| tie and men. In l775, the Danube
was frozen five feet deep below Wen
| ma. Such records as these remind us
/ of the stern and dismal glacial era,
when the northern half of Europe,
and the upper portion Of North Ameri-
ca, were each covered by an immense
| glacier, and the cold was too excessive
TO permit the earth to be the habita-
ton of man.
There are few persons who do not
remember the fearful snow storms OF
the night of the 3lst of December,
1868, and the three days of severe cold
that followed. At st. Louis the mer-
curry descended to % degrees below
I zero. Thousands of shade trees in
the city were killed to the ground, and
orchards and vineyards in the State
shared a similar fate. Such a degree
of cold was never before known in
Missouri since its settlement.
The curiOsities of cold would form
a chapter of interesting reading, for
when cold passes a certain degree of
intensity, its phenomena are curious.
DR.. Kane, during his winter in the
artic regions, experienced a degree of
cold marked by % degrees below zero,
or IS below the freezing point. In
January, 1854, Sir Edward Belcher, in
the same region, endured for forty
four consecutive hours a temperature
" above so degrees below o
One night the thermometer indicated
80 IA degrees below zero, and at an
other time 81 below zero, or 94degrees
below freezing point. Such intense
cold as this is terrible. We, who have
rarely seen the murcury below ~ de-
grees below zero, can form no concep-
zion of it. DIR. Kane tells us that the
eyelids would stick together from the
I freezing of the mOister on their edges,
so that it was dangerous TO wink in
the open air. To put the end of the
tongue out of the mouth Vas to have
it frozen to tine lips instantaneously,
and when torn loose, the skin of the
lips come with it. At one time, while
walking il the open air, the moisture
OF his breath settled on his beard in a
mass of ice; u small hole in the back
of his heavy fur glove let in the air,
which aSsaIled his hand with u sting
ing sensation of pain; and when, in
advertently, he raised his glove TO his
mouth to breathe on it, il instantly
froZe so firmly TO his beard and lips
a. to require careful and painful labor
to remove it. One of the sailors, who
left his gloves behind while he went
out to perform some trivial duties, had
one of his hands frozen in a few min
utes, and when he thrust it into a ba-
sin of cold watertO thaw il by degrees,
it froze the water. The poor fellows
hand had to be amputated. The mari
ners had to exercise the greatest care
in handling their metallic instruments
rs the touch of them on the naked
flesh of the hands or face caused in
tense pain.
Its wonderful how the human body
could endure such cold rs this, yet DIR.
Kane and his men usually suffered
little when exercising proper care, eX-
cept when the cold was aggravated by
a wind; then the discomfort was very
severe. Plenty of food, warm cloth
ing, and cheerfulness were found to
be the most effectual defense against
the low temperature of that stern and
gloomy region; with these to main
tain the combustion of the body, it
could defy a degree of cold that froze
the mercury in the thermometer, and
turned water instantaneOusly into a
mass of ice.