Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-02
How Climate Limits Civilization.

Here the fact We have to note il that where
the temper allure which mans vital functions
require can be maintained with difficulty, So
clal evolution is not possible. There can be
neither sufficient surplus power in each in
dlvldual nor sufficient number of individuals.
NOT only are the energies of the Esqlimsux
expended mainly in defending himself against
loss of heat and in laying up stores BY which he
may continue to do this during the arctic light,
but bis physiological process are greatly m5di-
fed to the same end. without fuel and in
deed, unable to burn within his snow Int any
thing more than an oil lamp, lest the walls
should melt, he has to keep u2 that bodily
warmth which even his thick fur dress fails to
retain, by devoUring vast quantities of blubber
and oil; and his digesti We system, heavily taxed
In providing the wherewith to meet excessive
loss by radiation, supplies less material for
other vital purposes This great physiological
cost of individual life, indirectly checking the
luton.
A kindred relation of cause and effect is shown
us in the southern hemisphere by the still more
miserable Fnegians. Living nearly unclOtGed
n region OF continual storm of rain and snow
which their Tretched dwellings OF sticks and
grass do not exclude, and having little food but
hsh and mollusks, these beings, described as
scarcely human in appearance, have Euch diff
Guilty In preserving the vital balance in face of
the rapid escape of heat that the surplus for
individuals development is narrowly restricted
ana, by consequence, the surplus for producing
and rearing new individuals. Hence the num-
bers remain. too small for exhibiting anything
beyond inciPient social existence.
site extreme OF temperature so Tar impedss the
vital actions as to impede social development,
yet hindrance from this cause seems exception
al ard relatively unimpOrtant Life In general,
and mammalian life along with it, is great in
quantity As well as individually high, in local.
Ties that are among the hottest. The inertnesS
and silence during the noOntide glare in such
localities 90, indeed, furnish evidence Of ensr-
yation; but in cooler parts of the tRenty-fOlr
hours there Is compromising energy. And if
it Is true that varieties Of the human race
adapted to these localities, show us, in compare
son with ourselves, some incidence, this does
not seem greater than, OF even equal 10, the
Incidence OF the pTimitiV man in temperate
climates.
Contemplated in the mass, the facts do not
counteUaGce the current idea that great heat
hUdeTs progress. Many societies have arisea
In hot climates and have reached large and
complex growth. All our earliest recorded civ
iiZatioDs belonged to region which, if not trO-
pcal, almost equal the tropics in height OF
temperature. India and southern China, a.
still existing, show US great social evolution
within the tropics. And, beyond this, the
elaborote architectural remains of Java and of
Cambodis yields proofs of other tropical civil.
izstiOn in the east, while the extin ct societies
OF Central America, Mexico and Peru need but
be named to make it manifest that in the New
World, also, there were in past times great az
yances In hot gions.-P0pular Science H3nthly