The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-10-01
rae lnauence of Arctic Cold on Man.


Lieutenant Payer, the Austrian Arc
tic explorer, has been laying some OF
tie results of his exploration before the
biographical Society of Vienna. Re
lcrrins to the influence of extreme cold
on the human organism, he related that
on March II, ISL he said his compan-
ions made -icdgc Journey over the
,;vmikIar glacier, in order to make ob-
seryatiou of Francis Joseph Land. "On
that day the cold marked 80 deg. R,a-
umurI below zero" notwithstanding
this Intense cold VI. Payer and - Tyro-
lcsc went out before sunrise 10 make
Observations and sketch. The sunrise
was magnificent; tho sun seemed sur
rounded. as it does at Il high degree Of
cold, by small suns, ana lis light APP
pcarcd more dazzling from the contrast
with the extreme cold. The travellers
were Obliged To pour rum down their
throut> So rs not To touch the edge OF the
metal cups, which would have been ~
dangerous rs il they had been red hot;
/ but the rum had lost all its strength and
HqU.di,y. and WAS lat and rs thick rs oil.
/ 1t was impossible to smoke either cigars
or tobacco i'll short pipes, for very soon
nothing but piece of Ice renamed IN
| the mouth. The metal of the lnstru-
mrnt, was lust Ike rrd hot iron 81 the
| touch. rs were some luckcts, when
/ "a, some OF the travellers rOmantlcally,
/ but imprutcu.lv, continued u wca" next
| the skin. VI. Payer says that So great
an amount of cold paralysis the will,
and that under it, influences men, from
the uustcadiucs, OF their gate, their STAN
/ meriug talk and the sluwncss of Their
mental operations, seem H. if they were
/ intoxicated. Another effect Of cold Is u
toruautiug thirst. which is due to the
/ evaporation of the moisture Of the body
. IL Is uuwhuiUsonc TO use snow to qucnch
the thirst, rs il brings on inflammation OF
! the throat, palate and tongue. Be
| sides, enough can never be taken Il
! qucnch the thirst, as Il temperature OF ~
| degrees 10 10 degrees below zero makes
| it more like molten metal. Snow cat
crs in the North are considered rs feeble
| and cilrmuatc, in the same way rs an
opium cater in the East. The groups OF
/ travellers who traycr,cd the snow fields
| were surrounded by thick VaporS formed
| by the eman, TORS from their loiIeS
| which became condensed, notwlth>tand-
| ing the furs in which the travellers were
cnvclopeI. These vapors fell TO the
| grour with sight noise, frozen into
the form Of small crystals, and render
Cd the atmosphere thick, impcnetrahie
and dark. Notwithstanding the humid
itv of the air, dsagrecablc sensation OF
drynpss was lclt. Every sound dltluscd
tsrlt to very long distance; an ordi-
nary conversation could be heard at II
hundred PAGES oil, while the report Of
guns from thctop Of high mountains could
scarcely be heard N. Payer explains
this phenomenon 10y the large quantity of
moisture in the Arctic atmosphere. Meat
could hc chopped and mercury used in
the shape of balls. Both smell and
taste become greatly cnfeeblcd in these
latti,udc>, strength gives way under the
puralvziug influence of the cold, tho
eyes invuluutarily close and become
frozen. When locomotiun stops, the sole
of the foot becomes In,cnsib.e. IL l.
somewhat curious that the beard does
not freeze, but this is explained from the
air expired falling Immediately trans
formed into snow. The cold causes
dark boards to become lighter; the secrc-
ton of the eyes and nose always increases
while the formation OF the Pcrspiration
altogether ce,,,e,. The only possible pro-
lection against the cold is 10 be very
warmly clothed, and 10 "ndruvor as much
us possible 70 prevent the condensation
of tue atmosphere, while the much
vauntcd plan ol amounting and blackcn-
Ing the body are pronounced to have no
real value ErchaAge.