The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-08-26
Effects of Arctic Cold on Man.

Lieut.. Payer, the Austrian Arctic Ex-
plorer, says the London Medical Record,
has been laying some of the results of his
explorations before the Geographical So
ciety of Vienna. Referring to the in
huence of extreme cold on the human
organism, he related that on March IA,
1874, he and his companions made a
sledge journey over the Semiklar glacier,
in order to make observations of Francis
Joseph land. One day the cold marked
40 degrees (Reaumur) below zero. Not
withstandirg this intense cold NJ. Payer
and a Tyrolese went out before sunrise
to make observations and sketch. The
sunrise was magnificent !; the u seemed
surrounded, as it does at q high degree
of cold, by small suns, and its light ap-
peared more dazzling from the contrast
with the extreme cold. The travellers
were obliged to pour rum down their
Threats so as not to touch the edge of
the metal cups, which would have been
as dangerous as if they had been red
hot but the rum had lost all its strength
and hquidity, and wa as flat and thick
as oil. 1t was impossible to smoke
either cigars or tobacco in shore pipes,
for very soon nothing but a piece of ice
remained in the mouth. The metal of
the instruments was just like red-hot
iron to the touch, as were some lockets,
which some of the travellers Economically,
but i~mprudently, continued to wear next
to the skin. NJ. Payer says that SO great
an amount of cold paralizes the will, and
that under its influence men, from the
unsteadiness of their gait, their STAN
mering talk, and the slowness of their
mental operations, seem as if they were
intoxicated. Another effect of cold is a
~tormenting thirst, which is due to the
evaporation ofthe moisture ofthe body. It
Is unwholesome to use snowto quench the
thirst, as it brings on inflammation of the
throat, palate and tongue. Beside,
enough can never be taken to quench
the thirst, as a temperature of thirty de-
grees to forty degrees below zero makes
1t taste like molten metal. Snow-eaters
Ill the North are considered as feeble
and effeminate, in the same way as an
opium eater in the East. The groups of
travellers who trayersed the snow fields
were surrounded by thick vapors formed
by the emanations from their bodies,
which became condensed, notwithstand-
ing the furs in which the travellers were
enveloped. These apo fell to the
ground with a slight noise, frozen into
the form of small CRYSTALS, and rendered
the atmosphere thick, impenetrable, and
dark. Notwithstanding the humidity
of the air, a disagreeable sensation Of
dryness was felt. Every sound diffused
itself to a very long distance, an ordi-
nary conversation could be heard at a
hundred PAGES off, while the report of
guns from the top of high mountains
could scarcely be heard.
M. Payer explains this phenomenon
by the large quantity of moisture in the
arctic atmosphere. Meat could be
chopped and mercury used in the shape
of balls. Both smell and taste become
greatly enfeebled in these attitudes,
strength gives way under the paralyzing
influence of the cold, the eyes involun-
tarily close and become frozen. When
locomotion stops the sole of the foot be-
comes insensible. Tt is somewhat curl
GUS that the beard does not freeze, but
this is explained from the air expired
falling Immediately transformed into
snow. The cold causes dark boards to
become lighter; the secretion of the
eyes and nose always increases, while
the formation of the p~erspiration en-
tirely ceases. The only possible protec-
ton against the cold is to be very warm
ly clothed, and to endeavor as much as
possible to prevent the condensation of
the atmosphere, while the ~much-vaunted
plan of amounting and blackening the
body are pronounced to have no real