The Osceola times., 1883-11-17

has just published an interesting pape
concerning the people OF Alaska fror
the pen of DIR. Irving c. Rose.
"The object of this paper" says Dr
Rosse, in opening sis TO record, in frag
mehtary way, some observations as the,
have occurred TO the writer during lat,
hyperborean experience, which afforded
exceptional advantages for noting few
OF the changes and variations that ar,
brought about in the human econom,
by climatic influences and the environ
ments of high ATTITUDES"
The authorproceeds to give an account
or his experiences in the North while
with the revenue crtter Corwin. "The
principal vices among the people o.
Alaska" he says, "who are generally
mild and inofiensive, seem to be fond
ness for games of chance and an uncon.
troilable craving for alcoholic drinks-an
appetite which, by the way, two seasons
OF personal observation and experience
In the Arctic convince me is something
Of a physiological necessity. The taste,
however, seems to be an acquired one
by the aborigines, for | saw man at
Nounivak Island to whom the taste was
foreign, and on tasting both brandy and
whisky he made a wry face and spat
them out with evident disgust.
"Illicif fraIarO tnl,,,o ,I,,o,.o
this northern craving for drink, have of
late years been in the habit of supplying
the most villianous compounds, m ex-
change for small quantities of which the
improvident Esquimau gives his choicest
furs. Some captured specimens of these
prohibited articles, bearing the respect
i've labels of bay rum Jamaica ginger
etc, with view to defrauding the rev.
enue, proved on examination to be no
thing but cheap alcohol of highly in
famed nature, to which little coloring
matter had been added"
Speaking of the effects of climate on
health, DIR. Rose says: "In addition TO
the frequent disorders of the respiratory
organs, rheumatism and affections of the
alimentary can ! are quite common.
The latter arc principally due TO ever
loading the stomach after a lang fast
and indigestion fom this cause is so fire.
quent that it is 20 uncommon thing to
Ind an Esquimau suffering for several
days rom all the rcmorse of guilty
stomach. The women, too, are at times
violently hysterlcal, and in this respect
do not differ much from their more civ
ilized sisters. Diseases of the eye and
its appendages are quite numerous, and
among them ! noticed several cases of
opacity of the crystalline lens and of the
cornea, and of fatty and pignental de-
generation. Ophthalmia tarsi in its
chronic form and granular inflammation
of the coniunctivia are common along
with amblyopia and asthenopa, and it is
not at all unlikely that specialist might
exhaust the ophthalmologicai vocabulary
in describing the diseases he llight OBJ
serve.
Among these numerous eye diseases;
however. ! observed but two cases of to-
tai blindness-one in man at st. Law
renee Island and another at st. Michacl's
in native from the interior Mr. Pet
rolf, whose duties rs census AGENT have
afforded him great faciitie fer obscrv-
iiiS tii' iht'iioi l'opuidtioli iiiioii iiiS llic
that blindness is almost universal among
the older people, most of whom get
blind on reaching the age of 30. This
blindness, common also to the lower an
imals, was once observed by him in n
bear at Prince William sound. The
bear with several others was seen ap-
preaching his party on the beech, and
the singular actions of this particular
bear attracting attention, from the un.
certain way in which he walked. and
was pushed about by the noses of the
other bears, it was singled out and shot,
when an examination showed the pre-
vious existence of total blindness, which
of course accounted for the odd move
ments of the animal.
"These eye affections are not caused
by smoke, as has been erroniously sup
posed; they are mostly the result of
snow blindness, in which the sensibility
Of the end organs, the rods and cones, is
diminished or exhausted by the pro-
longed illumination from the constant
sunlight and the glare from broad ex-
panses of brightly glistening snow. The
rarehction of the Arctic atmosphere,
the insufficient and impoverished con-
dition of the blocd, brought about by
bad feeding and the strumous diathesis,
may likewise be mentioned as predis-
posing causes"