Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-27
IN ALASKA.
PeCuliarities Of the People There
Their Vices and Ailments,

The American Geographical Society has Just
published an interesting paper concerning the
people Of Alaska from the pen of Dr. Irving C.
Rosse.
1.-THE object of this paper" says DR.. Rose, in
opening. 'is to record, in fragmentary way,
some observations. as they have occurred to the
writer during late hyperborean experience.
winch afforded exceptional advantages tor
noting few of the changes and variations that
are brought about in the human economy by
Climatic influences and the environments of
high ATTITUDES"
The author proceeds to give an account OF his
experiences in the north while with the revenue
cutter Corwin. THE principal vices among the
people of Alaska he says, ''who are generally
mnid ana lnOhensive seem to be a fOndnesS for
games of chance and an uncomfortable craving
tor alcoholic drinks-an appetite which, by the
way. two seasons of personal observation and
experience in the Arctic convince me is some
thing of physiological necessity The taste,
however seems to be an acquired one by the
aboriSines for saw a 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.
Illicit traders, taking advantage of this
northern craving for drink, have Of late years
been in the habit of supplying the most william
Gus compounds. in exchange for small Quanti-
ties of which the improvident Esquimaux gives
these prohibited articles. bearing the respective
labels of bay rum,' Jamaica ginger &C., with q
view to defrauding the revenue, proved on ex-
animation to be nothing but cheap alcohol of a
highly infammable nature to which little COL
Oring matter had been added"
Speaking of the effects of climate on health,
DR.. Rose says: SIN addition to the frequent dis
orders OF the respiratory organs, rheumatism
and affections of the amentary canal are quite
common. The latter are principally due to over
oft focf md indi
gestlOn from this cause is SO frequent that it is
no uncommon thing to find an Esquimaux suf-
ferng for several days from all the remorses of
guilty stomach. The women too, are at
times violently hysterica,, and in this respect do
not differ much from their more civilized 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 ami pigmental degenera-
tOn Ophthalma tarsi in it's chronic form and
granular inflammation of the conjunctiva are
common along with amblyOpa and astnenOpia,
and it is not at all unlikely that specialist
might exhaust the archaeological vocabulary
in describing the diseases he might observe
among these numerous eye diseases, how
ever, observed but two cases of total blindness
one in man at ST. Lawrence Island and
another at st. Michael's, in native from the in
terror Mr.. Petrof, whose duties as census
agent have afforded him great facilities for OBJ
serving the interior population informs me that
blindness is almost universal among the older
people. most of whom get blind on reaching the
age of fifty. This blindness, common also to the
lower animals. was once observed by him in
bear at Prince William Sound. The bear with
several Others was seen approaching his party
on the beach, and the singular actions of this
particular bear attracting attention. from the
uncertain way In which he walked and was
pushed about by the noses of the other bears it
was singled out and shot. when an examina-
ton showed the previous existence of total
blindness, which of course accounted for the
odd movements of the animal.
Ihese eye affections are not caused bv smoke,
as has been enormously supposed; they are
mostly the result of snow blindness, in which
the senslbility of the end organs, the rods and
cones is diminished or exhausted by the pro-
lonSed illumination from the constant sunlight
and the glare from broad expanses of brightly
glstenlng snow. The rarefactiOn of the Arctic
atmosphere, the insufficient and impoverished
condition of the blood brought about by bad
feeding and the strumous diathesis may likewise
be mentioned as predispOsing causes"