Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-09-13
LIFE IN HIGH LATITUDEs.
Some Of the MedcaE Aspects Of the
Greedy Parsys Experience.

,A9DeCt9
Greedy Partys Experience.
From the Medical Record
kprivate Interview Nth Lieut.. Greely at his
former home has enabld Us to obtain some
what clearer insight ihb the physiological and
pathological effects ofprolonged residence In
the Polar regions, a well as the straits to
which the Greedy party fere finally reduced. He
ascertained that such sourn. by inhabitants of
warmer climates who al in good physical trim,
is for brief term Of Pars compatible with a
high state Of all the ofhnie functions in which
there Is entire freedom rom diseased manifesto
tons OF every kind; buftnere is decided limit
TO the endurance by Eropeans and Americans
OIL such extreme PROLONGED cold; the system is
at first andfOr long tine, by an admirable Sc
rles OF internal adjustments. braced up against
the rigors of climate. hut after the first year a
considerable deteriOratin in muscular and ner-
vous energy and In til calorigenous processes
Is experienced. The sserity of the second win
ter was found by the patty somewhat harder to
bear, but the experience of the previous winter
had taught them how bst to fortify and protect
themselves and husbnd their forces. The
third long Arctic night, in which the thermome-
ter was never less than B degrees below zero,
and much Of the time vas down to 40 or so de-
grees below, would, uner the most favorable
circumstances have beei a painful season to the
panty fltdl dCtlOu " dS fuut peTCepIlDly teSSeu-
ed; muscular tone was impaired rendering eX-
ertion difficult, and rhematisms began to pre-
vail. Could the party however. have had
plenty of food. and full and good shelter. they
would undoubtedly hav all been living at this
day.
Lieut.: Greedy, in repl! to an interrogatory.
affirmed his doubts as whether his men, if
well prOvisioned, could have continued to live
at Fort COnger more than tive years. The
constitution of the aerage American is not
capable Of prolonged continuous adjustment
to more than zero cold. and such acclimatza-
ton could only come 8Out after series of
generations where the lw of survival of the
fttest should operate md in correspondence
with a radical charge in organization, in
which nutritve and muscular development
should predominant yer cerebral develop
ment; in other words, nture has shown US in
the mentally dwarfed but physically hardy
Esquimaux the type Of organization best
fitted for living ii those septentronal
ATTITUDES. It, however is no less a matter of
fact that the inhabitats of meridianal chimes
admirably adapt themelves temporarily to the
most extreme cold. Ii the retreat from Mos
COW, in 1912, the Italia regiments stood the
cold better than the Germans, and notably
better than the Russian who were accustomed
to the climate. The TCks presented the same
relative immunity at he siege of Sebastopol
Longot, from whom tese facts are taken, re-
marks that the aptittie to resist inclement
temperature is acquiret and lost in turn that
people nurtured in temperate or cold climates,
who go to the tOrrid Zoe to live. are much less
sensitive to the cold foia time after their return
to their native cOuntr, though this lessened
susceptibility disappeat after year or two.