Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-08
cI1MATE AND INTELLECT.
Pie Influence Cliimato Has on 1ntellscs
and Intellect on climate.

+ha Influence Climate Has on INTELLECT
and Intellect on Climate.
Apreat deal has been said about the
effect of climate upon intellect, and not
much OF the effect of intellect upon Gle
mate, OF, to be more exact, OF the pow.
er in mental activity to resist orcontrol
climatic influences. Some philosophers
have held that there is an occult SYM
pathy between mind and matter, and
that a great accumulation OF mind
upon one point-that is to say, the di-
rection Of a strong current OF desire
for or against some operation of nature
would be effective. For instance, it
all the people in a wide district suffer-
ing under drought should unite in q
common longing, a sincere mental
struggle for rain, that nature would
feel the subtle influence through all its
being. rain would come. Unfortunate
" the experiment has lever been tried,
for common consent at any moment
has never been attained-there is al
WAYS somebody who has hay out.
But this at least we can say, that it is
safer to have the desire of the general
mind in the right direction. Now two
! of the vulgar notions Of this latitude
are that We need ''bracing up" and
that snow is a useful product, conse-
q%uently that the more severe cold
weather we have and the more snow.
the better off we are. And people go
on believing this to their deaths every
year. AS to snow, there is a senti-
mental notion of its beauty Us we'll as
of it's utility. And a good deal a be
said for it from an artistic point of
| view. But we are not placed in this
stern world merely to indulge u SEN
suousness. We are put here to make
the most of our powers, in view of a
hereafter; and long life is a duty, be-
sides being. in the Old Testament View,
a reward Of virtue. 1t is probably &C.
essary to have snow. at the poles in or
der to keep the poles cool, and insure
a proper circulation and change of air
round the globe, just as it is necessary
to keep the equator SO hot that it is IS
unpleasant to sit on it as on a Kitchen
stove. Snow, indeed, might do little
harm in a land where the sun never
shonc. But in this region, where the sun
does shine, wherein half the winte days are
clear, the only effect of the presence Of
snow is to fill the atmosphere with
chilling moisture. lung fever, pneumo-
MIA, and that sort of thing. The pleas
anter the weather, the more sunshine
we have; with snow on the ground.
the worse is our condition. And We; it
is in vain to argue this with people.
They are welded to traditional ideas
and full of prejudice, and it seems i'm
possible to convince them that snow in
this region is harmful. 1t does no
good to demonstrate 10 them that but
for snow we should have q royal Win
ter climate. On II small scale we see
occasionally wha: it might be. There
were such days IN January last. The
snow had disappeared, the sun shone
with the light, tut not the heat dixie
an electric lamp Of May, and the air
was pure, celebrating. but not damp
and grave-like. 1t would have been
perfect but for the chill that came
down from the vast snow-fields of Cam
ada. where cold and snow are wor-
shipped and fcted all winter. And
yet, after such experience, people,
convinced, go back to snow. The ig-
norance of this scientific age is dis
couraging.
The other vulgar notion is that a
hand-to-hand struggle with extreme
cold for months does q person good
braces him up. 1t must be admitted
that up to a certain point any struggle
or trial is invigorating to the moral
and intellectual nature. But we see
what too much indulgence in this leads
to. The Esquimaux is but little raised
above the polar bear and the seal. His
whole existence is just an effort to
keep alive, to get blubber and skins
enough to generate and keep in his
body vital heat. He can think of moth
ing else; he has room for no other
mental effort. We see the same thing
in the diaries and accounts of the polar
exploration fanatics. 1t would be the
most painful reading in the world if it
were not SO monotonous. Each one
tells exactly the same story-the story
Of his physical struggle to keep alive
with the thermometer fifty degrees
below zero. Soon the mind has no other
occupation than this struggle. 1t al
most ceases to work in any other direc-
ton. This is interesting to us at first
as a study of the capacity OF the hui
man organism to resist tile un~restrained
attacks OF nature. The experience OF a
person who should in this latitude. in
winter, retire to an ice-house, with a
Ratchet and 4 supply of frozen hash, a
wllaie-oil lamp, and a fur overcoat and
pody-bag. and sit on the ice in the
darkness. and record his feelings, the
gradual lowering of the vital powers,
the concentration OF the mind upon the
numbness of his legs, would doubtless
have a physiological interest. But the
second eNperimenter wclld not interest
bis readers so much as the first with
ms narrat ve:-(Har1cs Dudley Warner,
su Harper's Mugaginc.
Matrimonial Prospects.