Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-04-02
CLIMATE AND INTELLECT.
Sunshine and Warmth More Beneficial
than Snow and Cold.

following to say in Harper's Magazine
for April:
A great deal has been said about the
effect of climate upon intellect, and not
much of the effect of intellect upon eli
mate, or, to be more exact, of the power
in mental activity to resist or control
climatic influences. Some philosophers
have held that there is an occult sympa-
thy between mind and matter, and that
a great accumulation of mind upon one
pOint-that is to say, the direction of a
strong current of desire for or against
some operation of nature-woGld be eff
fective. For instance, if all the people
in wide district suffering under drought
should unite in a common longing, a
sincere mental struggle, for rain, that
nature would feel the subtle influence
through all its being. and rain would
come. Unfortunately the experiment
has never been tried, for common cont
sent at any moment never has been at
tanned there is always 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 useful product, consequently 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 isa sentimental notion ofits beauty
as well as of its utility. And good deal
can be said for it from an artistic point
of view. But we are not placed in this
stern world merely to indulge our sensu-
business. We are put here to make the
most of our powers, in view of a here
after; and long life is a duty, besides
being, in the Old Testament view, a re-
ward of virtue. 1t is probably necessary
to have snow at the poles in order 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 as unpleasant to
sit on it as on kitchen stove. Snow,
indeed, might do little harm in land
where the sun never shone. But in this
region, where the sun does shine, where
half the winter days are clear, the only
effect of the presence of snow is to ill
the atmosphere with chilling moisture.
lung fever, pneumonia, and that sort of
thing.
The pleasanter the weather, the more
sunshine we have; with snow on the
ground, the worse is our condition. And
yet is vain to argue this with the people
They are welded to traditional ideas
and full of prejudice, and it seems im~
possible to convince them that snow in
this region is harmful. 1t does no good
to demonstrate to them that but for
snow We should have royal winter eli~
mate. On small scale we see occasion
ally what it might be. There were such
days in January last. The snow had
disappeared, the sun shone with the
light but not the heat like an electric
lamp of May, and the air was pure, ex-
hilarating, but not damp and grave like.
1t would have been perfect but for the
chill that came down from the vast snow
fields of Canada, where cold and snow
are wershipped and feted all winter.
And yet after such experience, people,
convinced, go back to snow. The ignor-
ance of this scientific age is very dis
couraging.
The other vulgar notion is that hand
to-hand struggle with extreme cold for
months does person good-braces him
up. 1t must be admitted that up to
certain point any struggle or trial is in
vigorating TO the moral and intellectual
nature. But we see what too much io-
dulgence in this leads to. The Esquiman
is but little raised above the polar bear
and the seal. His whole existence is
just an effort to keep alive, to get blub-
Der and skins enough to generate and .
keep in his body vital heat. He can
think of nothing else; he has room for
no other mental effort. We see the same
things 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 bis physical struggle to keep alive
with the thermometer 80 degrees below
zero. Soon the mind has no other oecU-
patton than this struggle. 1t almost
ceases to work in any other direction.
This is interesting to US at first as astudy
of the capacity of the human organism
to resist the uurestrained attacks OF ma
ture. The experience Of person who
should in this latitude, in winter, retire
to an icehOuse, with a hatchet and
supply of frozen hash, a whale oil lau.p
and fur overcoat and body 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 in
terest. But the second experimenter
would not interest his readers so much
as the first with his narrative.
Joe Smith, who pointed out Mr.. Burke
to Carey in Phoenix Park, and after
wards turned informer. died of dread
that he would meet a death like Carey's
Kavanagh, also infcrmer, who drove the