Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-03-26

[Charles Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazi
for April

[Charles Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazine
for April.]
great deal has been said about the eff
feet of climate upon intellect, and not much
of the effect of intellect upon climate, or, to
be more exact, of the power in mental activi-
ty to resist or control climatic influences.
Some philosophers have held that there is an
occult sympathy between mind and matter,
and that great accumulation of mind upon
one point-that is to say, the direction of
strong current of desire for OF against some
operation of nature-wou1d be effective For
instance, if all the people in wide district
suffering under drought should unite in
common longing, 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 consent at
any moment never has been attained-there
is always somebody who has hay out
But this at least we can saw that it is
in the right direction. Now two of the vul-
ga1 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 believ
snow there is q sentimental notion of it's
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 sensuousness
We ars put here to make the most of our
powers, in view of hereafter; and long life
is duty, besides being, in the Old Testa-
ment view, a reward of virtue. 1t is proba-
bly, necessary to have snow at the poles in
order to keep the poles cool, and insure
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 on kitchen stove. Snow, indeed,
might do little harm in a 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 fill the atmosphere with chilling
moisture, lung fever, pneumonia, and that
sort OF thing. The p1easanter the weather,
the more sunshine we have; with snow on
the ground, the worse is our condition. And
yet it is in vain to argue this with people
They are welded to traditional ideas and full
of prejudice, and it seems impossible to con-
vince them that snow in this region is harm
full. 1t does no good to demonstrate to them
that but for snow we should have royal
winter climate. On small scale We see oc-
casionally 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 Qike electric lamp of
May, and the air was pure, exhilarating,
but not damp and grave-hke. 1t would have
been perfect but for the chill that came
down from the vast snow-felds of Canada,
where cold and snow are worshipped and
fstsd all winter. And yet, after such ex-
perience, people, convinced, go back to snow
The ignorance of this scientific age is dis
couraging.
The other vulgar notion is that hand-to-
hand struggle with extreme cold for months
does person good-braees him up 1t must
be admitted that up to 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
Esquimau is but little raised above the polar