The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-07-02
Climate and Intellect.


A great deal has been said about the
effect of climate upoh intellect, and
not much Of the effect of intellect upon
climate, or, TO be more exact, of the
power in mental activity to resist or
control climatic influences. Some phi
losophers 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 de-
sire for or against some operation of
nature-would be effective. For in
stance, if all the people in wide dis
trict 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 say, that it
is safer to have the desire of the gen.
eral mind in the right direction. Now
two of the vulgar notions of this lati-
tude are that we need "bracing up"
and that snow is useful product, con-
sequently that the more severe cold
weather we have and the more snow,
the better off we are. And people go
OH believing this to their death every
year. As to snow, there is senti-
mental notion of its beauty as well as
of its utility. And good deal can be
Co.. -. - <~f
view. But we are not placed in this
stern world merely to indulge our
sensuousness. We are put here to
make the most of our powers, in view
of hereafter; and long life is duty,
besides being, in the Old Testament
view, q reward of virtue 1t is proba-
bly, necessary to have snow at the poles
in order to keep the poles cool, and in
sure 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 a kitchen stove. Snow, indeed,
might do little harm in land where
the sun never shone. But in this re-
gion where the sun does shine, where
half the winter days are clear, the only
effect of the presence of snow is to fill
the air with chilling moisture, lung fe-
yer, 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 it is in vain to argue this with
people. They are welded to tradition
al ideas and full of prejudice, and it
seems impossible 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 a royal
winter climate. On small scale we
see occasionally 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, exhilarating, but not
grave-like. 1t would have been per-
feet but for the chill that came down
from the vast snow-fields of Canada,
where cold and snow are worshiped
all winter. And yet, after such ex-
perience, people, convinced, go back to
snow. The ignorance of this scientific
age is discouraging.
The other vulgar notion is that a
hand-to- hand struggle with extreme
cold for months does 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 Esquimau 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 nothing else; he
has room for no other mental effort.
We see the same thingin 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 physi-
cal struggle to keep alive with the Their
mometer fifty degrees below zero. Soon
the mind has no other occupation than
this struggle. 1t almost ceases to work
in any other direction. This is interest
ing to us at first as study of the cap
acity of the human organism to resist
the unrestrained attacks of nature.
The experience of person who should
in this latitude, in winter, retire to an
ice-house, with Ratchet and supply
of frozen hash, whale-oil lamp, and a
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 physiological
interest. But the second experimenter
would not interest his readers so much
as the first with his narrative. Charles
Dudley Warner, IN Harper's Maya
zine