Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-03-23

Limits Of Mans Endurance Of Heal
and Cold.

/ LINUS OF WAN > EuuoIdVe1 " iva
and Cold
Not the least interesting Of the
many results Of Nansen's expedition
are the records Of meteorological OBJ
servations that were continued al
most uninterruptedly for the better
part of three years, and which throw
distinct light upon the climatic con
ditions of the far north. These show
what had already been well suspected
by scientists--that, so far as a mini
mum temperature is concerned, the
highest northern ATTITUDES are more
favorably situated than many regions
lying full 10 degrees or 20 degrees
approximately 10000, 400 miles,
further to the south The lowest
reading of Nansen's thermometer,
registered on board the Fran, was
-61.5 degrees /. or some ~ to 10 de-
grees higher than the minimum
noted by the British polar expedi-
ton of 1856, and degrees above
the minimum of Kane. The lowest
winter temperature recorded 10y Mr..
Perry was $50 degrees F. In strange
contrast to this in itself sufficiently
severe temperament are the rigors Of
certain less-favored localities lying
to the south. Thus, in the Kara sea,
which lies between Nova Zembla and
Siberia, and whose center is approx
mately crossed by the seventy-third
parallel of latitude, a temperature of
-63 degreesis by no means uncommon,
and the sea, partly from this cause,
and partly from the fact that it is so
largely choked with ice, has justly re-
ceived the name of the ''ice cellar" of
Eurasia. At Yakutsk, Siberia,
well-known governmental post lying
considerably southwark, or outside
of the arctic circle, a temperature of
from 20 to 80 degrees below is re-
ported almost annually; and at Verk-
hojansk, which is situated almost
within the same broad region, but
somewhat on the polar side of the cir
Gle, there is a registry of -92 degrees
forthemonth of January, 1894. Prof.
Mohn, the distinguished Norwegian
scientist, asserts, moreover, that at
the Russian station at the mouth of
the Lena river, Siberia, the extraordi-
nary low temperature of "a de-
grees +. have been recorded.
That man should be able to en-
dure, one might say almost with i'm
punity, such excessive severity of
climate is not little remarkable, and
it is the more surprising when it is
considered in connection with his en-
durance of the opposite extreme, i. e.,
the highest summer temperature. We
have, as yet, perhaps, no absolutely
reliable data for the highest sun tenn
perature on the earth's surface, but
it may be safely assumed to be in the
neighborhood of or even beyond $50
degrees. 1t is claimed by Alexander
Won Humboldt that Richie observed
near Mourzouk, in northern Africa,
temperature lin measure reflected
from the desert sands) of 1876 degrees
in the shade, which is probably the
highest that comes authoritatively
from the records of travellers; if this is
true, there can be little doubt that the
sun temperature was fully Is de-
grees higher With the two extremes
before us, then, we havefor the human
subject a climatic resistance of at
least 244 degrees, or 30 degrees more
than is found in the range between
zero and the boiling point of water.
How much more than this man could
endure it is difficult to say, but, doubt
less, many degrees could yet be added
to either side of the thcrmometric
scale without materially or necessari-
ly affecting his system. His resistance
to the temperature Of furnace rooms,
as is evidenced in the work of the
stokers on board the transatlantic
liners, is an indication of this, and yet
more so the remarkable experiments
recently conducted by the eminent
physicist, Raoul Pictet, upon his own
person, when by artificial processes
he subjected his body to tempera-
ture of l65 degrees. - Cleveland
Leader.
In the Pamir Country.