Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-06-14
IN VERY SEVERE CLIMATES.
Endurance of Extreme Heat
and Cold.

From the Indianapolis News.
Not the least interesting of the many re-
suits of Nansen's expeditions are the rec
ords of meteorological observations that
were continued almost uninterruptedly for
the better part of three years and which
throw distinct light upon the climatic con-
diticns of the far North. These snow what
had already been well suspected ~ sCieh-
~tists-that, so far as a minimum teHlpeId-
ture is concerned. the highest Northern
attitudes are more favorably situated lhah
H TannygoT T fg6taiv yin nS-L L9 100 niles further 10
the south. The lowest reading OF hansen
thermometer. registersd on Poa ~ some Sne
u or 10 deg. higher than the minimum NOT
ed by the British polar expedition OF 1870
&c. and 5 deg. above the minimum OF Kane.
The lowest winter temperature recorded by
Mr.. Peary was 50 deg. Fahrenheit. In
strange contrast TO this IN itself sutnclently
seyere temperature are the rigors of GER
tain less favored localities lying to the
south. Thus. in the Kara sea. which lies
whose center is approximately crossed by
the seventy-third parallel of latitude. a
Temperature of g deg is by no means un-
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
At Yakutsh, in Siberia, a well known
governmental post lying eonsideTa9iy
a temperature Of from 20 deg. to 80 deg.
below is reported almost annually; ana az
NelhuOJdnsh, "nlCn Is SlludlsN oLhLO1N
within the same broad region. but some
what on the polar side of the circle there
Is a registry of % deg. for the month OF
January, 1894. Professor Mohn, the dlstln-
guished Norwegian scientist, asserts, more
over, that at the Russian station az tne
mouth OF the Lena river. Siberia, the ,ex-
t~raordinary low temperature OF "a DEG.
Fahrenheit has been reached.
That man should be able to endure one
might say almost with impunity such ex-
cessive severity of climate Is not a little re-
markable. and it is more surprising when
il is considered in connection with his en-
durance of the opposite eNtreme-L e, the
highest summer temperature. we have as
the highest sun temperature on the earths
surface, but it may safely assumed TO pc IN
the neighbOrhOOd of even beyond lo de-
grees. 1t is claimed by Alexander Won Hum
boldt that Ritchie observed near Mourzouk,
in Northern Africa. a temperature TIN, a
measure reflected from the desert SANDS
of 1876 degrees in the shade. which Is prop
ably the highest that comes authoritatiVeiy
from the records of Travellers; IL this Is
true. then there can be little doubt that the
sun temperature was fully fifteen degrees
higher. With the two extremes before us,
then, we have for the human OBJECT a
climatic resistance of at least 24i degrees;
or thirty-two degrees more than Is found
point OF water. How much more than this
man could endure il is difficult to say, but,
doubtless, many degrees could yet be added
to either side of the thermometer scale
without materially or necessarily anecuhs
his system. His resistance to the tempera-
ture of furnace room, as Is evidenced in
the work of the stokers on board the trans |
Atlantic liners, Is an indication of this: and
yet more, the remarkable experiments re-
Gently conducted by the eminent physician,
Raoul Pictet, upon his own person, when
artificial processes he subjected his body |
to a temperature of 100 degrees.