The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1897-04-24
SEVERE CLIMATES.
l.: nits of Mans Endurance of Extreme
IL Heat and Cold. ~

L: nits VI Mans Endurance of Extreme
Heat and Cold.
Nct the least interesting of the
IL ny results of Nansen's expedi-
ton arc the records of meteorolog-
iC | observations that contin-'
ucd almost uninterruptcdly for the
better part OF Sh~ee years and which
throw. distinct light upon the eli
mutic conditions of the far north.
These show what had already been
veil supported by scientists-that,
So far as q minimum temperature is
concerned, the highest northern lat
itndcs are more favorably situated
tim many regions lying fully 15de-
grces or 20 degrees-approximately
1000 to 1,4OO miles-farther to the
south. The lowest reading of Nam
sens thermometer, registered on
board the Fran, was G1.5 degrees
f., or some IL to Is degrees higher
than the minimum noted by the
British polar expedition of 1856
and s degrees above the minimum
OF Kane The lowest winter tenn
pcrature recorded by Mr. Peary was
So degrees L. In strange contrast to
this, in itself sufficiently severe tenn
p%erature, are the rigors of certain
less favored localities lying to the
south. Thus, in the. Kara sea, which
lies between Nova Zembla and ST.
IBERIA and whose center is approx
matcly crossed by tho seventy third
parallel Of latitude, a temperature
Of So degrees is by no means un-
common, and the sea, partly from
this cause and partly from the fact
that it is so largely choked with ice,
has justly received the name Of the
ice cellar of Eurasia.
At Yakutsk, in Siberia, a we'll
Eaown government post, lying con-
siderably southwark or outside of
the arctic circle, q temperature of
from 20 degrees to so degrees below
is reported almost annually, and at
Verkhojansk, which is situated al
most within the same broad region,
but somewhat ON the polar side of
the circle, there is a registry Of SO
degrees fer the month Of January,
1894. Professor Mohr, the distin-
glished Norwegian scientist, asserts,
moreover, that at the Russian sta
ton at the mouth of the Lena river,
Siberia, the extraordinarily low tenn
perature Of 81 degrees F. has been
recorded.
That man should he able to en-
dure. one might say almost with
impunity, such excessive severity OF.
climate is not a little remarkable.
and it is more surprising when it is
considered in connection with his
endurance of the opposite extreme
j. e., the highest summer tempera-
ture. We have as yet perhaps no
absolutely reliable data for the high
est sun temperature on the earth's
surface, but it may be safely as
sumed to be in the neighborhooa Of
OF even beyond $50 degrees. 1t is
claimed by Alexander o Hum
bcldt that Hsitchie observed near
Mourzouk, in northern Africa, a
temperature-in Il measure reflected
from the desert sands--of 1875 de-
grees in the shade, which is proba-
bly, the highest that comes authori-
rasivcly from tho records Ct travel
c-.s. Ii this is true, t1,cn there can be
little doubt that the sun tempera-
ture was fully Is degrees higher.
With the two extremes before US,
then, we have for the human sub
lcct Il climatic resistance of at least
Pa degrees. or SO degrees more than
is found in the range between zero
and the boiling point of water. How
much more than this man could en-
uure it is difficult to say, but doubt
less many degrees could yet lie add
ed to elthcr side of the thermomet-
ric scale without materially OF nee
essarily 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 indi-
cation of this, and yet, more, the &C.
markable experiments recently con-
Quoted hy the eminent physicist,
Raoul Pictet, upon his own person,
when by artificial processes he sub
jected his body to a temperature of
1876 degrees. Indianapolis News.