The indicator., 1897-05-08

| upon the climatic conditions of the far
north. These show. says the Indian
apoiis news, what had already been
suspected by scientists, that. so far as
a minimum temperature is concerned,
the highest northern latitudes are
more favorably situated than many re-
gions lying full fifteen or twenty de-
grees approximately 10O0-1 400 miles,
farther to the south. The lowest read
ing of Nansens thermometer. regis
tered en- board the Fran. was els de-
grecs Fahrenheit, or some IL to 10 de-
grees higher than the minimum noted
by the British polar expedition of 1876
u. and degrees above the minimum
of Kane. The lowest winter tempera
ture recorded by Mr.. Peary was So de
grees Fahrenheit In strange contrast
to this in itself sufficiently severe tenn
perature are the rigors of certain less
| favored localities lying south. Thus, in
the Kara sea, which lies between Nova
Iembla and Siberia. and whose center
is approximately crossed by the sew
enty-third parallel of latitude, tenn
| perature Of Gl degrees is by no means
uncommon, and the sea, partly from
| this cause and partly from the fact
that 1t is largely choked with ice. has
| justly received the name of the ice
cellar" of Eurasia.
At Yakutsk in Siberia. a well-known
| governmental post, lying considerably
southwark or outside of the arctic cir
| Gle, temperature of from 10 to so
| degrees below is reported almost an
nually; and at Verkhojansk, which is
situated almost within the same broad
region, but somewhat on the polar side
( oil the circle, there is a registry of 92
degrees for the month of January, 1891
Prof. Mohn. the distinguished Norwe-
| gian scientist, asserts, moreover, that
at the Russian station at the mouth
of the Lena river, Siberia, the extraor-
dinary low temperature OF 81 degrees
| Fahrenheit has been recorded
That man should be able to endure.
one might say almost with impunity,
such excessive severity of climate is
not little remarkable, and it is more
surprising when 1t is considered in con-
nection with his endurance Of the op-
posite extreme, that is. the highest
perhaps. no absolutely reliable data for
the highest sun temperature on the
earth's surface. but it may safely be as
sumed to be in the neighborhood of or
even beyond $50 degrees. 1t is claimed
| by Alexander Won Humboldt that Rit-
chic observed near MourZouk, in north
ern Africa a temperature lin meas
ure reflected from the desert sands) of
135 degrees in the shade, which is prob
ably the highest that comes author
itatively from the records of travellers
If this is true, then there can be little
doubt that the sun temperature was
fully Is degrees higher. With the two
extremes before us, then, we have for
the human subject a climatic resistance
of at least 24l degrees. or 80 degrees
more than is found in the range be-
tween zero and the boiling point OF
water. How much more than this man
could endure it is difficult to say, but
doubtless many degrees could yet be
added to either side of the thermome-
trio scale without materially or neces-
sarily affecting his system. His re-
sistance to the temperature of furnace
rooms, as is evidenced in the work of
stokers on board the transatlantic lin
ers, is an indication of this. And yet
more the remarkable experiments re-
Gently conducted by the eminent ply
sicist Raoul Pictet upon his own per-
son, when by artificial processes he
1Gj degrees.