New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-22
COLDS AND THEIR CAUSES.
IMMUNITY OF ARCTIC ELECTROMAGNETIC
FAMOUS ST KILDA COLD.
From The Spectator.

! there are no colds to catch. There are facts
! however which seem to prove this. For exam
! nle hansen and his men during the three years
which they spent in the Arcuc regions never
| caught a cold. Yet they were exposed to cold'
| fatigue and wet TO degree when we at HoiIe
! can hardly realize. Especially one remembers
| how hansen and mis- cOmrade Johansen duflnS
! their wonderful expedition on foot over the
! Polar ice went on. day after day, clad in clothes
| which were saturated with persplratlon tnat
| they froZe by day into one SOLID mass OF ICE
and even cut into their flesh; how every night
when they tucked themselves up in their sleep
ing bags the first hour was spent in thaWlhS,
how they lay shivering, their frozen socks spread
across their chest2, until their clothes gradually
became wet and soft. and eventually comIorl
/ able and warn. 1t was, indeed, a damp Deu
to sleep in. Yet. they never caught cold; and,
mark this. for it is very important with the
| exception Of Nansen's brief attack OF lumDago'
their health did not suffer in any way from the
/ exposure. It may be said they were all strong
men. marveously hardy; they were able to
! withstand the cold.
! Bur what was the fact? Directly they reached
! civilization they all caught cod Nansen's own
statement to the writer was. There Is, Ot
course, no doubt that cold is an infectious dis
! east We had none during our journey and
we all got it very badly too at the very mo-
| ment we reached Norway" And this seems to
| be the universal experience of Arctic explorers
The members of the JackSOn-HaTmSWorth cX-
! petition, who stayed for three years in Franz
| Josef Lard. never once suffered from colds
Yet they. too. underwent at times great eX-
posure The Arctic summer was exceedingly
Wet feet were the rule "a chronic experience"
/ "On one occasion six OF us were exposed 70
gale in a boat for three days and nights when
We were all drenched to the skin with ram ana
spray; and when arrived on land, being
unable on account of the mclement weather and
want Of drift or other wood TO light hre we
had remain in wet clothes and practically
! to let them dry upon our bodies. yet none OF US
| took cold" 1t is noteworthy that the only Ill
effects ever felt were SLIGHT twinges Of rheu,
matism. experienced by two or three only. ana
quite Of a fleeting nature. Indeed. their doc
! tor declares that none Of these men we're the
worse for their long sojourn in those Northern
| regions, while some at least were the better
/ for it, Yet they also. with only two exceptions.
suffered from severe colds directly they reached
! civilization.
IN MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
Very interesting. too Is Sir Martin Conway's
| account OF his experiences. For two months.
! when exploring Spitzbergen. he and his four
comrades exposed TO considerable priva-
( tons were almost constantly wet through. and
/ frequently had to sleep in their wet clothes
yet their health never suffered in any way from
! this. But at the end of that time they went
down to Andree's settlement on the coast. where
some forty men were living, and where more
over. there was almost constant intercourse
with the mainland within two days Of their
arrival Conway and his companions all doVel-
( oped violent colds. Still more striking were his
experiences in the llim1layas. Whle among
the mountains, he and his men, Notwithstanding
great exposure never caught cold. They
even visited native villages without doing So
n
But Orce they cane down to a village where
there small European setllemebt having
communication with the outside world.--one
white man had come up three days PREVIOUSLY
There Conway and his men all. without eKcep-
ton took bad colds. which developed. he thinks,
in about a couple Of days. The present writer
has ard too, nut has been unable 10 verify
the fact that the at the observatory on
the top Of Ben Nevis. often living in the midst
OF cloud and rain and snow. never suffer from
colds. but that whenever they descend 10 IN
Invariably eaten severe
ones. 80
/ Then there is the classical instance of the st.
Kilda cold. ON that rocky lonely island ylns
some forty miles beyond the Western Hebrides'
there are nigh upon a hundred inhabitants,
who keep few sheep and CONS cultivate Some
forty acres. and collect the eggs. feathers ana
Young Of the numerous sea FOWL. Inelr coast
is so precptous and their seas are so stormy,
that for eight months out Of the twelve they are
practically inaccessible. Formerly they were
visited only once year by snip from the
mainland Now several call there during the
summer. including excursion steamers from
Liverpool and Glasgow. The curious point IS
that whenever ship reaches the island all the
inhabitants including the very infants at the
breast are seized with a cold This fact mas
been known for nearly two hundred years and
greatly nterested DR.. Johnson when he ana
Boswell were making their famous tour OF the
n ebrides IL was very sceptical about H. say
ing that the evidence was not adequate TO the
improbabity Of the thing. But he praised me
Rev Mr. Macaulay for putting it in his book,
declaring that il courageous OF nm 10 tel
fact however strange, if he himself believed
H. He said that if physician, rather disposed
To be incredul0us. should 80 to St knda ana
report the fact. he would b. gin To look about
him When told that it was annually proved
by MacI.eod's steward. on whose arrival all the
inhabitants caught cold he jocularly remarked:
The steward comes TO demand something or
them and so they fall a-cOughing"
The problem If this st. Kilda cold long puZ-
Zled learned mon. who seem never to have sus-
pected the simple explanation of the mystery.
one solution suggested that the steward
always brought whiskey with him, and that it
was the intemperapce and jollity which took
place on the occasion which caused the epidemic.
Another explanation that ship could only
rnanh Ihn isl md from TIE mainland whom the