The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-29
NATURE OF COLDS.
THERE Is EVERY REASON TO BE-
LIEVE THEY ARE CONTAGIOUS.

Not Caused Merely by Exposure,
for There Are Places Where. They
Cannot BE Caught-sOme Cases i'm
Point.
From the London Spectator.
/ Many people may be surprised TO hear
that even in this world there are places
where 1t is impossible to catch cold,
simply because there are no colds to catch
There are facts. however, which seem to
prove this. For example, Nansen and his
men, during the three years which they
spent in the Arctic regions, never caught
a cold. Yet they were exposed to cold
fatigue and wet to a degree which we at
homie can hardly realize Especially one
rem embers how Nansen and his comrade
Joha nsen, during their wonderful expedi-
ton on foot over the polar ice, went on,
day after day, clad in clothes which were
so saturated with perspration that they
froze by day into one solid mass of Ice,
and even cut into the flesh; bow every
night, when they tucked themselves up in
their sleeping bags, the first hour was
spent in thawing; how they Icy SILVER
ing their frozen socks spread across their
chests, until their clothes grad ually be-
| came wet and soft and eventually COM
Portable and warm. 1t was indeed damp
bed to sleep in. Yet they never caught
cold; ana mark this, for it is very i'm
portant, with the exception of 1pansens
brief attack of lumbago, their health did
not suffer in any way from the e. Eposure.
1t may be said that they were all strong
men, maryelously hardy; they we've able
to withstand the cold. But what was
! the fact, Directly they reached ciWiliza-
ton they all caught cold Nansen 5 own
statement to the writer was: 9TH IRE Is,
of course, no doubt that cold is an in
| fectious disease. We had none durin g our
Journey and we all got it very badly,
too at the very moment We reached Nor
way" And this seems 10 be the univ sersal
| experience Of Arctic explorers. The mem
bers of the Jackson-Harmsworth exPedi-
ton, who stayed for three years in Rranz
| Josef Land, never once suffered from
| colds, Yet they, too, underwent at times
| great exposure. The Arctic summer was
| exceedingly damp-cold, mist-laden east
winds prevailing. Wet feet were the rule,
! "a chronic experience ION one o cca-
sion six of us We're exposed to a gale
| in a boat for three days and nights, when
| we were all drenched to the skin with
rain and spray; and when We arriveSl on
| land being unable on account of til @ in
| element weather and want of drift and
| other wood to light fire, we had o re-
main in our wet clothes and practically
| let them dry upon our bodies, yet none
| of us took cold' It is noteworthy that
| the only i'll effects ever felt were s light
| twInges of rheumatism, experienced by
two or three only and quite of flee ting
| nature. Indeed, their doctor declares that
none of these men were the worse for
their long sojourn in those northerri re-
| gions, while some at least were the b ettef
| for it. Yet they also, with only two ex-
| ceptions, suffered from severe colds di-
rectly they reached civilization.
No III Effects.
Very interesting too is Sir Martin Con-
ways account of his experiences. For two
| months, when exploring Spitzbergen, he
and his four comrades were exposed TO
| considerable privadons, were almost con-
| stantly wet through and frequently h; I'D TO
sleep in their wet clothes; yet their ealth
never suffered in any way from this But
| at the end of that time they went do wn to
| Andree's settlement on the coast, where
| some forty men were living, and where,
moreover there was almost constant inter-
| course with The mainland. Within two days
| of their arrival Conway and his compan-
| ions all developed violent colds Still more
| striking We're his experiences in the Him
| alayas. While among the mountains ne
| and mis- men, notwithsta pding great ex-
| posture, never caught a old. They even
| visited native villages wit bout doiFlg so.
|
| where there was a small European set
| tement having communication with the
outside world-one white Ian had come
AID three days previously. There Conway
and his men ALL without e RECEPTION took
bad colds, which developed, he thinks,
in al OUT couple of days. The present
writer has heard, too, but has been unable
10 verify the fact, that the men at the
observatory on top of Ben Nevis, often
living in The midst of cloud and rain and
snow never suffer from colds; but that
| whenever they descend to inhabited re-
| pions they invariably catch severe ones.
The Saint KiIda Cold.
Then there is the classical instance of the
| 81 LiIda cold On that rocky, lonely is
| land. living some forty miles beyond the
| western Hebridcss there are nigh upon a
| hundred inhab itants, who keep Jew
| sheep and cows. cultivate some forty acres,
| and collect the eggs feathers and young
| of the numerous sea fowl Theil coast is
| so precipitous and then seas are o stormy
! that for eight months out of the twelve
| they are practically ina. ecesstbte. Formerly
! they were visited only once year by
| a shin from the mania nd. Now several
| call there during the So INNER, Including
| excursion steamers from Liverp DOL aud
| Glasgow The curious poiT It is tina when
| ever a ship reaches the is. and all the in
| habitants. including the very inElnts at
| the breast, are seized with a cold This
| fact has been known for nea Tly 200 years,
| and greatly interested DR.. j Dhnson when
| he and Boswell were making their famous
tour Of the Hebrides. He wa;s very skep-
teal about il, saying that he evidence
was not adequate to the impr pbability of
! the thing but he praised tn e Rev. Mr..
Macaulay for putting it IN his b ook. deelar-
| ing that it was coura geous of him to tell
| a fact however strange, if he himself be-
| lieved it, He said that il a physician,
rather disposed TO be jncredulol7 As, should
| go TO ST kida and report tho fact, he
| would begin 10 dock about him. When told
| that it was annually proved by THacLeod's
steward on whose arrival all Il lie inhabl-
| tants caught cold, he jocularly Remarked:
! THE steward comes to demand something
| of them, and so they fall a-cougi1ing."
Long a Puzzle.