The record-union., 1899-02-06
TAKING GOLD.
PLACES WHERE You CANNOT
CATCH COLD.

|
Cold AZ an Infections Disease
Experience Of Mountain
| Climbers.
Many people may be surprised to
hear that even in this world there are
| places where it is impossible to catch a
cold, simply because there are no colds
! to catch. There are facts, however,
which seem to prove this. For ex-
ample, 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 home can
hardly realize. Especially one remem-
] berS how Nansen and his comrade JO-
hansen during their wonderful expedi-
/ ton on foot over the Polar ice went
on, day after day, clad i'm clothes which
were so saturated with perspiration
that 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 sleeping
bags the first hour was spent in thaw-
ing; how they lay shivering, their
frozen socks spread across their chests,
until their clothes gradually became
wet and soft, and eventually comfort
able and warm It was, indeed, damp
bed to sleep in. Yet they never caught
cold; and, mark this, for it is very
/ important, with the exception of Nam
sens brief attack of lumbago, their
health did not suffer in any way from
the exposure It may be said they were
| all strong men, marvelously hardy;
they were able to Withstand the cold.
| But What was the fact? Directly they
reached civilization they all caught
cold. Nansen's own statement to the
writer was: There is, of course, no
doubt that a cold is an infectious dis
ease. We had none during our journey,
and we all got it very badly too) at
the very moment we reached Norway"
And this seems to be the universal ex-
perience of Arctic explorers. The men,
bers of the Jackson Harmsworth ex-
petition, who stayed for three years In
Franz 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 expert
ence.' ION one occasion six of US We're
exposed to gale in a boat for three
days and nights, when we were all
/ drenched to the skin with rain and
spray; and when we arrived on land,
being unable on account of the incle-
ment weather and want Of drift or
other wood to light a fire. we had to
remain in our wet clothes, and prac-
tically to let them dry upon our bodies,
yet none of US took cold.' 1t is note
worthy that the only i'll effects ever felt
were slight twinges Of rheumatism, ex-
perienced by two or three only, and
quite of fleeing nature. Indeed, their
doctor declares that none of these men
were 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. sEt
IN MOUNTAIN CLIMBING.
| Very interesting, too, Is Sir Martin
Conways account of his experiences.
For two months, when exploring Spitz-
bergen, ne and his four comrades were
! exposed to considerable privations,
were almost constantly wet through,
and frequently had to sleep in their
wet clothes; yet their health never suf-
fered 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 We're living, and where.
moreover, there was almost. constant
/ intercourse with the mainland. With
! in two days of their arrival Conway
and his companions all developed vio-
| lent colds. Still more striking were his
| experiences in the Himalayas. While
among the mountains. he and his men,
Notwithstanding great exposure, never
caught a cold. They even visited native
villages without doing so. But once
! they came down to a village where
there was a small European settlement
having communication with the outside
world-one white had come up three
days previously. There Conway ana
his men all, without exception, took bad
colds, which developed, he thinks, in
about couple of days. The present
writer has heard too, but has been I'M
able to verify the fact, that the men
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
QGSceQQ 10 inhabited Ic6iOiiS lttSJ AL
variably catch severe ones.
| Then there is the classical instance OF
/ the ST. Kilda cold. On that rocky,
lonely island, lying some forty miles
beyond the Western Hebrides, there
are nigh upon a hundred inhabitants,
who keep a few sheep and COWS. Gull
tivate some forty acres. and collect
the eggs, feathers and young Of the
numerous sea fowl Their coast is so
precipitous, and their seas are so
stormy, that for eight months out of
the twelve they are practically mac
cessible Formerly they were visited
only once year by a ship from the
mainland. Now several call there dur
| ing the summer, including excursion
steamers from Liverpool and Glasgow.
| The curious point is that whenever. a
ship reaches the island all the inhab-
| itants, including the very infants at the
breast, are seized with cold. This
| fact has been known for nearly 200
years, and greatly interested DR.. john
son when he and Boswell were making
their famous tour of the Hebrides. He
was very skeptical about it, saying
| that the evidence was not adequate to
the improbability of the thing. But he
praised the Rev. Mr.. Macaulay for put
| ting it in his book, declaring that it was
| courageous of him to tell a fact, how
ever strange, If he himself believed it.
He said that If physician, rather dis
posed to be incredulous, should go to
| st. Kilda and report the fact, he would