The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-29
COLDS.
Some Of Their Causes
Given.
EXPLORERS.
Is Stated That They Never
Catch Any.

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, says writer in the
London Spectator 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 cold
Yet they We're exposed to cold, fatigue
and wet to a degree which we at home
can hardly realize Especially one re-
members how Nansen and his comrade
Johansen, during their wonderful eX-
petition On foot over the Polar ice,
went on, day after day, clad in clothes
which were so saturated with perspi-
ration 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 fro
zen socks spread across their chests,
until their clothes gradually became
wet and soft, and eventually comfort
able and warm. 1t was, indeed, a
damp bed 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 lumbago
their health did not suffer in any way
from the exposure. 1t 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
disease. We had none during our jour
ney, and we all got it (very badly, too)
at the very moment we reached Nor
way" And this seems to be the uni
versal experience of Arctic explorers.
The members of the Jackson HARMS
worth expedition, 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 prevail
ing. Wet feet were the rule, "a chron-
lc experience. 'On one occasion, six
OF us were exposed to a gale in boat
for three days and nights, when we
We're all drenched to the skin with rain
and spray; and when we arrived on
land, being unable on account of the
lnclement weather and want of drift
| or other wood, to light fire, we had
1 TO remain in our wet Clothes and prac-
! ideally 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-
perlenced by two or three only, and
| quite of fieeting nature. indeed
their doctor declares that none of these
men We're the worse for their long So
Journ IN those northern regions, while
some at least were the better for IT
Yet they also, with only two excep-
tons. suffered from severe colds direct
~ they reached civilization.
very interesting, too, is Sir Martin
ConWay's account of his experiences.
For two months, when exploring Spitz-
bergen he and his four comrades were
exposed to considerable privations
We're almost constantly wet through,
ana frequently had to sleep in their wet
clotheS; yet their health laeVer suffered
IN any way from this. But at the end
Oh that time they went down to An
dree's settlement on the coast, where
some 4O men were living, and where
moreover, there was alnlost~a constant
intercourse with the mainland. Within
Two days OF their arrival Conway and
ms companions all developed violent
colds. Still more striking were his ex
among the mountains, he and his men
Notwithstanding great exposure, never
caught cold. They even visited native
villages without doing so. But once thew
came down to a village where there was
small European settlement having
communication with the outside world
one white man had come up three davs
previously. There Conway and his men
an without exception. took bad colds
which developed, he thinks, in about a
couple of DAVIS -
Ihen there is the classical instance Of
the st. kilda cold. On that rocky. lonely
island, lying some 40 miles beyond the
western Hebrides, there are nigh upon
hundred inhabitants, who keep a few
sheep ana cows, cultivate some 40 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
- they are practically inaccessible.
Formerly they We're visited only once a
year by ship from the mainland. Now
several call there during the summer.
including excursion steamers from Iiv-
erpool ana Glasgow, The curious point
- tnat whenever ship reaches the is
rama all the inhabitants, including fine
very infants at the breast, are seized
win cold. This fact has been known
1or nearly zoo years, and greatly inter-
ested Dr. johnson when he and Ros-
Wen We're making their famous tour of
the Hebrides. He was very scepticaI
ABOUT 1t, saying that the evidence was
not adequate to the improbabiIity of the
Inlng' But he praised the Rev. Mr..
Macaulay for putting it in his book,
declaring that it was courageous of
MN TO tell fact, however strange If
ne himself believed it, He said that II
physician, rather disposed to be in
/ creaulous should go to st. Kllda and
] report the fact. he would begin to look
ABOUT him. When told that ii was an
hually proved by MacLeods steward
on whose arrival all the inhabitants
caught cold he jocularly remarked. .
Inc steward comes to demand some
tnlnS Oh them, and so they fall a.
! The problem of this st. Kilda cold
long puzzled learned men. who seen,
never TO have suspected the simple
explanation of the mystery. One solu-
ton suggested was that the steward AL
ways brought whisky with him. and
that IL was the intemperance and fol-
llty which took place on the occasion
which caused the epidemic. Another
explanation was that a ship could only
reach the island from the mainland
when the wind was from the northeast
Inc WIND, not the strangers, caused
the cold" This cold is still Character
istic of the island, and is called bv the
inhabitants the strangers cold" on
the arrival of the first steamer every
summer all the island folk fall victims.
| atterward many of them escape The
attack lasts eight or ten days, and is
often accompanied by bronchial
catarrh The inhabitants affirm that
II the ship comes from Liverpool or