The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1906-12-11


ruzzi's expedition, went 22 miles far
Their; and this record has now been
eclipsed by Commander Peary, who
has brought the pole within distence
which an express train would cover In
three and half hours.
1t is impossible in short article
to give even in barest outline any de
scription Of these numerous attempts
to reach the pole; but it will, perhaps,
be Interesting TO give some account of
the hardships the explorers have had
to endure from the terrible cold. DR..
Kane, the famous American explorer
of half a century ago, speaking of a
temperature of 25 degrees below zero,
says: "The beard. eyebrows. eyelashes
and the downy pubescence of the ears
acquire a delicate white and perfectly
enveioping cover of venerable hoar-
frost. The mustache and under hp
form pendulous heads of dangling ice
Put out your tongue, and it instantly
freezes to this icy crusting, and a
rapid effort and some hand aid will
be required to Hibernate it. Your
chin has a trick of freezing to your
upper jaw by the luting aid of your
beard; my eyes have often been SC
| glued as to show that even a wink
may be unsafe.
BUT the doctors merry men could
afford to smile at only 81 degrees OF
frost after seeing the thermometer
register So degrees below freezing
point. On Feb. %. 1851. they actu-
ally gave a performance of a farce
The Mysteries and Miseries of New
York." when the temperature out.
side was 46 degrees below zero. 1.-The
ships thermometer outside says
DR.. Kane. "was at 46 degrees; inside
the audience and actors by aid OF
lungs, lamps and hangings. got az
high as 32 degrees, only ~ degrees
/ DtION lHt llCCIihS PoAhtf pei h'Ba ehN
lowest atmosphere record of a theat.
rical representation. The condensa
ton was so excessive that We could
barely see the performers; they walk
ed in a cloud of vapor. Their hands
steamed. When an excited Thespiar
took off his coat it smoked like g
dish of potatoes"
SO intense was the cold that. whef
an actor who was playing the part o.
a girl, touched fiat iron with one
of his bare arms the arm was as bad
ly blstered as II the IRON had beer
red hot. Il.
Sir Leopold McClintock and his
men had some terrible experience.
when tramping over the ice fields
with the thermometer As degrees
One of the sailors, he records, wa
foolish enough one day to discard his
mittens when doing some outdoC,
work. His hands were frozen; and
when he plunged one of them into q
basin of water in the hope of thaw'
ing it the water was frozen SOLID.
! Another Arctic explorer tells how
one day when, he was walking. his
moustache and beard were converted
into solid BLOCK o. zee. az mad
vertentiy." he says, put, out my
tongue, and it instantly froze fast be
my hip. This, being nothing new
costing only a small pull and bleed
ing afterward / put up my mittened
hands to blow hot and thaw the un-
Truly member from its Imprisonment
Instead of succeeding. my mitten II.
self was mass of ice in moment
It fastened itself on the upper SIDE
of my tongue and fiattened it out
Ike a batter cake between the two
disks of hot griddle. 1t required
all my care with the bare hands &c
release II, and then not without lac.
Grafton"
That an exceedingly low Temporal
ture could be borne without discom-
fort is proved by Sir Edward Parry's
experience. "Our bodies" he says
:appear to adapt themselves SO read.
lily to the climate that the scale OF
our feelings was soon reduced to "a
lower standard than ordinary; so that
after being some. days in tempera.
ture Of 10 degrees, or 20 degrees, II
felt quite mild and comfortable when
the thermometer rose to zero" t32
degrees of frost-) But to handle amy
of the instruments with bare hands
was like touching hot iron, while the
slightest breeze caused the exposed
parts of the body intense pain.-Tlt'
bits.