The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-01
suNsmNY WESTERN CANADA.
Something in the Climate That Makes
Settlers Neurasthenic.

A few years ago little was known
of the Canadian provinces to the west
of Manitoba, and indeed of Manitoba
itself, and all this vast region wa !
thought of only as frigid waste from
which came the cold waves which peri
odically sweep across the United
states, carrying frost into Texas and
even to the orange groves of Florida
BUT lately 1t has been found that that
country is one of exceeding fertility,
the richness of soil and the brightness
OF sunshine combining to make it adj
m1rably adapted to the growing of
wheat, despite the pitiful breyity of its
summer A migration of large proper
tons has been setting in from the
United States and Europe, and this re-
glon now promises to become one of
the great granaries of the world. The
cold of winter is long continued and
intense, but the heat of summer is am
pie in intensity and duration for the
r1pen1ng of grain, the soil is rich, and
the unoccupied land is of almost limit
less extent, and capable of supporting
very large populati ton, that the
prosperity of this new territory would
seem to be assured. There is but one
cloud OvershadoWing this hoped for
prosperity, and this is to abandon the
language of metaphor for that of fact,
the absence of cloud. The country is
one of almost continuous sunshine the
brfllianey Of the light equaling that of
rather than the heat which bars tropi-
cal lands to the white man. as Wood
ruff contends, the prosperity of the
Canadian Northwest promises to be
shortlived.
AS those who have read Major Wood
rufus interesting book know, he holds
that the failure of the white races to
colonize the tropics is due, not to the
heat of these regions, but to the ex-
cess of light which there prevails The
Eu1 opeans who have been most sue
cessful in co1onizing tropical regions,
that is, who have themselves peopled
the colonies and not merely ruled them
by a constantly changing staff of off,
Gals, are the natives of the Iberian
Peninsula, a dark-skinned race; and to
blonds, Woodruff asserts, tropical lands
are fatal. If it is the heat rather than
the light that is injurious, the white
man should prosper more than the
black man, AMI the blond more than
the brunette, since presence of pig
ment in the skin distinctly favors the
penetration of the heat rays. But the
white man, especially the blond, suf-
fers in the tropics; after a period of
exhilaration and sense of -well-being,
he becomes disinclined to labor, grows
feura sthenie, and finally breaks down
physically and mentally. This Wood
ruff attributes to the action of the ac-
tinic rays of light, which penetrate the
more readily the less of pigment there
is in the skin and hair, and he, there
fore, concludes that it is the light
rather than the heat which bars the
white man from the tropics.
In the Western Canada Medical
Journal Rev. E. c. Heustis asserts
that the inha bitants of Manitoba and
the adjacent territories are unduly
neurasthenic, and, adopting Wood
rufus theory, attributes this condition
to the excess of sunshine with which
that country is blessed-or cursed, ac-
cording to the point of view. In the
issue of the same journal for May of
this year, DIR. A. G. Welsford contro-
verts Mr.. Heustis' contention. and as
serts that sunshine is a blessing. He
comedies that sunshine is destructive
to protoDlasm, but says that the ac-
tfr1fcs rays do not penetrate the skin to
any extent, the deeper tissues being
protected by the epidermis, and espe-
cially by the dermis. which is suffused
with red blood offering a barrier as
effective as the black pigment of the
negro's skin. The reason why Euro |
peans do not thrive in the tropics is,
he maintains, that they are attuned to
colder climates and when transplant |
ed to warm regions live under alb |
normal conditions of heat rather than !
of light. He does not deny that the |
denizens of the sunlit regions of |
northern Canada suffer from neu-
rasthenic states, but he asserts that |
sunshine except as this may have an |
in direct effect by reason of its tonic |
properties which lead to the undue |
expenditure of energy. In another |
part of his article he admits, indeed, |
that intense and long continued sun |
shine may prove exhausting, but he
rejects Woodruffs theory of its action, |
attributing its possible evil effects to |
eyestrain, resulting from the glare. |
We fear DIR. Welsford has not proved
his case, for he comedies that intense |
sunlight may be injurious. differing