The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1914-04-30
WARMTH and COLD
The Thermometer Verdict Is Very
| Misleading at Times.

! misleading al Times.
TEMPERATURE AND THE BODY
Atmospheric Conditions, Moisture and
Wind, Exercise an influence Over tho
Human Machine That 10 Lost Upon
= Mass Of Mercury In a Glass Tube.
! Do not let the thermometer fool you
1t is very deceptive instrument for
those who do not know how to use it
and sometimes for those who do, or
think they do. .~
You may glance at your thermom-
eter, hanging just outside the door,
some winter morning and see the mer-
curry standing at zero. Phew! You
feel a shiver at the mere sight of that
needle of glacial metal, contracted
down almost to the bottom of its tube,
rs II seeking refuge, and glittering
there like q miniature icicle cut of
short.
You wrap yourself up as for an arc
tic journey before venturing out, thrust
your gloved hands into your big over.
coat pockets, put on your ear shields,
start on run for your office or the
railroad station in order to get your
blood into state Of defensive circu.
lation-and in two or three minutes
you are streaming with Precipitation!
You turn down your collar, open your
coat and find that the air is, though
not exactly balmy, decidedly bracing
and agreeable.
! Yet there hangs that thermometer,
steadily marking zero!
! 1t has deceived you, but still it has
told the truth-yet not the whole truth,
only the truth as it sees 1t. It is zero
weather for the thermometer, but it ia
not zero weather for you. Evidently
your body and the thermometer have
not the same standards Of measure
ment.
But q few days later perhaps you
look again at your thermometer on the
porch as you are about to go about
your business, and you find that 1t
marks a very comfortable sum of de-
grees above zero, what might truly be
called balmy weather for winter. You
have forgotten the disagreement that
you had with the instrument Of SCI
ence the other morning, and you bow
again confidingly to its decree. It says
the air is comfortably warm, and the
thermometer surely p.ight to know,
since i Is it, sole business to measure
1 You leave OF your heavy coat and
your wraps, bare your throat and
:stzrt bravely away for office or sta
stion, trying to feel as genial as the
thermometer has assured you that the
weather is. But you are not halfway
ITO ysur destination before shiver
runs down your back, your nose be-
comes an icicle, your ears smart and
burn, and you begin to sneeze or
cough. You feel that you have laid
the foundation of a serious "cold, "
which will probably put some money
In the pocket Of your neighbor, the
doctor.
But IL, scared by the thought Of
pneumonia, you will return home In
haste you viii see as you glance at It
in passing that the thermometer on
the porch still stares you down with
Its impudent assertions that the air
this morning is only moderately cold,
1ust about right temperature to be en-
jcyable and healthful.
Now, where 10 the origin Of the de-
ception and why are you warm when
the thermometer is cold and cold when
the thermometer is warm?
4 The whole trouble arises from the
essential difference between simple
machine consisting of glass tube and
q little mercury and complicated liv
Ing body with its multitude Of interre
Hated parts and functions. The Their
m0meter has only one way Of feeling
changes of temperature and only ont
way Of responding to them-viz, BY
/ either expansion or contraction Of thu
LIQUID metal In its tube. The human
body is heat engine continually IA
dating away the heat produced within
1t BY it, vital processes, and its princi
nal means Of feeling changes Of tenn
pefature occurring outside itself Il
through the different rates at which 1T
Unborn heat IL radiated away to sur
rounding objects or the surrounding
air.
when the air is dry on cold morn
lne there is little or no evaporation
and the skin is not seriously a6ectet
by the cold. But If the air Is charges
with moisture the invisible waite
drops evaporate on touching the ski
and BY their evaporation abstract hea
from the body, which feels the result
fnR chill deep within. SO If the air i
stiIl the cold does not penetrate, but i
1t Is breezy new particles OF cold al
are continually swept against the ski
rnd more and more heat is abstracte'
from the body .-Garrett P. Serviss II
Spokane Spokesman Review.
eaifour and His Verb.
Among present day British parlis
snentary orators the labor leaders us
the longest as well as the most recondit
words. Mr.. Balfour, however, Is pre-
ty hard to beat at polysyllable dis
plays. In a speech on dualism in edit
cation, delivered some time ago, b
used the word "dichotomize." The n
porters, not having heard of thi
strange verb, held consultation abou