The Washington times., 1924-08-02
DIR. FRANK CRANES
DAILY EDITORIAL
The Sea.
ne So.
BY Dr.. FRANK CRANE.

Ssa By DIR. FRANK CRANE
WYMHJALMUR STEFANSSON the arctic explorer
" writing ii the London Spectator, demolshes many
popular errors to which most Of us still cling, al
though they are vestiges Of uncrtical ages.
Many people have been indignant that their tmehOnOred
beliefs should thus be attacked and have written letters
protesting against the Stefansson article
the first place Stefansson that the North Pole
is not the coolest place earth many people imagine
Oceans always act as moderating influence upon tenn
perature and the North Pole surrounded BY the
There parts Of the United States and Of Siberia where
the cold is greater than at the North Pole
The temperature the Pole falls below $50 degrees
IN Montana thermometers have registered so degrees and
Siberia there places where 10 degrees and so not
uncommon and Of them has experienced ~ degrees
which 80 degrees below the temperature Of the North
Pole.
D. Another popular belief that ostrches bury their
heads IN the sand This superstition Steansson says
thousands years DID, but exists only nm
familiar with ostriches' habits.
Colonel Roosevelt told SefanssOn than when in Africa he
had diligently inquired Of all negroes he met whether
they had ever osrches bury their heads They had
never heard Of such thing the contrary expressed
the greatest respect for this birds astuteness
tsYou said Colonel Roosevelt those negroes had not
the advantage Of an American education
is reasonable to suppose that osrches were as stupid
reputed they would all fall shortly to other preda
tory animals.
81 Another superstition which Stefansson attacks is
habit of rubbing part affected by frost bite
This he declares is IAN interesting survival in folk lore
that like cures like
He tells us that the Eskimo never employs this method
and when suggested to him he rejects it in the high
est degree absurd and dangerous.
ut is possible says Stefansson, Ito get thousands to
testify to the beneficent effect of the treatment OF
frost bites, but nearly many would have testified
in Columbus time the flatness of the earth, or in
Washington's time to the efficacy OF bloodletting
Al The next superstition attacked is that human beings
cannot live meat alone He himself has gone four hum
dred days without tasting vegetable food.
Certain Eskimo tribes subsist solely and fish and
vegetables only in the drest straits avoid starvation
He denies the belief that Eskmo especially fond Of
fat and that they drink oil
The Eskmos'' he writes, undoubtedly would be fond
exposed cold than the of u.s. but the fact
that the Ekmos actually exposed to less cold than the
average American Englishman =
He supports this declaration informing the reader
Eskimo houses winter heated that the nhab
tants frequently sit naked around the open fire with persp
ration running down their bodies And when they 60
they clothed warmly as though they inside
thermoS bottle.
Another common assumption which Stefansson attacks
is that the languages of primitive peoples are simple the
contrary the Eskimo language enormously complex with
tweneven forms for every elaborate decensions
of verbs
Furthermore the Greenanders everyday vocabulary il
many times greater than that of the average American OF
Englishman
While English dictionary contains vastly more words
than the Eskimo dictionary it because preserve many
highly specialized words with which only the exceptional
man is familiar.
The Eskimos the contrary have no written language
at all that every word contained in the Eskimo dictionary
is in use today.