Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1875 — Effects of Arctic Cold on Mar. [ARTICLE]

Effects of Arctic Cold on Mar.

Lout. Payer, the Austrian arctic explorer, says the London Medical Record, has been laying some of the results of his explorations before the Geographical Society of Vienna. Refering to the influence of extreme cold on the human organism, he related that on March 14, 1874, he and his companions made a sledge journey over the Semiklar glacier, in order to make observations of Francis Joseph Land. Onthatday the cold marked forty degrees (Reaumur) below zero. Notwithstanding this intense cold M. Payer and a Tyrolese went oat before sunrise to make observations and sketch. The sunrise was magnificent; the sun seemed surrounded, as it does at a high degree of cold, by small suns, and its light appeared more dazzling from %s contrast with the extreme cold. The travelers were obliged to poor rum down their throats so as not to touch the edge of the metal cups, which would have been as dangerous as if they had been red-hot; but the rum had lost all its strength and liquidity, and was as flat and thick as oil. It was impossible to smoke either cigars or tobacco in short pipes, for very soon nothing but a piece of ice remained in the mouth. The metal of the instruments was just like red-hot iron to the touch, as were some lockets, which some of the travelers romantically, but imprudently, continued to wear next the skin. M. Payer says that so great an amount of cold paralyzes the will, and that under its influence men, from the unsteadiness of their gait, their stammering talk and the slowness of -their mental operations, seem as if they were intoxicated. Another effect of cold is a tormenting thirst, which is due to the evaporation of the moisture of the body. It is unwholesome to use snow to quench the thirst, as it brings on inflammation of the throat, palate and tongue. Besides, enough can never be taken to quench the thirst, as a temperature of thirty degrees to forty degrees below zero makes it taste like molten metal. Snow-eaters in the North are considered as feeble and effeminate, in the same way as an opium-eater in the East The groups of travelers who traversed the snow-fields were surrounded by thick vapors formed by the emanations from their bodies, which became con. densed, notwithstanding the furs in which the travelers Vere enveloped. These vapors fell to the ground with a slight noise, frozen into the form of small crystals, and rendered the atmosphere thick, impenetrable and dark. Notwithstanding the humidity of the air, a disagreeable sensation of dryness was felt Every sound diffused itself to a very long distance; an ordinary conversation could be heard 100 paces off, while the report of guns from the top of high mountains could scarcely be heard.

M. Payer explains this phenomenon by th« large quantity of moisture in the arctic atmosphere. Meat could be chopped and mercury used in the shape of balls. Both smell and taste become greatly enfeebled in these latitudes, strength gives way under the paralyzing influence of the cold, the eyes involuntarily close and become frozen. When locomotion stops the sole of the foot becomes insensible. It is some what curious that the beard does not freeze, but this is explained from the air expired falling instantly transformed into snow. The cold causes dark beards to become lighter; the secretion of the eyes and nose always increases, while the formation of the perspiration entirely ceases. The only possible protection against the cold is to be very warmly clothed, and to endeavor as much as possible to prevent the con densation of the atmosphere, while the much-vaunted plan of anointing and blackening the body are pronounced to have no real value.