40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



kind has been seriously planned by Dr. Frederick Sohon, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, but has never yet been carried out.^ 



It is a significant fact that Arctic explorers from Dr. Elisha Kent 

 Kane down, including General A. W. Greely, Admiral Peary, Mr. W. 

 S. Champ, Mr. Herbert L. Bridgman, the late Dr. Nicholas Senn, and 

 others comment on the healthfulness of the Polar climate. Dr. 

 Sohon made two voyages with Commander Peary, in 1896 and in 

 1902, and states his opinion that in summer the Arctic regions are en- 

 tirely suitable for, and beneficial to, the tuberculous, and that the un- 

 equaled natural advantages for a cure can be practically utilized. Few 

 understand the fascination which the Polar regions undoubtedly 

 exert on all who enter that charmed circle. The expressions used by 

 Arctic explorers seem so extravagant to the average mind. The 

 late Professor Senn says : " Nature there lends such efiforts toward 

 prophylaxis, as to leave no need for therapeutics." " 



The air of the Arctic regions is free from dust and germs. It is 

 not, in itself, responsible for any disease which may be carried 

 into Arctic settlements by ships' crews, or by means of the migration 

 of animals or birds. Colds and catarrhal conditions are conspicu- 

 ously absent. There is no pneumonia. The only " Arctic Fever " 

 is that which explorers are almost sure to contract on their first 

 visit and which has an annual periodicity. It is not a self-limited 

 disease, as Admiral Peary can testify after nearly fourteen con- 

 secutive summers in the Polar regions. 



Another feature of the atmosphere in the Arctic is absolute 

 clearness and abundance of sunshine. Dr. Sohon, in 1902, exposed 

 dishes of agar and introduced into culture tubes pebbles, bits of 

 vegetation and water from the ground and from pools at Comman- 

 der Peary's winter quarters. Of six dishes exposed for from one- 

 half to two hours, two were sterile and four gathered only a com- 

 mon white mould (P. glaucum). Only the hay bacillus was obtained 

 from the pebbles. Water yielded the hay bacillus, B. liquefaciens, 

 B. Uuorescens and an unclassified non-pathogenic saprophytic rod or- 

 ganism. 



Frederick Sohon, M. D. : Personal Observations on the Advantages of Cer- 

 tain Arctic Localities in the Treatment of Tuberculosis (American Medicine, 

 April 23, 1904). 



Idem. The Therapeutic Merits pf the Arctic Climate Meteorological Data 

 of a Summer Cruise (Journal American Medical Association, February 3, 

 1906). 



"Nicholas Senn: Medical Affairs in the Heart of the Arctics (Journal 

 American Medical Association, 1905, Vol. 45, pp. 1564, 1647). 



