INTRODUCTION. 



The conditions of life in the high-arctic regions present such great 

 differences from those ordinarily met with in a temperate 

 climate, that there is pressing need for an investigation into the 

 biological and physiological phenomena displayed by beings under 

 such conditions. 



At the present time we have but very few and fragmentary 

 physiological reports from these regions, especially as regards the 

 physiology of human beings, and this though human races have 

 lived and still live on the most northerh^ coasts and though nume- 

 rous geographical expeditions have remained some years in the 

 polar lands. This is due chiefly to two reasons, both of which can 

 readily be traced in the present work. 



In the first place, there is the difficulty of finding the right 

 kind of people for arctic expeditions. It is only very few who pos- 

 sess sufficient scientific training to be able to undertake investiga- 

 tions alone at an age when a man can detach himself from his 

 place in the community; still fewer are also so trained in physical 

 regards that the}' can, without danger or damage to their health 

 and working capacity, bear the exertions and discomforts occasio- 

 nally met with during such expeditions. On the geographical ex- 

 peditions, as a rule, attention has mainly and not without reason 

 been paid to the physical conditions, whilst the scientific qualifica- 

 tions have been of subordinate importance. In the second place, 

 the very unfavourable conditions for work on the expeditions have 

 to be taken into account. The space for work allotted to each 

 person is very strictly limited, and the dense crowding together of 

 people who work at widely different things, makes it difficult to 

 procure the necessary tranquillity for work. Nor is it possible, 

 further, to introduce directly the ordinary methods used in labora- 

 tories. Bad light, difficult temperature conditions, lack of space etc. 

 make it necessary to adapt oneself to these outer conditions, and 

 this takes the courage out of any one not an expert master of his 

 subject, or who, perhaps, simply from lack of better has been "ap- 

 pointed" as expert. 



T 



