EFFECT OF ARCTIC CLIMATES ON HEALTH. 365 



more sensitive, instead of less sensitive, to the influences 

 of the climate. These facts as regards European 

 residents in tropical lands are now well ascertained, 

 and also seem to be so with regard to arctic cold, 

 though of course experiences with respect to it are 

 much less numerous than in the former case. 



The monks at the Convent of St. Bernard amid the 

 eternal snows of the high Alps, for instance, where a 

 positively arctic climate exists for the greater part of 

 the year, say that as a rule they find a return to the 

 plains absolutely necessary, for nearly all the members 

 of their community, after a residence at the top of the 

 pass for a couple of years. * It may therefore be 

 taken as a matter of ascertained fact, that exposure to 

 very great cold is not compatible with perfect health 

 for more than a very limited space of time. 



The immense length of the Polar night in far nor- 

 thern latitudes has also a very depressing effect upon 

 many men it lasted for a period of 138 days, for in- 

 stance, at the winter quarters of the Alert, in Lat. 

 82 2-]' N., and Dr. Moss, one of the medical officers 

 on board, assures us, that its terrible tedium is far 

 more trying than the cold, which he says "is not 

 nearly so trying as the long darkness, and both are 

 insignificant compared to the friction of the confined 

 life." f Nevertheless there was very little sickness on 

 board the Alert, or indeed on board any of Her Ma- 

 jesty's ships which have wintered in the arctic regions, 

 since the means of avoiding scurvy have been better 

 understood and a remarkable fact is, how often we 



* Statement made by the monks to the Author, in reply to questions, 

 during his visit to the Great St. Bernard. 



f The Shores of the Polar Sea, by Dr. Edwd. L. Moss, M.D., 

 1878, p. 47. 



