viii THE HUMAN KACES 353 



workman in our own climate, and double the minimum amount 

 of carbohydrates necessary in temperate climates (Ranke). Food 

 is the best protection against cold, says J. Kb'nig. 



Ranke remarks, however, that the data at present at our 

 disposal do not suffice to prove the exchange of material of northern 

 peoples to be of absolutely greater value than that of peoples 

 living in milder climates. It is an undoubted fact that the 

 inhabitants of the Arctic regions eat a great deal (and more 

 especially a large quantity of fat), so long as they have plenty ; 

 but as they have no idea of provision for the future they have 

 to endure times of absolute want, specially in winter. We do not 

 know whether the crew of the Vega really consumed the large 

 quantities of food dealt out to them; in Nordenskjold's story 

 there are constant references to remains of meals being given to 

 Tciucci beggars. 



The data at our disposal are too scanty and too contradictory 

 to afford a definite solution of this important problem of the 

 influence of climate on metabolism in man. Eijkman, who studied 

 in Java the metabolism of natives and Europeans, considers that 

 there is but little difference between the two races. He was 

 surprised to find that the production of heat or process of oxida- 

 tion was slightly greater in natives than in European immigrants 

 of the same weight. He found that there was a difference in the 

 quantity of water discharged by the kidneys and by perspiration, 

 but he ascribes this fact to the difference in the quantity of liquid 

 drunk by the two races. Negroes in the tropics perspire much 

 less than Europeans, though Kohlbrugge found the number 

 of sweat-glands in their skin to be the same as in white people. 

 The capacity of negroes for reacting to heat with much less 

 secretion of sweat than Europeans that is, without suffering from 

 constant cutaneous hyperaemia, which may give rise to skin 

 diseases, such as dermatitis, epidermitis, intertrigo, etc. is by no 

 means an unimportant factor in their adaptation to their native 

 climate. On the other hand, the fact that in tropical climates 

 the white man is constantly perspiring makes the horny stratum 

 of the skin, which is saturated with water, become thicker and 

 more opaque, and thus, in Kohlbrugge's opinion, causes the pallor 

 so often noticeable in Europeans living in the tropics. This 

 pallor is not, as has often been supposed, a sign of anaemia, but; 

 is due to the fact that the blood-vessels are not so visible owing 

 to the altered state of the skin. The dark colouring-matter in 

 the skin of negroes prevents this pallor being noticeable in 

 their case. 



The Melbourne physiologist, W. A. Osborne, studied in 

 himself and an Australian boy of fourteen the loss of water 

 through the skin and the lungs, the amount of air exhaled, the 

 amount of carbon dioxide eliminated and the respiratory quotient, 



VOL. v 2 A 



