28 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



freezing-point of water. Then chloric ether became solid, and carefully pre- 

 pared chloroform exhibited a granular pellicle on its surface. The exhalations 

 from the skin invested the exposed or partially clad parts with a wreath of 

 vapor. The air had a perceptible pungency upon inspiration, and every one, 

 as it were involuntarily, breathed guardedly with compressed lips. About the 

 same time (February 9 and 10, 1854), Sir E. Belcher experienced a cold of 



— 55° in Wellington Channel (75° 31' N.), and the still lower temperature of 



— 62° on January 13, 1853, in Northumberland Sound (76° 52' N.). Whym- 

 per, on December 6, 1866, experienced —58 at Nulatto, Alaska (64° 42' N.). 



Whether the temperature of the air descends still lower on advancing to- 

 ward the pole, or M^h ether these extreme degrees of cold are not sometimes 

 surjjassed in those mountainous regions of the north which, though seen, have 

 never yet been explored, is of course an undecided question : so much is cer- 

 tain, that the observations hitherto made during the winter of the Arctic re- 

 gions have been limited to too short a time, and are too few in number, to en- 

 able us to determine with any degree of certainty those points where the 

 greatest cold prevails. All we know is, that beyond the Arctic Circle, and 

 eight or ten degrees farther to the south in the interior of the continents of 

 Asia and America, the average temperature of the winter generally ranges from 



— 20° to —30°, or even lower, and for a great part of the year is able to con- 

 vert mercury into a solid body. 



It may well be asked how man is able to bear the excessively low tempera- 

 ture of an Arctic winter, which must appear truly appalling to an inhabitant 

 of the temperate zone. A thick fur clothing ; a hut small and low, where the 

 warmth of a fire, or simply of a train-oil lamp, is husbanded in a narrow space, 

 and, above all, the wonderful power of the human constitution to accommodate 

 itself to every change of climate, go far to counteract the rigor of the cold. 



After a very few days the body develops an increasing warmth as the ther- 

 mometer descends ; for the air being condensed by the cold, the lungs inhale 

 at every breath a greater quantity of oxygen, which of course accelerates the 

 internal process of combustion, while at the same time an increasing appetite, 

 gratified with a copious supply of animal food, of flesh and fat, enriches the 

 blood and enables it to circulate more vigorously. Thus not only, the hardy 

 native of the north, but even the healthy traveller soon gets accustomed to 

 bear without injury the rigors of an Arctic winter. 



" The mysterious compensations," says Kane, " by which we adapt our- 

 selves to climate are more striking here than in the tropics. In the Polar zone 

 the assault is immediate and sudden, and, unlike the insidious fatality of hot 

 countries, produces its results rapidly. It requires hardly a single winter to 

 tell who are to be the heat-making and acclimatized men. Petersen, for in- 

 stance, who has resided for two years at Upernavik, seldom enters a room with 

 a fire. Another of our party, George Riley, with a vigorous constitution, es- 

 tablished habits of free exposure, and active cheerful temperament, has so 

 inured himself to the cold, that he sleeps on our sledge journeys without a 

 blanket or any other covering than his walking suit, while the outside tem- 

 perature is —30°." 



