MAN CAN STAND MUCH COLD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 122, 12 February 1940, Page 3

MAN CAN STAND MUCH COLD

EXPEKIENCES CITED

Providing a man-is in good health, amply clad in 'warm clothing and eats food containing plenty of fats, there is no reason why he should not be able to endure a. temperature as low as 90 to 100 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). This opinion was expressed to-day by a Sydney doctor, commenting on Ihe bitter winter in Europe. He 'pvas a member of an expedition to the Antarctic, and has endured extremely low temperatures himself. Dr Wilson, a member of Scott's expedition to the -South Pole, endured a temperature of 76 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) —103 degrees of frost —for two months, while Amundsen ou his Antarctic trip lived i\n a temperature of 71 degrees below zero on the Ross Barrier. Admiral Evans, "Evans of the Broke,," lived for several weeks in a temperature of 62 degrees below zero near the South Pole. and for two days experienced a temperature of 73 degrees below zero. Food Important. In Irkutsk (Siberia), where tlutemperature drops to as tow as 90 degrees bei!ow zero, the inhabitants live their normal lives. Tlie doctor said that food played an important part in human ability to withstand intense cold.. In really cold climates,, the inhabitants chewed butter and fat with as much relish as Sydney people chew tolfee, because fats were essential in building bodily resistance. All animals in extremely cold climates have a third layer of fat or blubber between their furs and flesh and the inhabitants of these areas eat a,s much l'at as meat. People in northern Polar regions rely on furs to keep out the cold, said the doctor, but the experience of Antarctic explorers had been that the best way to keep warm was to wear plenty of Avarm underclothes with windproof clothing outside. Mr and Mrs T. J. Cummings and family returned on Thursday night from an extensive tour of the North Island, which included visits to Taupo. Napier, Dannevirke and tlie Centennial Exhibition.