Climate And Intellect

Charles Dadley Warner In Harper'a Magazine. A great deal has been said 8 bout the effect Of cl i mate upon intellect, and not much of the effect of intellect upon climate, or, to be more exact, of the power in mental activity to resist ar control climatic inflnences. Some phüosopkers have held that there is an occult sympathy bet ween mind and tastter, and that a great accumulation of mind upon one point - that is to say, the directien of a strong current of deaire for or againstaume operation of nature- would be effective. For instance, if all the people in a wide district suö'eringunder drought should unite in a common longing, a sincere mental struggle, for ram, that nature would feel the subtle inñuence througb all its being, and rain would come. Unfortunately the experiment has never been tried, for common consent at any moment never has bean attained- there is always somebody who has hay out. BuUhis at least we can say, that it is safer to have the desire of the general mind in the right direction. Now two of the vulgar notions of this latitude are that we need "bracing up," and ;hat snow is a useful product, consequently that the more se vere cold weather we hava and the more snow, the better off we are. And people go on believing this to their deaths eyery year. As to snow, there is a sentimental notion of its beauty as well as of its utility. And a good deal can be said for it from an artist point of view. But we are not placed in this stern world marely to indulge onr sensuousness. We are put here to make he most of our powere, in view of a hereafter: and long life is a duty, besides being, in the Old Testament view, a reward of virtue. It is probably necussary to have snow at the poles in order ;o keep the poles cool, and insure a proper circulation and change of air round ;he globe, jast as it is necessary to keep the equator so hot that it is as unpleasmt to sit on it as on a kitchen stove. Snow, indeed, might do little harm in i land where the sun never shone. But in this región, where the sun does shine, where half the winter days are clear, ;he only efiect of the presence of snow s to fill the atmosphere with ehilling moisturo, lung ferer, pneumonía, and that sort of thing. The pleasanter the weather, the more sunshino we have; with snow on the ground, the worse is our condition. And yet it is in vain to argue this with people. They are wedded to traditional ideas and f uil of prejudice, and it seem impossible to convince them that snow in this región is harmful. It does no s;ocd to demónstrate to them that but for snow we should have a royal winter chmate. On a small scale we see occasiojaally what it might be. Ihere were' such days in January last The snow had disappeared, the shone with the light but not tho heat (like aneleotric lamp) of May, and the air was pure, exhilaratiog. but not damp and gravelike. It would have been perfect but for the chili that came down from the vast snow-iields of Canada, where cold and snow are worshipped and feted all "winter. And yet, after such experience, peoplo, convinced, go back to snow. The ignorance of this scientific age is dicouraging. The other vulgar notion is that a hand-to-hand struggle with extreme cold for months does a person good - bracea liim up. It must be admitted that up to a certain point any struggle or trial is invigo rating to the moral and intellectual nature. Bnt we see what too much indulgence in this leads to. The Esquimau ia but little raised above the polar bear and the seal. His whole existence is just an effbirt to keep alive, o get blubber and skins enough lo genérate and keep in his body vital heat. He oan think of nothing else; he basroom for no other mental effort. We see the same thing in the diaries and accounts of the polar exploration fanática. It would be the most painful reading in the world if it were not so monotonous. Each one tells exactly the same story - the story of his physical struggle to keep alive with the thermometer flfty degrees below zero, Soon the mind has no other occupation than this struggle. It almost ceasea to worfc in any other direction. This is interesting tous at first as a study of the capacity of the human organism to resist the unrestrained attacks of nature. The experience of a person who should in thia latitude, iii winter, retire to an ioehouse, with a hatchet and a supply of frozen hash, a whale-oil laiup, and a fur overcoat and body-bag, and sit on the ice in the darkDes3, and record his feelings, the gradual lowering of the vital powers, the concentration of the mind upon the numbness cf his legs. would doubtless have a physioloioal interest. But the second expenmenter would not interost his readers so muoh as the first with his narrativo. In Canada the price of mutton is usually as high as oeef, owing to the faut that farmers there pay more attBntion to raising superior rnutton than farmers do nero. Wool here is conaidered of prime importance as compared with quality of carcasa. Marl boro (Mass.) Times: A Boston gentleman, who has a taste for the collection of old epitaphs, sends us the followmg quaint specimen: Thero are 10,000 veterans stu niping through tho world on wooden legs, having lost their lirnbs in the United States civil war. A w crean n Cleveland, O., was au pended by her bustle. Busiaese ia the