From
https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.01337/page/n9/mode/1up1944
by
CLARENGE A. MILLS, M.D., Ph.D.
Why germany behaves as it does since 1900-climate and energy of nations 1942-page129 .
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48628/page/n129/mode/1up CONTENTS
Part I
1. Sun Worshippers 7
2. Helpers in the Laboratory io
3. Farm Animals in the Tropics 18
4. Vitamins and Climate 24
5. TheFallacyofEarlyTropicalMaturity 36
Part II
6. The Price of Activity 44
7. Drugs and Stimulants 54
8. Stormy Weather and Respiratory Infections 65
9. Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Rheumatic Infections 72
10. Cancer 80
11. Shadows over Our Cities 85
12. Rilling Heat 95
13. Bad Moods and Falling Barometers 102
14. Climate and Human Reproduction 107
15. Made-to-Order Indoor Climates 115
Part III
16. Life, Sunspots and the Atmosphere 126
17. Ice Ages and Climates of the Future 134
18. Climate, Weather, and World Dominance 141
19. Thermometers and History 150
20. Climate and World War 158
21. Migration for Health 166
22. From Flood Tide to Beginning Ebb 174
23. Epilogue 185
PART I
CHAPTER I
SUN WORSHIPPERS
To-day’s world turmoil and confusion have rudely awakened
man from his cherished dream that he alone is the master of his
own destiny. Even the most egotistic and confident person now
feels uncertain of his sacred powers as he surveys a universe in
which war and social revolution are striking at the very founda-
tions of the only civilization he has known. Altruism seems
suddenly to have given way to the rule of might, with humanity
slipping back toward another Dark Age.
People everywhere have begun to suspect that mighty external
forces are at work—forces against which their greatest efforts will
prove small and futile. This feeling of futility in the face of a
darkening future has awakened in the world’s thinkers a desire to
know more about these outside factors—what they are and how
they work. Fortunately Science has accumulatcd a considerable
mass of evidence regarding the surprising and powerful effects
exerted upon human beings by two of them: climate, the long-
term average of atmospheric conditions, and weather, the short-
cycle changes which make one day or hour different from the
next. These findings are helping to put man in his proper place
within the cosmic scheme of things, for the sun and planets
exert an indirect but well-proved effect on all life through their
control of earth temperatures and weather.
The awareness of a connection between the solar system and
human welfare is older by far than recorded history. When the
first human beings roamed a strange, hostile world some
500,000 years ago, they spent long nights huddled together in
caves to escape the unknown terrors of darkness. They looked
forward to the morning, for the first stages of man’s battle to
master his environment took place in broad daylight. It was only
natural for our primeval ancestors to regard the sun with awe
and gratitude, for it bropght them light and warmth. Ages and
civilizations passed, but this great feeling of dependence did not.
The Spaniards found this feeling in Peru during the sixteenth
century when they set out to conquer a territory rich in gold.
High in the lofty Andes little bands of Incas paused in reverence
to face the rising sun and to receive its blessing before continuing
their journey to Cuzco. Everywhere throughout the far-flung Incan
empire other groups were bowing in similar adoration before the
Giver of Life, for sun worship was the state religion of those
people. They built massive and beautiful temples to provide the
sun with the dignity and place of first importance it held in their
lives. The moon and planets were also worshipped, but as deities
far inferior to the all-powerful sun.
Reverence for the sun and its satellites was carried to great
extremes in the eatliest civilizations. All phases of life were closely
regulated according to the positions of the planets and other
heavenly bodies. People believed that outside forces exerted
potent and direct influences over human afïairs, and the astrolo-
ger’s advice was always in demand. When men later discarded
such primitive beliefs, they ignored the intuitive rightness of the
feeling that humanity was not entirely its own lord and master.
Humility was replaced by a laboratory-gained egotism as sci-
entists obtained ever increasing control over their physical
environment.
This ovcr-confidence grew rapidly during the nineteenth
ccntury while researchers were piling discovery upon discovery.
New inventions enabled us to harness electricity and perfect the
telegraph, telephone, incandescent lamp, radio, ai}d power
transmission. Equally striking advances were made in the
knowledge of the human body, its inner workings, its diseases,
and the means of kceping it healthy. But the egotism which came
with these and other material accomplishments began slipping
in the last war; and to-day, when the notion that humanity
Controls its own fate has fallen into even greater disrepute, the
same science which produced over-confidence in man is be-
ginning to teach him a new humility.
Studies during the past few years have revealed that climatic
factors in life play a startling and dominating role in all we do.
Mtfn as an energy machine thinks and acts only because of the
burning of food in his tissues; but the speed of this burning—
and the intensity of his living—depends largely upon outside tem-
peratures and how easily he can get rid of his waste heat. Just
why this is so will be considered in detail on later pages;it need
only be said here that the climatic influences are real and clear-
cut. They affect man’s rate of growth, speed of developmerft,
resistance to infection, fertility of mind and body, and the amount
of energy available for thought or action. The heat of the tropics
lulls people into a passive complacency and saps their vitality;
residents of colder climates are driven onward into restless
8
activity, since natural conditions pcrmit their tissue fires to burn
more brightly.
Climate affects man’s sicknesses as well as his health. In his
vegetative tropical existence he is much more susceptible to
infectious diseases, while in temperate coolness the stress of a more
energetic life causes frequent breakdown in his body machinery
and raises heart failure to a leading position among the causes of
death. People seldom wear out in warm climates; in cooler regions
breakdown diseases are now providing medical meiï with their
keenest worries. The matter is an exceedingly important onc for
individual and public health. It richly deserves the close attention
finally being accorded it.
People of the tropics can be raised out of their sluggish state
into a higher vitality and more active life only when faster food
burning can be maintained in their body tissues. In temperate
coolness, on the other hand, ways must be found for reducing the
stress of life and conserving the body machinery if we are to halt
the rising rate of breakdown which now threatens civilization’s
advance. Too many of society’s most progressive and valuable
individuals are now succumbing just as they reach their most
Creative period.
Weather changes affect man also, but somewhat differently
from climate. In many regions of the earth he has almost no
weather problem to face; sudden variations in temperature and
pressure seldom occur because cyclonic storms are lacking—only
the climatic and seasonai infiuences are left. Violent and fre-
quent storms bring to other regions major weather problems,
with sudden atmospheric changes which rack body and mind.
In the earth’s most active storm beits this turbulence becomes a
very important factor of existence, adding spice to life but at the
same time interfering with body functions and bringing on many
serious ailments. Such infiuences have been studied less than
those of climate and cannot be discussed in as much detail. It
should be kept in mind, however, that the two work together
upon man in many regions. In between weather and climate
come the seasons. They too are potent health factors—absent,
of course, in the tropics.
The picture of these forces acting upon man is a fascinating
one, still blurred in places, but with its main outlines clear-cut
and definite. The sun does far more than merely provide day-
light and the special forms of radiant energy needed by all grow-
ing things. Through its influence over world weather and
climatic characteristics it dominates many other phases of
human activity. Since the planets seem to be at the basis of
changes in the sun’s influence, we now begin to see man in his
true relation to the solar system. He is not the independent
master of his own life as he so fondly believed a few decades ago,
but instead is pushed hither and yon by larger outside forces.
He could learn a great deal from primitive sun-worshippers, for
he is still a veritable pawn of the universe.
CHAPTER 2
HELPERS IN THE LABORATORY
"What real evidence have we that climate influences
mankind?” This will be the first question asked by many readers
as they begin perusal of these pages. People have always bristled
at the suggestion that they are not lords of creation. The idea that
weather and climate are to be credited with the ambitious
activity of temperate-zone citizens, or for the slower-paced life
of tropical dwellers, strikes at one of the firmest beliefs of human
beings: that their actions are independent of great and uncon-
trollable outside forces. It may not be flattering for the doubting
Thomas to learn that rats and other animals have helped furnish
much important evidence for humanity’s dependence upon the
elements; but such is the case, and these helpers in the
laboratory can never receive too much praise for their
contributions.
Few persons outside scientific circles appreciate how much
humanity owes to the laboratory animals. Rats, white mice,
rabbits, and the famed guinea-pigs are almost as fully domesti-
cated as horses, cattle, and hogs. Instead of doing our work or
supplying us with much-needed food, these docile creatures give
valuable information about how our bodies work and how to
keep them healthy. Only with their help could medical Science
make many of the wonderful discoveries that have brought the
great health improvements of the past half-century.
When you think of a rat, is it with almost the same aversion
you feel for snakes? Such dislike may be justified in the case of
wild rats, but I assure you it is not with the Wistar white rat. He
is an intelligent, gooa-natured fellow, scrupulously clean in
person and most reliable in his responses. His name was taken
from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, where careful breeding
IO
through hundreds of generations weeded out abnormal and
unwanted traits. These animals are now highly standardized and
much favoured among scientists, responding to a given diet or
special vitamin with almost the regularity of pure Chemical
reactions in its test tubes. The results obtained in one laboratory
can be duplicated readily by far distant investigators under
similar conditions.
Two such rats, Ivan (not the terrible) and Hilda, his mate,
were adopted into the exclusive circles of our laboratory rat
colony early in childhood. They were likable and appealing,
with sparkling eyes and glossy fur, as they came to us just after
ha ving been weaned. New hands bothered them somewhat for
the first few days, but soon all strangeness disappeared. When
they became accustomed to the new surroundings a delightful
confidence and intimacy was established which has persisted to
adult life. Curious as it may appear from the human angle, Ivan
seems to enjoy handling and attention more than Hilda. He is
less wrapped up in himself, more easily influenced, worrying
little when his treacherous foster parents keep from him one
essential food element after another. Even if he does lose vigour
in the experimental “tropics” of a hot room, it is without ill-will
and with a most appealing trust in his keepers. Rcstoring him to
full health and vitality after a period of decline brings to us
almost as much pleasure as the recovery from serious illness of
our own human children.
Among our numerous white rats, Ivan and Hilda have been
willing co-workers for years as we have studied the various
phases of climatic influences. They have spent weeks shivering
in the cold without complaint and endured tropical heat with
calm complacency. When temperatures were too high and they
began to develop fever, they wet their fur on the nozzle of the
water bottle and lay relaxed to keep their own heat production
down to a minimum. They have been finicky about eating their
food in the heat and enjoyed gluttonous appetites in the cold.
They have provided much valuable information on climatic
dominance over basic body functions and vitality. Climatic
effects only suggested by human statistics have been made quite
clear and definite through their help. They well deserve a
Congressional Medal for services to the common good, but it
matters not to them that no politician has yet attempted to
Champion their cause.
We often become quite attached to these willing and friendly
helpers during months of close association. It is like watching an
adopted child grow from babyhood through the vicissitudes of
XI
life, for we usually work with the rats from weaning time to adult
life. Some of them are like shy and retiring children, but the
majority are untroubled extroverts who love being handled. It
saddens us to watch these little friends lose their appetites and
fail in health as we omit from their diet some necessary element
or otherwise vary experimental conditions. But afterwards comes
miraculous recovery as the missing substance is restored. Over-
night the sick are made well again when we know just what to do
for them.
Rats are particularly valuable in studies of climate because
their basic life functions very much resemble those of human
beings. To grow, to reproduce, to digest food, to run and climb,
and to do the hundred and one other things which Ril the day
for the modern rat—all these require energy, whose sole source is
the burning of food in the body cells. But rats are no more
efficiënt than people in their ability to use combustion energy.
Like other warm-blooded animals, they must eliminate three or
four units of heat from their bodies for every single unit actually
used as energy to keep their life process going. In rats and human
beings elimination of this waste heat goes on best in cool, tem-
perate-zone climates. Tropical warmth slows the rate of heat
loss, while Arctic surroundings permit heat to escape too rapidly
for maximal efficiency. What these facts mean in the physiology
of daily living has been shown largely by studies on laboratory
animals.
In a fairly cool, natural environment, Ivan and Hilda
eliminated their waste heat at a normal and efficiënt pace. Ivan
ate greedily and grew at a rapid rate; always active and in-
quisitive, he reached maturity quickly. Hilda began her sexual
cycles early and reached a high level of reproductivity, giving
birth to large litters of lusty young. These offspring in turn went
through life with a zest and gusto which is possible only in cool
surroundings. Such active living requires much energy, however,
and necessitates the giving off of large amounts of waste heat.
When shifted to tropical heat, Ivan and Hilda were forced to
adapt their lives to a more leisurely pace. After about three
weeks of heat they ate less than half the food they had in the cool
surroundings and their rate of growth was correspondingly
reduced. Their cousins, who were kept permanendy in the heat,
matured late and were of low fertility. Although mating took
place just as freely as in the cold, it was difficult to achieve con-
ceptions or to produce healthy offspring. These animals of good
stock, kept in the heat but on entirely adequate diets and with
perfect sanitation, showed the same high stillbirth and infant-
12
death rates found among human populations in tropical regions
where heat conditions are similar.
It is interesting that rats or mice subdued to a slow pace of
life by tropical heat live longer and come to old age later than do
their brothers or cousins kept in more invigorating coolness.
This is true, however, only if they are carefully shielded from all
infections and contagious diseases. In the heat their ability to
ward off or fight infection is sharply reduced. While living in the
cold, Ivan could survive an injection of pneumonia germs which
would be quickly fatal to him if he had been living for three
weeks or more in the heat. Vaccines also call forth a more active
defence response when he is living in energizing coolness.
White blood cells constitute the body’s first-line forces in the
fight against invading bacteria. At any point of attack they
quickly gather in large numbers, to ingest and destroy the in-
vading organisms. Theirs is often a suicidal defence, however,
for many of them are eventually killed by the toxins liberated
from the bacteria they ingest. These vital single-celled defenders
become sluggish in tropical heat, just as do all other body tissues,
and sit idly by while invading bacteria grow and multiply
unhindered.
Our animals from the hot and cold rooms show striking
differences in white blood cell activity when they are injected
with living bacteria. In those from the cold room, the white cells
spring into vigorous attack almost at once, gathering in and
digesting enormous numbers of the in vaders; but in the heat the
cells remain largely inactive, even though the living bacteria be
thick around them. Further chilling of the cold-room occupants,
sufficiënt really to lower the body temperature, renders even
those vigorous white cells less active. This effect probably ex-
plains why chilling is likely to bring on a respiratory infection,
for some of the disease germs are usually present in the nose and
throat awaiting an opportunity to attack when the white-cell
defenders are sluggish and off guard.
These observations on our thousands of laboratory animals
have helped greatly in explaining human behaviour under
different climatic conditions. People die early in the tropics from
infectious diseases, with few individuals reaching old age.
Malaria, tuberculosis, and many other diseases run a much more
rapid course in tropical countries than they do in temperate
lands.
Strange as it may seem, people in cool climates live longest,
but mainly because they are more resistant to infectious than
people of warmer regions. Those few tropical residents who do
13
survive to advanced age show much less evidence of ageing in
their bodies than is seen in temperate-zone residents of similar
years. Their blood vessels show less hardening and are much
more elastic than those of people the same age in cool regions
where life has been full of stress. With Ivan and Hilda we can
quite thoroughly eliminate the infectious diseases and so study
the life processes from birth to a normal death. And when we slow
down their speed of life by making the loss of body heat difficult
in experimental hot rooms, we find that the changes of old age
are markedly delayed.