"
At noon on the 7th, the temperature of the atmosphere had got down
to 49 deg. below zero, being the greatest degree of cold which we had
yet experienced; but the weather being quite calm, we walked on
shore for an hour without inconvenience, the sensation of cold
depending much more on the degree of wind at the time than on the
absolute temperature of the atmosphere as indicated by the
thermometer. In several of the accounts given of those countries
in which an intense degree of natural cold is experienced, some
effects are attributed to it which certainly did not come under
our observation in the course of this winter. The first of these
is the dreadful sensation said to be produced on the lungs,
causing them to feel as if torn asunder when the air is inhaled at
a very low temperature. No such sensation was ever experienced by
us, though in going from the cabins into the open air, and _vice
versa_, we were constantly in the habit for some months of
undergoing a change of from 80 deg. to 100 deg., and, in several
instances, 120 deg. of temperature in less than one minute; and, what
is still more extraordinary, not a single inflammatory complaint,
beyond a slight cold, which was cured by common care in a day or
two, occurred during this particular period.
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