Temperature dominance over human life

Abstract

Temperature bears an importance to man far beyond the mere matter of his hour-to-hour comfort. In some places it lays a heavy, stagnating hand over his life and holds him to a vegetative existence; in others, it generates an energy and progressiveness which drives him forward with irresistible impetus. Its effects begin even before he is conceived, for the metabolic vigor of parental germ cells at the time of their union exerts a potent influence over the entire course of the new life. Without favorable temperatures, neither individual nor nation can develop innate potentialities to the full. The human body is essentially a combustion machine that functions only as its cells release energy by burning the foodstuffs taken in. For every unit of combustion energy transformed into work-output by our bodies, three or four similar units must be dissipated as waste heat. Failure of such dissipation to keep pace with heat production in the body may mean heat stroke and death within a few hours. The waste heat of combustion thus becomes one of the body's most important excretory products. Following several weeks of difficulty in dissipation waste heat, physical and mental activity declines, and there is a drop in the combustion rate. A lowered total combustion rate means less energy for thought and action, as well as less waste heat to be dissipated. Physical and mental characteristics thus change, from the dynamic and pushing, to a more passive type; personal initiative gives way to a desire for security. That these are basic changes in the individual's metabolic make-up is evidenced by equally profound alterations in such body functions as growth, rate of development, resistance to infection, and thought capacity. When difficult heat loss induces a lowered combustion rate in the cells, growth slows down and may be completely halted, even though an ample food supply be available; onset of puberty and maturity is progressively delayed and ability to reproduce is reduced or completely obliterated, although matings go on freely; resistance to bacterial invasion is impaired, especially for those respiratory infections in which the white blood cells (phagocytes) provide the first and main line of the body's defense-system; and, finally, ability to solve problems is greatly impaired. Proper ease of body heat-loss means just the opposite—a fast growing, early maturing, highly fertile individual, with a keen mentality and good ability to fight infectious disease. These statements are by no means hypothetical but are based upon well authenticated statistical findings on man and on experimental animals under controlled conditions. They show up in the laboratory, under natural climatic differences, and during the wide seasonal swings in middle temperature latitudes. Climatic temperature differences, whether brought about by latitude or altitude, are potent factors in human life, and so also are the wide seasonal temperature swings of the earth's middle latitudes. The fortunate nations of the earth are those located where the body's waste heat can be lost readily. Man is in reality a pawn of the environmental forces encompassing him, being pushed forward to a vantage point at one time or held in lethargic bondage at another. Here is a challenge of the first magnitude—can human intelligence find an effective answer? If not an answer, then it should at least comprehend the forces at work and the major significance of their effects.