2. The phenomena of cold which we had the opportunity of observing during this journey, and which I immediately recorded, will perhaps justify a short break in my narrative while I attempt to describe them. The horrors of a Scythian winter are an ancient belief, and it used to be counted wisdom to shun the zones where men were frozen, as well as the zones where men were scorched. But it has been assumed, with great exaggeration, that a hot climate makes men sensual and timid, while a cold climate renders them virtuous and bold. There is far more truth in the opinion held by some observers, and especially by Polar navigators, that cold is depressing in its influence, and enfeebles the powers of the will. At first it stimulates to action, but this vigour is quickly followed by torpidity; exertion is soon succeeded by the desire to rest. Persons exposed to these alternations of increased action and torpor feel as if they were intoxicated. From the stiffness and trembling of their jaws they speak with great effort, they display uncertainty in all their movements and the stupor of somnambulists in their actions and thoughts. Most of the circumpolar animals escape, as much as they can, the horrors of the frost: some migrate; others, burying themselves in holes, sleep throughout the winter. The fish, which are found in the small pools of sweet water on the land are frozen in when these pools freeze, and awake to life and movement again only when the pools are thawed. 3. The human body, with an inner warmth amounting to 95°-100° F., is exposed in the wastes of North America and Siberia to frightful cold, the extremes of which have been noted by many different observers. Back recorded in Fort Reliance, Jan. 17, 1833, the temperature -67° F.; Hayes, March 17, 1861, -69° F.; Nevérow, in Jakutzk, Jan. 31, 1838, -74° F.; Kane, -69° F.; Maclure, Jan. 1853, -73° F.; John Ross, 1831, -56° F.; and Parry, 1821, -55° F.; while the lowest temperature which has hitherto been observed in the Alpine countries of Europe is only -24° F. In consequence of the difficulty of observing the extremes of cold, lower temperatures than these can scarcely ever have been registered.