Acclimatization Status of Temperate-zone Man

Abstract

WHEN men accustomed to living in a temperate climate are repeatedly or continuously exposed to a natural or artificial hot environment they rapidly develop a greatly increased capacity to withstand heat, and this adaptation is accompanied by profound and readily demonstrable physiological changes. On the other hand, when men are similarly transferred from a temperate to a cold, even arctic, environment neither do they display the same rapidly increased tolerance of their new environment nor has it yet been found possible to demonstrate comparable profound physiological changes. Such marked changes as have been demonstrated are, in general, local adaptations, such as the diminution in finger numbness described by Mackworth¹.