COLD RESISTANCE OF ABORIGINES
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, December 9. A party of scientists from the United States, Norway, Alaska, and Australia is now on the way to Areyonga Mission, about 140 miles west of Alice Springs, to continue a scientific study of aboriginal metabolism which they began last winter. At Areyonga last winter, scientists who slept in the open in sub-freezing temperatures suffered extreme discomfort from the cold, while aborigines beside them slept soundly, apparently immune. The leader of the team. Dr. H. T. Hammel, of the University of Pennsylvania, has said that the scientists are anxious to establish whether this resistance to cold is seasonal or permanent. The measurements made during the winter would be repeated, but with a refrigeration unit which could be cooled to any temperature, he said. Dr. Hammel said the scientists would attempt to sleep in the van with the people being tested “We want to find out why we shivered when they did not*,’ - he said.
The party would later go to Darwin to establish whether aborigines living in tropical Australia had the same immunity to cold.
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Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28457, 11 December 1957, Page 9
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184COLD RESISTANCE OF ABORIGINES Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28457, 11 December 1957, Page 9
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