DARWIN AND POTATOES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 25 May 1917, Page 2

DARWIN AND POTATOES

Few people, probably, have had such an experience with potatoes' as; once befell Charles Darwiir when crossing the Andes (says a writer in. the Manchester Guardian). The exploring party had put some in a pot tff prepare for a meal in the usual way, but after they had remained for some* hours in boiling water they were nearly as hard as ever. The pot was left on the fire all night, and next morning it was boiled again, but yet the' potatoes were not cooked. The cook's came to the conclusion, that the "cursed pot," which was a new one, did not choose to boil potatoes. Darwin, of course, knew that the failure was fro be attributed to the diminished' pressure of the atmosphere at high altitudes, one result of which is that the 1 boiling-point of water is considerably lowered. It is said that on the high tablelands of Peru, at an elevation' of from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, neither eggs, potatoes, nor meat can be sufficiently boiled, so that whoever wishes to eat: a warm dinner there luust have it either baked or roasted.