Show GIVES COLLEGE STUDENTS ALIBI climate regulates mental efel efficiency says professor WINTER IS NOT HOT BEST TIME prof ellsworth huntington of ef yale university figures figure that the tha minds of students student work boat at 64 degrees has studied th the effects of if climate on both intellectual and manual labor under all conditions condition college students have another alibi for aang below standard in scholastic activities during the winter months lecturing to lafayette college students at easton pa prof ellsworth huntington of yale university wild said that the students were bound to tall frill below during the cold period because the climatic conditions prevented better work fond parents believing that the long cold evenings brought desires for much reading and therefore more intellectual tel activity failed to understand why buhy their sons and daughters should relax in their studies they blamed dances and whatnot for the poor marks but from now on these same parents are going to lime hiie a n difficult task to make their sons belleve believe decrease in ili grades is due to anything but climatic conditions professor Hunting tons statements to the students were not the result of an oNer overnight nIght iden idea they were inere the result of years or of study both in clil country and abroad he has studied the effects of if climate on oil both intellectual and manual labor under all conditions dit ions ile he lias hils studied the classroom marks of annapolis and west point and drawn his conclusions from theio tabulations in the study of climate lie said one of the most puzzling features Is the diversity ot of opinion among persons of good judgment for instance at what season do people work fastest in tile northern united states stales some will say the winter some the spring a considerable number the fall and afew the summer most will say that they are least efficient in the summer but others believe that they are at their worst in the early spring or late winter dull days the best again ask a n dozen friends NN whether hether thoy they work N ork best on clear days or cloudy the majority will nill probably answer that the he first clear day after a storm Is by all means the best A small number will perhaps think the matter oer more carefully tully ind and then say lay that after a storm the clearness of the air and the tightness of the sun are inspiring but one really ne nc comp lishes more when it rains tills this divergence of opinion Is due laidely to the fact that the climatic effects ire are of two kinds psychological and physiological we are always alwaes conscious of the first but often unconscious con clous of the second the external conditions which aich we see and feel make inake a greater impression than those which prevail within our bodies for example most of us is talk that in tho the northern united states we vork nork fast i in n winter niner As g a matter maiter of fact the he statistics of I 1 eu u thousand people show thai ivo we work slowly the ordinary I 1 impression Is apparently psychological in order to keep warm out of doors in ie winter niente r we we walk wal k iasi fast and this leads us to think that we do everything rapidly again the blue sky clear air right bright sunshine and fresh colors of the first day after a storm are unquestionably tion ably inspiring but does that inspiration make us work any better may it not lead to a nervous excitement which actually hinders our work by causing us to look out at the tha beauties of nature or to be less concentrated cent rated in other ways the actual figures show that taking the year as a whole on dull days especially the second such day when a storm begins to clear we a more than on bright days even though we grumble about the clouds and the dampness A bright sky certainly makes us ua cheerful but its chief helpfulness so fir far as our work is concerned Is felt when it Is it a shange from the ony oay of a series of dull days clouds and rain produce exactly as much rejoicing when nhen they succeed prolonged clear weather of the kind we praise so highly the questions which have jeen been ask fd d and he ahe possibilities thill that have been suggested show how bow indefinite are our ideas of the effect of climate we understand its psychological effects fairly well uell we know little of its physiological effects however except capt when they are in ill some extreme or unusual or when people are sick or are in sonic some other pathological condition we need to determine how ordinary people tire are influenced by ordinary conditions of weather government school tests it has been proven that from now new england to florida physical strength and health vary in ili accordance with the llie reasons sen sons extremes seem to pio pie duce the same effect everywhere but does mental activity vary in the bame way the general conclusion Is that thai mental work varies in the same way is physical hut but reaches its highest at al 1 u lower temperature bere ole vi acin enn accept this thir however lio wever ori on a largo scale the most aldr deems to lo be by marks of students in such schools ls as west point and annapolis Anna polli there the young men live nn an extremely regular life with a minimum of outside distractions their recitation are graded with great severity and regularity and a given subject often Is taught six days in the week the marks are arc handed to the heads of the departments at frequent intervals vill and posted where the situ students dents can see them no division lias hai more than ten or twelve so that every student has a full opportunity to show how well he Is prepared ry by charting the resu results its it can be seen that the curves of mental activity have two main maxima in fall rind and in spring there is a rise lit in mental action or better marks from the opening of school until shortly after the first of november then it tall fall Is due but the thought of tile he approaching examinations ami nations inspires inspire and urges on the student so that the curve holds its height until christmas then comes a great fill fall the curve declines until the middle of january when a gradual increase Is 18 noticed the marks cont continue inbe to become better until the second maximum is reached in the latter part of march As asprin sprin nr rles the curve again declines and continues to do so the remainder of the lie school term best work at 64 degrees degree the best temperature for greatest effle efficiency lency of mental work Is when the temperature Is around CA degrees from the above it can be seen that the curves were low in midwinter from the middle ot of january on there Is a 1 gradual rise until near april the fall of the efficiency curve begins when the average temperature temperature lias has risen rigen to about OS 08 degrees on the other hand when tillen the temperature falls below 48 degrees the work naturally turns downward mental il work resembles resemble physical but with interesting differences when the temperature falls greatly mental seems to suffer stiffer more than physical and declines as much as there is no change it receives a little stimulus from a slight warming of the air but appears to be adversely affected when the air becomes warm rapidly students belong to a race which hits bus never learned to endure sudden heat hence they feel it strongly A drop of temperature amounting to eight degrees or more will appear more stimulating than now seems to be the case and a rapid rise will not seem so harmful tile amount of moisture in the air also affects the mentill mental behavior of the students too much moisture Is the same as too high a temperature and effic efficient lerit studying Is impossible it if the temperature could be kept around 61 64 degrees and the proper amount of moisture could be maintained better marks mark could be obtained by all cut but the sudden drop lit in midwinter has Vs effects and lower marks are a re suit |