Medicine: Hot Times

At El Centro in California's Imperial Valley the temperature last week rose to 122° F. Stepping out of doors was like walking into a blast furnace's draft. Snakes and lizards, whose muscles stiffen with rigor caloris at 104°, died. But insects, which can function at 147°, and animals, with a system of maintaining body temperatures at normal regardless of climate, pursued their ordinary activities, as did the men, women and children of El Centro. Women dressed in organdie; men went without coats. Everyone wore hats to prevent...