Winter health-resorts : the climate of Atlantic City, and its effects on pulmonary diseases / by Boardman Reed.

  • Reed, Boardman, 1842-1917.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Winter health-resorts : the climate of Atlantic City, and its effects on pulmonary diseases / by Boardman Reed. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    centre of the town, at 7 a. m., 12 m., and 6 and 10 P. M., show that in December, 1879, there were twenty-six days during which the thermometer did not fall below 320,—the freezing-point; also that there were only two days in the same month when the thermometer did not indicate at noon a temperature above 40°; and that there were ten days upon which it was not below 50° at the same hour. During the January following (1880) there were twenty-four days during which the mercury never fell below the freezing-point at any hour, and only two days during which it went below 30°. It was only once in the same month lower than 40° at noon, and only three times lower than 450 at the same hour. On nineteen of the thirty-one days the thermometer stood at 50° or above at mid-day. These mid-day temperatures are obvi- ously more important than averages, for it is in the daytime that invalids take their airing out of doors. The dryness of this climate, as compared with other sea side resorts, is best shown by the statistics of the rain-fall, which is less here than at any other place on the coast, as appears from the table given be- low. The readings of the hygrometers at the different stations are not so significant, since at some of them, including Atlantic City, the instruments are located so near to the beach, and at so low an elevation above the sea-level (less than thirteen feet here), as to be affected by the spray, during strong winds off the water, and by occasional- morning mists, which do not extend back into the town. ANNUAL AMOUNT OF R AIN-FALL AT THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND STATIONS ON THE ATLANTIC COAST. Stations. Year ended June 30, 1879. Year ended June 30, 1878. Atlantic City, N. J., ... 40.60 inches. 42.90 inches. Barnegat, N. J., . . 49-38 52-35 Boston, Mass., 62.96 54-5° Cape May, N. J., 42.44 4 7.99 (( Charleston, S. C , .... 64-33 68.62 Galveston, Texas, . . . 51 °3 “ 67.47 it Jacksonville, Fla., .... 51.62 < ( 52.11 it Newport, R. I., 52.20 55 84 New Orleans, La., . . 58.29 {t 73-31 New York, N. Y., . . . . 43.68 tt 42.68 it Norfolk, Va., 44-44 (C 66.28 it Portland, Me., 41.10 ft 45-61 i t Sandy Hook, N. J., ... 60.37 i( 64.86 it Savannah, Ga., .55-I4 52 44 “ Wilmington, N. C., . . . . 50.90 it 84.12 it The mean barometer for the year ended June 30, 1879, was higher at the Atlantic City station than at any other on the coast north of Chesapeake Bay, and, with one or two exceptions, the same may be said as to the preceding year. This is a mat- ter of importance, since depressions of the barometer affect the majority of inva- lids far more decidedly and injuriously than low temperatures. An extra wrap out of doors or a fire in-doors will per- fectly antidote any ordinary degree.of cold, but it is far more difficult to render com- fortable the invalid whose breathing is distressed or whose joints and nerves have been set to aching by a sudden fall in the atmospheric pressure. Barometrical changes are also connected intimately with variations in the electrical conditions of the atmosphere, and these again strongly impress the delicate nervous systems of the sick. In the following table the figures repre- sent the average atmospheric pressure for the years named at the sea-levelallow- ances having been made for differences in the elevation of the stations: TABLE SHOWING MEAN BAROMETER AT VARIOUS ST A1 IONS. Stations. Year ended June 30, 1879. Year ended June 30, 1878. Atlantic City, .... . . 30.031 30.002 Barnegat, 29.998 Boston, • • 29.975 29.969 Cape May, 30.007 Galveston, • • 30-049 29 695 Jacksonville, . . 3°-o79 30.030 Newport, • • 29.993 29.980 New York, 30x06 Portland, Me., . . . • - 29.944 29 952 Sandy Hook, 30.000 After all, however, it is with climates as with medicines,—trustworthy evidence ! as to what they have accomplished is the most valuable. With regard to nervous, rheumatic, gouty, dyspeptic, and various other chronic ailments (including most of those peculiar to women), which are usually found to be benefited here in the summer, equal benefit may be expected in the win- ter. Convalescents from acute disease, or from surgical operations, nearly always im- prove remarkably upon being removed to this place from the large cities. As to diseases of the respiratory organs, I have had personal knowledge of many patients suffering from various forms of such affections who have made trials of this climate in winter. The bronchial j and laryngeal cases have, as a rule, im-