The climatic treatment of consumption : a contribution to medical climatology / by James Alex. Lindsay.

  • Lindsay, James Alexander.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The climatic treatment of consumption : a contribution to medical climatology / by James Alex. Lindsay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and hygrometric condition is of real importance, but sudden changes of temperature do not necessarily produce consumption, as is proved by the fact that such fluctuations are common at high altitudes, while nothing is now more certain than that the dwellers in elevated regions enjoy an unequalled immunity from the ravages of the disease. While it must be admitted that range and equa- bility of temperature and the amount of relative humidity have individually a very slight influence in the causation of consumption, it would be a serious error to conclude that the disease is not powerfully affected by the factors which constitute climate. There is ample evidence to show that the combination of dampness and variability of temperature has a marked tendency to its production ; just as the oppo- site conditions of combined dryness and uniformity of temperature hinder its development. According to Hirsch there are few countries in the world so characterised by uniformity of temperature and com- parative dryness as the inland districts of Lower Egypt and the Valley of the Nile in Central and Upper Egypt, regions in which consumption is, according to all observers, very uncommon. On the other hand localities on the coast such as Alexandria, Damietta, and Port Said, with a moist climate and great range of temperature, are much subject to the disease. The same relations between the sort of climate and the number of cases are found in the interior districts of Algeria on the one hand, and the