Health-seeking in Tenerife and Madeira.

  • Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 1837-1892.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health-seeking in Tenerife and Madeira. 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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    uniformity of temperature, not only throughout the different parts of the day, but through the various seasons of the year; (2) the dryness of the air; and (3) the variety of climates within a com- paratively small area. In point of mildness Tenerife compares favourably not only with all European health resorts but with Madeira, the mean annual tem- perature being between 66° and 67° F. in the former and 63° F. in the latter. At Puerto de Orotava, which faces the sea to the north at an elevation of fifty feet, and which is protected by mountains on the other sides, the mean annual temperature is about 68°; it ranges from 62° in January and February to 76° in July, the extreme difference between winter and summer being therefore not more than fourteen degrees. At Nice the corresponding difference is nearly thirty dregees, whilst even at Algiers it is between twenty-three and twenty-four. The mean temperature during the five months of November, December, January, February and March is between 63° and 64°, the mean range between maximum and minimum being about eleven degrees. This degree of variation is maintained with remarkable steadiness throughout the year, the average temperature in spring being 64°, in summer nearly 71°, in autumn between 69° and 70°, and in winter a little over 60°. The average range of tem- perature throughout the year therefore does not exceed from ten to eleven degrees. From some careful records of meteorological changes at Puerto de Orotava, for which I am indebted to Dr. Perez, it appears that in January of the present year the mean temperature at 9 A.M. was 61-2, at 2 p.m. 62*7, and at 9 P.M. 57*9; in February the corre- sponding means were 60*1, 62-5, and 53*5 ; in March 64-3, 66, and 59- 7 ; and in April, from the 1st to the 25th inclusive, 64-5, 68*2, and 56-5. Careful observations made by Mr. Borham, which that gentleman has with great courtesy placed at my disposal, show that at his villa San Antonio, above Port Orotava, and 346 feet above the sea-level, the mean temperature in November (1888) was at 9 a.m. 66*3, and at 9 P.M. 63*1 ; in December the corresponding figures were 60-8 and 59-2 ; in January (1889) 58-9 and 56*4 ; in February 60- 6 and 56-6, and in March 61*8 and 59 4, giving a mean variation between the morning and the evening of 2 8. In November the absolute lowest temperature in the shade was 54-9, in December 51-8, in January 51, in February 50, and in March 49*1; but the mean minimum was for November 59-3, for December 55-4, for January 53, for February 52-7, and for March 54-1. The climate is always better before Christmas than it is afterwards, November and December being perfect. In the early months of the year the weather usually becomes a little unsettled. As a proof of the mild- ness of the season last December, I may mention that the visitors were able to sit with perfect comfort in the verandah of the Grand Hotel, which, as already remarked, is open on both sides, after a late K 2