Introductory lecture on "climate" / by Archibald William Pulteney Pinkerton ; delivered at the Medical School, Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh, May 28, 1857.

  • Pinkerton, A. W. P. (Archibald William Pulteney)
Date:
1857
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture on "climate" / by Archibald William Pulteney Pinkerton ; delivered at the Medical School, Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh, May 28, 1857. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    disease as well as on health—to see how climates differ, and from what causes, we must first have a clear perception of Physical Geography—we must study the features of every country, the state of the atmosphere, the winds, position of mountains, of swamps, and of forests. It will be our endeavour, in the ensuing lectures, to show the value of Humboldt’s system of Isothermal, Isotheral, and Isochimenal lines. We will thus see that Scotland has a mean annual (50°) equal to that of the Crimea and New York. These two places have most intensely cold winters and burning summers, while we enjoy a much more equable tem¬ perature. I have known the thermometer during the day, in the Crimea, as low as—5°, when it was absolutely painful to stand outside; and I have known it so hot, that the men could hardly bear up against it. We will find that the reason why we enjoy such equability of temperature, compared with these two places, is, because we are insular, and they continental. The isotherm of 40° runs through St Petersburg, through Sweden and Norway, up to Iceland, and then descends to Newfound¬ land. Again, the surface of the earth must be considered. Look¬ ing at a physical map of Europe, one sees at once what an extent of green waste, and steppes, and rivers abound away to the east, while the mountains are all congregating towards the south. From this we see why the east wind of our shores is so raw and annoying. Every continental wind is more or less irritating, every sea breeze refreshing. Continents lessen the temperature, as is seen in the isothermals falling so decidedly in the northern hemisphere, and running almost parallel in the southern. All these facts must be understood, to see thoroughly how disease originates, and why it spreads. Though every con¬ tinent differs, and even varies in the form of disease common to it, still there runs a similarity through all, a grouping into two or three leading types. And, as a branch of this search after disease, comes our attention to Sanatory Measures. It is useless to try to miti-