The constituents of climate : with special reference to the climate of Florida / by Frederick D. Lente.

  • Lente, Frederick D. (Frederick Divoux), 1823-1883.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of climate : with special reference to the climate of Florida / by Frederick D. Lente. 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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    THE CONSTITUENTS OF CLIMATE. In a paper which I had the honor of reading before the American Public Health Association two years ago, in Boston, I made the attempt to enlighten the public, and especially the medical public, on the subject of the climate of Florida, its adaptability as a health resort, and especially to remove certain unfounded ideas and prejudices which have become wide-spread and deeply-rooted in northern communities. It is somewhat surprising that this should be the case with medical men, since positive information on the subject has always been accessible to them in the volumes of the Medical Statistics of the U. S. Army, the Army Medical Reports and the Eeports of the Adjutant-General's Office, embracing statistics covering a space of more than forty years, which are, of course, thoroughly un- prejudiced. They are particularly full of information regarding the meteorology and endemic influences of Florida. For some years past, however, a number of northern physicians have spent winters or portions of a winter in Florida, and the number is yearly increasing. The verdict of these has been uniformly favorable, as also that of the various surgeons of the army wbo have been stationed there, some of them for several years, during the Seminole war. The earliest visitors and the various adventurers who landed on the shores of Florida, and who left us any written evidence of their experience and sentiments, have spoken in the most enthusiastic terms of her climate. The numerous writers on the subject in the present century have expressed themselves in a similar manner, and indeed it seems almost impossible to one who has lived several winters in Florida, in describing the beauties or the advantages of her climate, not to drift into the same strain. Something of it will be noticed even in the formal reports of some of the older army surgeons. But I propose to avoid this, and to deal with plain facts as far as possible, and leave my medical brethren to draw their own con- clusions.