Climatology and mineral waters of the United States, by A. N. Bell.

  • Bell, A. N. (Agrippa Nelson), 1820-1911.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Climatology and mineral waters of the United States, by A. N. Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    and very hot, the inhabitants are usually of feehle jmysique, and particu- larly prone to liver disease. On strangers the effect of a moist hot climate is one of intolerable lassitude and depression. Sea-air is remarkable for its salubrity, notwithstanding its humidity, and some of the insular and Gulf-coast places of the United States, with prevailing southeastern and southerly winds, approximate the condi- tions of an ocean atmosphere. But sea-air proper, that is to say, the ocean atmosphere, is generally less damp than the air of sea-coast places, however favorably they may be situated. For example: '•'The mean relative humidity of the air at noon, as observed during a voyage from Melbourne to London, via Cape of Good Hope, was found to be 77 (100 representing complete saturation), while in a dry locality in the neighborhood of London the mean for the year, as recorded in 'The Weather of 1880/ by Mr. Mawley, was 83. But this, Dr. Wilson remarks, ' represents the mean of three observations taken respectively at 9 a.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p.m. A fairer comparison would therefore be with the mean of the three-o'clock observation, which for the year gave 71.5/ * But there can be no question as to the general truth that the ocean atmosphere is considerably more moist than the air of corresponding latitudes on the land. Observations of our own, covering a period of six months, from June to November, inclusive, 1852, during a cruise on the West Coast of Africa, extending from Porto Praya, Cape du Verdes Island, to Mon- rovia, along the coast south to St. Paul de Loando, seaward to St. Helena and back to the Cape du Verdes, give a difference, between the dry- and wet-bulb thermometers, recorded at 8 a.m., 12 m., 4 and 8 p.m. daily for the period: Maximum 6.20. Minimum 0°. Mean 3.38. The maximum was at the Cape du Verdes, and saturation, during rains while on the coast. But singularly, the largest average number of persons on the sick-list was during the time of the least atmospheric moisture while at Porto Praya. It is interesting to observe in this connection, and germane to the effects of atmospheric moisture in an unhealthy climate, that cruising was uniformly accompanied by a reduced sick-list, and that the healthi- est ship in the squadron was the one which was at sea for the largest pro- portion of her time—the Dale. Out of a total force of 750 in the squadron, there were 1,661 cases of disease treated in two years ; 9 or .54 per cent were for phthisis pul- monalis. The number of deaths was twelve—none from phthisis. s •' The Ocean as a Health Resort, etc., by William S. Wilson, L.R.C.P. Lond., M.R.C.S.E., p. 9.