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ture recorded at Atlanta (97.5°) is
2.6 degrees below that at St. Paul,
Minn., (eleven degrees farther north,)
while the extreme lowest at St. Paul
is 38.5° below the minimum at At
lanta. The yearly range of tempera
ture at Atlanta, between the mean
highest and lowest, is 84.4°, while at
St. Paul it is 132.3°.
El Paso, Texas, has an average of
maximum temperature of 91 degrees
for May; 100.7 June, 105.8 July,
98.4 August and 88.8 for September,
or 4.4 higher for this autumn
than is the average maximum temper
ature of the three summer months at
Atlanta.
The following table gives the aver
age highest and lowest temperatures
and the range between them for sev
eral stations where observations have
been made by signal service observers;
in no instance for a period of less than
five consecutive years : *
Stations. Summer Winter Range.
Atlanta, Ga .. . " 94.7° 10.3° 84.4°
New Orleans, La. 96.5° 23.8° 72.7°
Saint Paul, Minn. 97.1° -35.2° 132.3°
Los Angeles, Cal. 97.1° 32.0° 65.1°
Chicago, 11l 98.3° —15.2° 113.5°
Boston, Mass.... 98.6°—J 0.2° 120.3°
Denver, C 010.... 102.1° —26.1° 128.2°
Cincinnati, 0.... 100.8° —4.l° 104.9°
Charleston, S. C. . 100.5° 21.1° 89.4°
Jacksonville, Fla. 104.5° 24.1° 80.4°
*The dash before figures signifies
below zero.
The summer climate of Atlanta has
heretofore attracted many visitors from
the cities in the low lands.
The following table of the mean
seasonal temperature at several cities
in southern States is presented for con
sideration :
t- g
b£ J § £
G E S *» ? 74 5
CITIES. -E g 5 ; E £ ««g
Atlanta, Ga. 61.3 76.9 61.9 46.4 61 8 67.0
Memphis, Tenn. 61.4 79.5 60.6 42.8 61.1 68.0
Montgomery, Ala 65.3 8.98 65.2 50.4 65.6 68.8
Mobile, Ala 67.2 81.4 67.6 52.6 67.1 74.6
Savannah, Ga 66.5 81.3 66.8 52.7 67.9 71.6
New Orleans, La 68.9 81.9 69.7 55.9 69.2 71.2
In Wood’s Reference Hand Book
of the medical sciences (a master-piece
of book-making, valuable to intelli
gent laymen and necesary to well-read
physicians,) Dr. Huntington Richards
thus refers to the influence of daily
range of temperature:
“The importance to the invalid of
this feature of climate cannot be over
estimated, and many untoward results
and accidents are frequently attributa
ble to its neglect. * * * *
For most persons a variability indi
cated by an average nycthermal [from
day to night] range of about 10 or 15
degrees Farenheit may be considered
as conducive to health.”
The diurnal changes at Atlanta are
a fraction above the maximum limit
alluded to by Dr. Richards. But no
climate combines all of the good char
acteristics of a perfect climate. Nor
is such probably to be found on earth.
Still, the writer believes it is more near
ly approximated at Atlanta than any
where else in our country of change
ableness of seasonal temperature.
DAILY RANGE OF TEMPERATURE AT SEV
ERAL SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS.
STATIONS. Spring Su’mer Autumn Wint e
Atlanta. Ga IM 5 15?7°
Saint Paul, Minn. 21.3° 19.7° 18.5° 19.7°
Denver, Col 23.2° 24.4 24.7 22.0
El Paso, Tex 32.6° 32.4° 27.6° 26.3°
Loa Angeles, Cai. 28.2° 25.1° 21.7° 21.8
In this connection, Dr. Richards is
again quoted:
“Thus Denver at 5,200 feet altitude
shews an average daily range of 30°*
F., and even with this difference dew
*From the only data obtainable by. the
writer, the mean diurnal range is as given
in the foregoing table.
but seldom forms. Though this latter
fact will indicate a low relative hu
midity of the air, there can be but lit
tle doubt such extreme and sudden
changes must affect persons other than
the most robust.”
RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
Dr. Richards says : “It becomes a
matter for careful study to determine
wherein lies the happy mean between
dry climates, with great daily range,
and moist climates, with small daily
range of temperature. In a general
way, it may be said that between the
two extremes lie the conditions most
favorable to health.
Alexander H. Stephens once said,
(while watering his horse, near where
the Union Depot now stands, when At
lanta had but a few hundred inhabi
tants.) “This is the healthiest spot
on earth.”
To-day there stands a large city on
the spot referred to, with an annual i
death-rate among the whites of only ;
13 per thousand. This is the more re
markable in view of the fact that the
region of country having the smallest 1
number of deaths among the whites in
the United States, according to the
census of 1880, has a ratio of 11.25 i
per thousand. The death rate among
the whites in the North Atlantic Coast
Region (U. S. Census Divison,) ex- 1
tending from New York to Washing
ton, D. C., is 20.5 per thousand.
Moisture, when associated with cold, i
is trying to others than the most ro
bust, by season of exhausting the bod
ily heat. Excessive humidity, when
associated with warmth, is on the oth
er hand, relaxing to the system en
feebled by disease, and enervating to
all. Atlanta has a mean winter tem
perature of 46.4°, with an average
relative humidity of 68.8 (four years
observation,) while Saint Paul, Minn.,
has mean winter temperature of 17.4°,
with an average humidity of 72.3°, or
a trifle less humidity than has Jack
sonville, Florida, (72.6) with its high
mean winter temperature of 56.6°.
Newport, R. 1., has recently become
a claimant for public favor as a winter
resort for Consumptives. The Census
shows that the death rate from Con
sumption is 246 per 100,000 for the
state, as a whole; 207 in Newport
county; 202 in the state, excluding the
city of Providence and Newport coun
ty. A region, having as large a ratio
of deaths from Consumption as is
shown by the above figures, cannot ap
pear to an unprejudiced mind to be a
highly favored region for recovery
from the disease.
In support of the advocates of cold
moist stations, the Valley of Daros,
Switzerland, has been growing in favor
among European physicians, up to last
reports, as a winter resort for consump
tives. There the relative humidity is
84.4 for five months of the year, in
cluding the three winter months. How
ever, the Valley of Daros is at an eleva
tion of over 5,000 feet above Atlantic
City, with a mean winter temperature
of 20°. Such a combination of climatic
conditions must be trying to the pul
monary invalid.
The Gulf and Pacific coast resorts
are often unwisely chosen by persons
of low vitality (as are their opposites,
(the cold northern stations,) when a
moderately invigorating climate would
have been preferable.
Surgeon G. K. Wood, of the U. S.
army, says that, “the injurious effects
of sending consumptives to the hot,
low and moist coast, and the islands of
the Gulf of Mexico should be aban
doned. In diseases of debility, the
remedies are tonics and stimulants.
What is more debilitating than affec
tions of the lungs ? And what less ton
ic than heat and moisture combined ?”
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
If a physician desires to promote
suppuration in an inflamed part he ap
plies heat and moisture in the shape
of a poultice. May not (and the wri
ter puts the question to conscientious
physicians on the Gulf coast,) heat
and moisture combined, promote sup
puration in a diseased lung?
Relative humidity ot various signal
service stations:
STATIONS. Winter. Year.
Denver, CoJ 54.0 4a.0 j
Los Angeles, Cal. 63.5 67.0
Atlanta, Ga 68.8 67.0
San Antonio, Tex. 69.9 67.6
Saint Paul, Minn. 72.3 60.0
Jacksonville, Fla. 72-6 71.0
Atlantic City, NJ. 79.2 79.4
Note. —Relative humidity is the
degree of moisture below 100, which is
complete saturation.
RAINFALL.
“The total amount of rain falling at
any place during the course of a year,
a season or a month is of less impor
tance * * * than is the
distribution of such rain.” — Dr. Rich
ards.
The rainfall at Atlanta is variously
recorded at 54.36 inches by the ob
server at the United States signal ser
vice office, four years observations,
48.99 by Col. R. J. Redding, assistant
commissioner of agriculture, and 46.83
by the post surgeons at McPherson
Barracks. The measurements of the
signal officer are taken in the heart of
the city; by Col. Redding one mile
west of there, and by the United
States surgeons two miles south-west.
That there may be discrepancies in re
ports from two neighborhoods is shown
by the report of the Chief Signal offi
cer, U. S A. for 1884. At two sta
tions (one volunteer,) one in Wash
ington, D. C., the other at the Receiv
ing Reservoir across the Potomac river
there was a difference of 1.64 inches, i
There was a difference of 3.57 inches
between the measurements at the sig
nal office, in Cincinnati and on Col
lege Hill, three miles out. In both
instances, the excess was in the city. J
Observations continued in this line
might develop the fact that there are
conditions existing which produce
greater rainfall in cities than in subur
ban places.
As “one swallow does not make a
summer” neither will two facts prove a
rule.
An analysis of the rainfall for the
years 1882-’B3-’B4 and ’BS shows that
there fell during the four years 218.46
inches of rain. 157.83 inches fell dur
ing 54 days. The hours composing
these days were distributed through j
every month of the years excepting
three. During these three months no
heavy rains fell. To make it plain
the rainfall and time are put in form
of a table below:
Years, f Total of Total hours Total Total
1882 heavy rain of heavy rain days rain
1883 ■ in inches, fall in days. fall.
1884
1885 157.83. 54.00 1450 218.46
Fifty per cent, of the rain fell after
6 p. m. and it was clear before 8. a. m.
It rained continuously for twenty
four hours but twelve times during the
four years. The longest single period
when rain fell was forty hours, in 1885.
The longest “rainy spell” was for
twenty-one days, in January 1885,
with one intermission of three days,
and another of four.
The writer knows from observation
at various health resorts —Rocky
Mountain and Appalachian —that
persons who leave home in search of
health, having that object alone in
view, are prone to look only for verifi
cation of what good features of climate
they have read of as existing where
they may go.
Now, .there are some disagreeable
days in winter, as there are every
where/from Key West to Mackinac,
which may weary the invalid. Still,
it is repeated, they are as few as are to
be found elsewhere in our country of
changeableness of weather.
The topography of Atlanta is such
that the surface drainage is perfect in
all directions. There are no swamps,
ponds or lakes near the city. The
nearest river is six miles distant. So,
there is nothing to breed malaria
FOGS.
During 1884 and ’BS there were but
three foggy days, and one foggy morn
ing which cleared early.
CLOUDINESS.
Sir W. Temple thought that the
best climate where he could be abroad
in the air with pleasure, or at least
without inconvenience, the most days
of the year and the most hours of the
day.
In this connection arises a considera
tion of the clear and fair days. They
numbered 270 on a yearly average,
for a period of seven consecutive years.
In comparison with Denver, in
“cloudless Colorado,” Atlanta stands
well. In a scale of 0 to 10 Denver
has a proportion ot 3.77 to Atlanta s
4.25 or only 0.48 less than Atlanta
has.
A comparison of the cloudiness m
Atlanta with that of Saint Paul,
Minn., is given below.
Table of cloudiness by seasons for
the year.
£ « u
bp g £ q
CITIES. I E | .g e
02 Qi
Saint Paul, Minn 5.10 4,50 5.20 4.90 492
Atlanta, Gft 4.40 4.20 3.60 4.80 4.25
The observations at Atlanta were
for three consecutive years.
WIND.
Dr. C. T. Williams, of England, in
his Lettsomian Lectures, upon “The
Influence of Climate in the Treatment
of Pulmonary Consumption” says: —
“A bracing though somewhat gusty
climate avails more than a mild, still
and somewhat relaxing one, and in
stead of seeking for a sedative atmo
sphere to allay the cough and reduce
irritability, we should in most cases se
lect a stimulating one to increase the
appetite, and to invigorate the system
of our patients.” He also asserts that
“neither excessive humidity nor dry
ness of air are [is] favorable.”
While Atlanta has almost daily
breezes, it has no high winds. It is
| out of the cyclone zone. January and
February have some gusty, and, disa
! greeable days, however, they are so
few as not to prove trying to invalids.
A person who cannot endure such had
better remain at home, as his life
could only be prolonged anywhere.
Sixty-five per cent, of the wind
comes sweeping over the rugged coun
try of northern Alabama, East Ten
nessee, N. W., N. E. and North
Georgia and North-West South Caro
lina. In passing over these heavily
timbered, hilly and mountainous re
gions, they are sponged of their moist
ure, and come dry, purified and invig
orating to the system.
Ten months of the year are, on the
average, unsurpassed for pleasantness
of weather. In fact, barring some
days in January and February, At
lanta has as uniformly fine a climate
as is to be found elsewhere on earth.
A distinguished physician of Atlan
ta, of inter-national reputation, recent
ly remarked to the writer that, “after
having sojourned in all parts of the
world, with the exception bf Africa,
he had never found a climate compar
able to that of Atlanta for pleasant
ness throughout the entire year.”
Prof. W. A. Hammond, of New York,