THE OTTAWA NATURALIST %^^%^ 



Vol. XXIII. OTTAWA, JUNE, 1907 No. 3 



CLIMATE IN RELATION TO HEALTH.* 



By Peter H. Bryce, M.A., M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Interior 



Department, Ottawa. 



Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 In order to comprehend the problem of climate in relation 

 to health, we must for a moment consider the relation of the 

 atmosphere to the human body. Herbert Spencer has defined 

 life "as the concordance of a series of internal movements in 

 correspondence with a series of external acts;" or, as the Spanish 

 poet-scientist would put it, . . "Life is the harmonic rythm of 

 the infinitude of individual cell-organisms of. the body in conson- 

 ance with the Mechanism of the Universe (Mechanica ritmica)." 

 Briefly stated, the oxygen of the air is life and upon its 

 entrance into the system depends the functioning of the tissues 

 and organs of the body. We respire 17 times in a minute 

 normallv, and inhale some 25 cubic inches at each inspiration, 

 or in twenty-four hours some 1 1 metres of air, of which one-fifth 

 is oxygen. In health this air enters by way of the nose, but in 

 increased exercise by the mouth as w^ell. It is evident, therefore, 

 that normal inspiration depends upon healthy air passages; 

 without them the chest becomes depressed and finally deformed. 

 Mouth-breathing is abnormal and injurious since the air reaches 

 the lungs too soon to be warmed, while in addition, its impurities 

 reach the mucous membrane directly instead of being filtered by 

 the cilia of the nose. Indeed, physicians are now agreed that 

 it is by the mouth that infections most commonly reach the 

 system through the tonsils; while on the other hand, the air 

 entering by the nostrils is filtered, warmed and moistened before 

 reaching the delicate lung tissues. Assuming that this air is 

 dry and cold, we find that it takes up in the air passages moisture 

 to 92% of saturation, and is raised to 97 F. before being expired. 

 The water thus abstracted from the body amounts to 7,000 

 grains, or 1 pound, in twenty-four hours. Moreover, Miquel 

 has shown that air has as high as 70 living germs even in pure 

 outer air per metre, and as many as 20,000 in the air of hospitals 

 and other crowded buildings. Assume that the air inspired is 

 in an impure, infected house atmosphere and we cannot fail to 



Address delivered at Normal.'School, Jan. 22nd, 1907. 







