U4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



FLOEIDA AS A HEALTH EESOET FOE CON- 

 SUMPTIVES. 

 Messrs. Editors. 



IN " The Popular Science Monthly " for 

 March, Dr. George E. Walton, of Cin- 

 cinnati, has an article on " The Remedial 

 Value of the Climate of Florida," some of 

 the statements in which, for the sake of ac- 

 curacy, it seems desirable to correct. 



What Dr. Walton says of the humidity is 

 true. It can not be compared with Minne- 

 sota (that is, the northern part of Minneso- 

 ta) for dryness ; but it will compare favor- 

 ably with other southern localities in Europe 

 and America; for instance, we see by Dr. 

 Walton's table, page 644, that the humidity 

 of San Antonio and Florida is about the 

 same ; and just here let me say that writers on 

 Florida climate are apt to take Jacksonville 

 as a representative locality, because the avail- 

 able statistics usually come from there. 

 The Signal-Office is there. But it is by no 

 means the best locality for invalids. It has 

 the advantages and the disadvantages of a 

 city, though a small one. It is much damper 

 than other points in East Florida frequented 

 by invalids ; fogs are more prevalent, and 

 last longer. It is not so safe to be out after 

 sundown. As we go up the river the damp- 

 ness lessens for a hundred miles. During 

 the months of February, March, and April, 

 1878, using a Mason's psychrometer (wet 

 and dry bull)), and comparing my obser- 

 vations with those of the Signal-Office at 

 Jacksonville, the relative humidity for three 

 months, in 1S78, is for that city 66 - 2, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Baldwin's observations for sev- 

 eral years 62 - 6, while for Palatka it is 61 # 3. 



The summer dampness is just what Dr. 

 Walton says of it, three fourths of all the 

 rain-fall of the year occurring during that 

 season. But, further on, Dr. Walton says, 

 " The prime need of a consumptive is that 

 he shall be a great deal out-of-doors, that 

 he shall breathe pure air," etc. "Is the 

 climate of Florida fitted to do this ? . . . I 

 answer no ! " On the contrary, I answer 

 emphatically yes ! Here is just the advan- 

 tage of Florida over the cold and cool re- 

 sorts. Here, one is constantly incited by 

 the sunshine and the delightful climate to 

 be all the time out-of-doors. As regards 

 physical exercise, during most of the time 

 one is not incited to it. But there are cool 

 changes during the winter and spring months 

 (which are peculiar to this climate, distin- 

 guishing it from a purely tropical), during 

 which one may exercise on horseback, on 

 foot, or by rowing. That people here are 

 indisposed to exercise is true ; but it is not 



always, by any means, because "of the tem- 

 perature, but of constitutional indolence 

 Those who take an interest in their sur- 

 roundings, or who are fond of fishing and 

 hunting, may be seen at all times, in warm 

 and cold weather, putting forth all requisite 

 energy. Persons must seek occupation and 

 amusements in order to get the benefit of cli- 

 mate. What Dr. Walton says about tubercu- 

 lar consumption, especially the latter stage, 

 is true, and it is true of cool and cold climates 

 also, but not to the same extent, perhaps, as 

 of warm and moist. That is, the universal 

 admission of all honest writers on climates 

 and health resorts is, that such cases die 

 wherever they go. They are necessarily in- 

 curable, with very few exceptions, and nota- 

 ble exceptions occur here as elsewhere. And 

 here let me explain why so many more con- 

 sumptive cases die in Florida than in other 

 resorts. When they get reduced almost to 

 death's door by softening of deposits, fever, 

 diarrhoea, etc., they are too ill to go to Eu- 

 rope, and also unable to bear any change, 

 except to a warm climate ; consequently, the 

 mass of them come to Florida, often with a 

 knowledge on the part of the physician and 

 friends that they are certain to die, but 

 clinging to the last straw themselves. 



Dr. Walton says . " During the last six 

 months of 1881 there were thirteen deaths 

 in Jacksonville (population, 8,000) from con- 

 sumption, these deaths being of residents 

 only, and excluding all non-residents or 

 visiting invalids. This is a mortality of 

 1"62 per 1,000, being a greater mortality 

 than occurred in Cincinnati during the same 

 time, which was 424 in a population of 

 280,000, or 151 per 1,000. ... It may be 

 stated in this connection that natives of 

 Florida taken with consumption frequently 

 seek other places and climates as a means 

 of cure." 



I am certain that Dr. Walton has fallen 

 into an error in his statement with refer- 

 ence to the deaths from phthisis among resi- 

 dcttts, if he means natives or even persons 

 who have lived many years in Florida. The 

 population of the State is made up very 

 largely of Northerners who have lived here 

 one, two, five, ten years. No doubt many 

 of the deaths referred to by him occurred 

 among this class, probably all of them ; for 

 consumption is rare among natives, although 

 they live in every way, for the most part, in 

 opposition to the rules of health poor food, 

 poor water, poor habitations, insufficient 

 clothes in cold weather that is, the middle 

 and lower classes do all tending to the de- 

 velopment of tubercular disease, and which 



