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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



by way either of example or of warning the lessons of the past have 

 been brought to bear upon the present work. 



On beginning work the commission was confronted by the fact 

 that while from the first of October till about the middle of May the 

 climatic conditions of Washington are most salubrious, during the 

 remaining four and a half months the city is subject to extended peri- 

 ods of intense heat, during which all public business is conducted at 

 an undue expenditure of physical force. Every second year congress 

 is in session usually until about the middle of July; and not infre- 

 quently it happens that, by reason of prolonged or special sessions, 

 during the hottest portion of the summer the city is filled with the 

 persons whose business makes necessary a more or less prolonged stay 



View showing the Proposed Treatment of Union Square, at the head of the Mall. 



in Washington. Of course nothing can be done to change weather 

 conditions, but very much can be accomplished to mitigate the physical 

 strain caused by summer heat. Singularly enough, up to the present 

 time the abundant facilities which nature affords for healthful and 

 pleasant recreation during heated terms have been neglected, and in 

 this respect Washington is far behind other cities whose climatic con- 

 ditions demand much less, and whose opportunities also are less favor- 

 able. 



In Eome throughout the centuries it has been the pride of emperor 

 and of pope to build fountains to promote health and give pleasure. 

 Mile after mile of aqueduct has been constructed to gather the water 

 even from remote hills, and bring great living streams into every quar- 

 ter of the city; so that from the moment of entering the Eternal City 

 until the time of departure the visitor is scarcely out of sight of beau- 

 tiful jets of water, now flung upward in great columns to add life and 



