642 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



water, many miles in width, like an inland lake, and reaching far away, 

 hundreds of miles to the south, fringed hy green inlet and headland, 

 bearing the tropical foliage of cypress and orange, palmetto and palm; 

 when the mild sunshine, falling so softly upon forest, bank, and river, 

 has penetrated him till he feels a gentle warmth flowing through his 

 veins ; when a delicious languor has possessed him, and it would seem 

 perfect happiness to rest in the genial sunshine forever then he knows 

 he has found the sweet do-nothing land of America. 



Warmth is life, cold is death, and the medical study of climate is 

 only an analysis of those conditions of heat which will best secure an 

 abounding vitality in the healthy human organism, or restore a shat- 

 tered organism to its normal physical relations. 



Men, like children, continually cry for the unattainable. We 

 would like a land in which a perfect June always prevails. 



What are the factors in the climate of Florida ? Heat, water, and 

 light warmth, moisture, and sunshine. 



The health resort of Florida is the peninsular portion, averaging 

 one hundred miles in width and projecting southward over three hun- 

 dred miles, amid the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 



It is a flat land, composed almost entirely of sand. So much does 

 it resemble a jetty of sand, such as we see formed at the confluence 

 of streams, that it may appropriately be termed an ocean sand-bar, 

 with everglades, marshes, and lagoons in the southern portion, testify- 

 ing how recently, geologically speaking, it has emerged from the depths 

 of the sea. Around this sickle-shaped peninsula the Gulf Stream, 

 with an average temperature of 86 Fahr., sweeps from the south- 

 ernmost point along the eastern shore at a distance of ten to one hun- 

 dred miles from the coast. Across it the salt-laden breezes of the 

 ocean continually play, by day and by night. Upon it the warm rays 

 of a semi-tropical sun almost continually shine. 



What are the results of these physical conditions, stated in the 

 exact terms of meteorological science ? For this purpose it is not 

 necessary to array long tables of average temperature, mean monthly 

 range, rain-fall, barometric pressure, relative humidity, etc. 



It is sufficient to know that the average temperature of Jackson- 

 ville, for the month of November, is 61 Fahr.; December, 54 Fahr.; 

 January, 55 Fahr. ; February, 57 Fahr. ; March, 62 Fahr. The rain- 

 fall in November is 3 inches ; December, 3 inches ; January, 3 inches ; 

 February, 2| inches ; March, 4^ inches. St. Augustine, Palatka, and 

 Gainesville average 2 or 3 warmer than Jacksonville. At St. Augus- 

 tine the rain-fall is less than at Jacksonville, being, November, 1*2 

 inch; December, 2 inches; January, 2 inches; February, l - 6 inch; 

 March, 2'3 inches. The mean monthly range of temperature for these 

 places during the winter months is between 20 and 30 Fahr. 



These figures indicate a mild, equable, and sunshiny climate during 

 winter for all that portion of Florida frequented by invalids, embrac- 



