A GREAT AMERICAN WINTER SANITARIUM. 295 



wide expanse of prairie to the south. A free horizon southward is of 

 great advantage to a winter climate, not only because the practically 

 unlimited surface of snow secures the most perfect reflection of solar 

 warmth, but also because there is no obstruction to the rays of the 

 rising and setting sun. I consider the want of a free southern horizon 

 to be an important defect in the situation of Davos, for it reduces in 

 winter the daily period of sunshine by more than two hours, or, in 

 other words, it diminishes the length of day available for patients in 

 midwinter by more than one fourth. In respect of daily duration of 

 sunshine, therefore, the advantage of the park over Davos would be 

 considerable. 



In order, however, that it may be fitted for the reception of invalids, 

 much will have to be done besides the building of hotels. The law- 

 lessness and extortion which at present prevail throughout the Yellow- 

 stone National Park must be made to cease, wholesome food must be 

 substituted for the indigestible material which now does duty for beef 

 and mutton, and the almost impassable roads must be seriously taken 

 in hand. 



The one drawback to the park is its great distance from the masses 

 of the American population ; but, in the first place, distances which 

 are almost prohibitive to travelers in Europe are thought little of in 

 America ; and, secondly, the comfortable, not to say luxurious, travel- 

 ing: on American lines would render the transit from the Eastern cities 

 of the United States scarcely more formidable than that from London 

 to Davos, the driving portion of the journey being, in fact, much 

 shorter in the American route. 



We are as yet too little acquainted with the chemical composition 

 of the hot springs, geysers, and mineral waters so profusely distributed 

 throughout the park, to form any trustworthy opinion of their medici- 

 nal virtues, but the physical properties of water are much the same 

 everywhere, and, by a judicious selection of sites, the enormous ad- 

 vantages of an unlimited supply of natural hot water and steam for 

 baths and heating purposes could easily be secured, and this without 

 interfering with the wonders and aesthetic beauties of this most ex- 

 traordinary and interesting region. 



At present, the park, so generously set apart by Congress for the 

 enjoyment of the American people, is utilized only by a very limited 

 number of tourists, in the few months of a very short summer, and it 

 seems a pity that such a magnificent possession should not be much 

 more extensively used. Dedicated during the winter months to the 

 purposes I have here advocated, it would constitute a winter sanita- 

 rium unequaled in the world, restoring to health and vigor not only 

 thousands of persons suffering from incipient chest-diseases, but also 

 still greater numbers of the overworked populations of the States and 

 Canada. 



