1899] METEOROLOGY AND ETHICS 51 



But we must remember where we are and the solemnity of facts, 

 and state the problem. Have the various meteorological conditions, ring- 

 ing in as they do combinations innumerable, a definite causal relation to 

 human conduct ? Does the ever-changing weather present conditions 

 in which impulse to action is more liable than usual to overcome an 

 ordinarily overpowering inhibitory force ? 



The problem was attacked in two ways : " first, by the tabulation 

 and discussion of a questionnaire sent to nearly two hundred teachers 

 of all grades, from the kindergarten to the high school, superintendents 

 of asylums and reformatories, and wardens of prisons and penitentiaries;" 

 second, by an inductive study of several hundred thousand data cor- 

 relating weather and conduct. It is evident that the possible fallacies 

 are so numerous that a large body of results were necessary before any 

 reliable conclusions could be drawn, and it is for those accustomed to 

 statistical inquiries to say whether Professor Dexter's industry was or 

 was not sufficiently prolonged to allow of the elimination of errors. 

 However this may be, he certainly has not spared trouble in seeking 

 to substantiate his thesis, and Mrs. Dexter also shared in bringing the 

 immense labour of tabulation to a successful issue. 



It should also be recognised that the author does not take any 

 crude or easy-going view of his problem. He has realised the com- 

 plexity of the factors which influence conduct, and the difficulty 

 of analysing out those which may be called meteorological. As an 

 instance of this, we venture to give a quotation — one of the many 

 pleasant interludes in his serious argument. 



" The idea that the prevalence of suicide in this country (England) 

 is due to our bad weather is precisely one of those hasty and illogical 

 inferences which are characteristic of the Gallic mind. The constant 

 gloom of bad weather ought to acquaint us so thoroughly with moods 

 of depression that suicide would never occur to us. Look at Scotland, 

 for instance, where suicides are rare. Why are they rare ? Simply 

 because a succession of Scotch Sundays has so accustomed the people to 

 prolonged despondency, that any sudden misfortune cannot sink their 

 spirits any farther. One has only to spend a dozen Sundays in Glasgow 

 or Edinborough (sic) to become inoculated against suicide." .... As 

 Dexter says, there is truth beneath the jocular vein of this quotation. 



The results of the study lead to the following five conclusions : 



I. " Varying meteorological conditions affect directly the metabolism of 

 life." Some of the conditions accelerate the oxidising processes of life, 

 while others retard them ; the former are called by the author 

 anabolic, the latter katabolic, and we would accent his hesitation in 

 using these terms, with the remark, that he thereby darkens his 

 counsel with words without knowledge. Any other terms would have 

 done as well, for no others could be worse. 



II. The ' reserve energy ' capable of being utilised for i7itellectual 

 processes and activities other than those of the vital organs, is influenced, 



