BTATE AiiiJH'l I.TniAI. SOCIETY. 285 



condition would be of interest, bu1 lies beyond the line of our present 



discussion. 



For the purpose of opening the subject for further consideration. I now 

 offer a scries oil suggestive propositions, and if, in the statement of these, I 

 make some use of the imagination, it must be remembered thai Bcience 

 regards a legitimate use of that faculty as of preeminent value. Knowing 

 that any exuberance of the imagination in this connection will meet with 

 remorseless punishment, I shall restrain this faculty within just limits. 



First — The peculiar, dry. and moderately exhilarating climate of this 

 great central valley is a result of the northerly winds. Without this evap- 

 orating power, the valley, its atmosphere and its very walls, would drip 

 with perpetual moisture: pernicious fogs would cloud the sun and conceal 

 the valley, with no possibility of escape from these walls: and the result 

 would be a humid, relaxing climate, susceptible of that high degree of heat 

 not marked by the thermometer, but felt by the system. Then eighty 

 degrees of heat would be the equivalent of one hundred under present 

 circumstances. 



Second — Without the north winds, and with the increase of moist heat, 

 the vegetation now cultivated, and so highly prized, would be overlapped, 

 overwhelmed with gross tropical growths. The exceeding fertility of the 

 soil w^ould crowd and cram the soil with excessive growth. It is not diffi- 

 cult to see the force of this proposition, in view of the well known fact that 

 judicious and careful irrigation and culture will, even now, produce a forest 

 of fruit trees, of vines and plants, within a period of five years. As mat- 

 ters now stand, we can select and cultivate any or all of the products of the 

 various zones. Between our present happy condition and the wretchedness 

 of a purely tropical state, lies our only defender — the north wind. 



Third — As a natural and necessary sequence to our first two propositions, 

 there comes the third — the north wind, by its desiccating power, is a pre- 

 ventive of disease. By the north wind, excessive growth, and therefore 

 excessive decay, and therefore excessive malaria, and therefore disease — all 

 are prevented. Without the north wind, ague and the virulent fevers would 

 prevail universally and at all times. It is also within the range of possibil- 

 ity that we are indebted to this agency for our comparative exemption from 

 sunstroke and hydrophobia ; at least, it is proved that sunstroke occurs only 

 after very wet Winters. It is but reasonable to believe that this desiccating 

 power, which prevents and dissipates the noxious exhalations of animal 

 matter, defends us against all those diseases that are propagated by poi- 

 sonous pus. 



Fourth — The north wind possesses curative powers. This proposition is 

 rendered probable by the curative effects of similar winds in other countries. 

 The harmattan wind of Africa, which possesses the same characteristic as 

 our north wind, is preeminently curative. Intermittent fever is cured by 

 the first breath of that wind, and remittent and epidemic fevers disappear 

 as by enchantment, while infection of all kinds, including the artificial 

 infection of vaccine virus, fail during the" prevalence of that wdnd. The 

 natural presumptions of the case favor the truthfulness of this proposition. 

 I am satisfied that surgical treatment in this valley is rendered more easy 

 than in moist climates. If so, it is because of the curative qualities of our 

 dry climate, which is the natural product of our north winds. 



The treatment of disease by electricity is a department of medical science 

 which is yet in its infancy, with all the probabilities in its favor. It seems 

 plain to me, admitting the value of medical electricity, that Nature, in this 

 valley, is already administering this curative agency, in a manner already 

 explained in our fifth hypothesis. It seems probable, in view of that 



