190 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



being worth going every day to see. The air is pure, dry, and balmy, 

 from the all-encompassing pine woods, through which radiate many 

 walks and diversified drives in all directions. There are half a dozen 

 different kinds of churches, and several considerable hotels. The 

 " Piney Woods Hotel " and the " Mitchell House " are large, new, and 

 first-class. The former has a frontage of over four hundred feet, is 

 three stories high, and with broad piazzas front and rear. It will ac- 

 commodate three hundred guests, has all the modern accommodations 

 and improvements, except an elevator, and is so thoroughly well kept 

 as to lead to the remark, which I heard frequently made, that the 

 "Piney Woods is the best hotel South." There are lesser hotels and 

 numerous boarding-houses, of the merits of which I know nothing, 

 but heard them very well spoken of. The weather in Thomasville I 

 found mild and agreeable. It rains there often, and sometimes hard, 

 but the sandy ground quickly dries. The average winter temperature 

 is given at 54*55° Fahr., but it is not to be inferred that they have no 

 cold weather there. They bave at times heavy frosts and ice, and 

 report a fall of snow once in the last fifteen years. But the " cold 

 spells " are short, and the prevailing warm and sunny weather invites 

 to out-of-door life, which is the main thing, for, as Dr. Felix Oswald 

 says, consumption is a " house disease." 



I do not suppose there are any magical healing powers for pul- 

 monary invalids in the Thomasville atmosphere, but I should hesitate 

 to say that it may not be very favorable to them. An old physician 

 of the place. Dr. T. S. Hopkins, after twenty years' medical experience 

 in the pine forests of Southern Georgia, speaks as follows upon this 

 point in the "Atlantic Medical Register" : " Having for many years, 

 in my travels through this section of country, noticed the almost en- 

 tire absence of consumption among the people, I addressed letters to a 

 large number of physicians practicing in the district, asking them to 

 report to me the number of cases of consumption coming to their 

 knowledge during the previous years. I received replies from twenty 

 engaged in active practice, and representing a population of fifty 

 thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. The total number of eases 

 reported was three. I have no reason to doubt the honesty of this 

 report. A climate in which the disease so rarely occurs is certainly 

 worthy of a trial by those who have it." As for myself, I can by no 

 means report " cured " at Thomasville ; but my case was undoubtedly 

 improved there. And, as I might have died in New York, just 

 according to the danger of this contingency, Thomasville must be 

 entitled to the credit of saving my life. At any rate, the trial 

 was a good thing, and I esteemed myself fortunate in the place 

 selected. 



In the matter of recreations, which is of considerable hygienic 

 importance in a sanitary resort, Thomasville is quite undeveloped. 

 There are several well-equipped livery establishments, and there is a 



