242 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



The mist often increases towards evening, and, when the wind falls, 

 remains all night in the shape of a heavy fog. Sometimes, when the 

 sun has been shining brightly, the mist comes in irom the ocean in one 

 great wave, and suddenly submerges the landscape. In a few minutes 

 it may vanish, and give place to the cheerful sunshine. In short, there 

 is no conceivable admixture of wind, dust, cloud, fog, and sunshine 

 that is not constantly on hand during the summer at San Francisco. 

 Not unfrequentiy you are tantalized with a rainbow at sunset. Once I 

 saw a solar rainbow before night in the east, and soon afterwards 

 another bow, in the west, made by the moon. 



I have already noticed the almost constant prevalence of the west 

 and southwest currents. As the sea breezes become established, the 

 entire absence of winds Irom north and northwest is remarkable. In 

 the month of May, and in the beginning of June, there were a few 

 light breezes from that quarter. But from the 13th of June until near 

 the middle of October, a period of four months, there is not a solitary 

 observation noted in my record, even of the lightest or most transient 

 wind, from north or northwest. I think it probable that the same can- 

 not be said of any other spot on the globe, in the north temperate zone. 



The uniformity of the summer weather is occasionally broken by 

 the intervention of a few warm and pleasant days, when the wind is 

 not high enough to convert summer into winter. Under these circum- 

 stances the thermometer mounts to 70 or 75. In the latter spring and 

 early autumn months it is warmer. But as soon as the " summer" has 

 fairly set in, flannels and firewood are in almost constant demand, at 

 least until August. 



No one but an actual observer can appreciate the utter impotency of 

 an almost vertical sun during a brisk sea breeze. The rays of the sun 

 have scarcely more warmth than moon beams. Instead of raising the 

 thermometer 30 or 40 degrees, they seldom produce more than ten 

 degrees of elevation in the sweep of the wind. 



Such is the "summer" at San Francisco. Everybody complains of 

 the chilly winds, the mist, and the dust. If you have nothing to do but 

 sit in the house, you are perfectly comfortable. Even for out-door 

 employment or exercise, the mornings are almost invariably pleasant. 

 The evenings are generally too cool to sit without fire, and the nights 

 are never too warm to dispense with blankets. For the purpose of rest 

 and sleep, the night in California is perfectly luxurious all the year 

 through. With sprinkled streets, the afternoons will lose much of their 

 bad character at San Francisco. 



It might be inferred that a climate such as I have described is unfa- 

 vorable to health, especially with persons liable to diseases of the 

 chest. But the fact is just the reverse. The tone and vigor given to 

 the animal frame by the uninterruptedly bracing temperature, appear 

 to raise it above the control of inherent tendencies to pulmonic disor- 

 ders. I believe the humid and saline condition of the atmosphere 

 co-operates in the benefit. But I shall consider this subject more full}' 

 under a distinct head. 



In all other parts of California, except the region about the Bay of 

 San Francisco, the summer is very difTerent. Along the coast are 

 mists and sea breezes, but the winds are moderate and not so chilling. 



