58 Kansas Academy of Science. 



are often recorded in summer, and minimum temperatures 

 of — 10° and — 20° are rather common in winter, but during 

 the heated periods the air becomes dry, and "sensible tempera- 

 tures," the ones really felt by the body, are not nearly so high 

 as those in more humid states where the temperature seldom 

 rises above 95°. In the western part of the state warm nights 

 are exceedingly rare and heat prostrations almost unknown. 

 The cold weather of winter is also rendered less disagreeable 

 by the fact that the snowfall is light when compared with that 

 in many other northern states. 



Modern medical science- has of recent years come to the con- 

 clusion that tuberculosis stands almost as good a chance of be- 

 ing cured in a climate like that of Kansas, other things being 

 equal, as in the far-famed climate of the Southwest, and that 

 Kansas climate, plus the care and rest and proper food of a good 

 home, is much more likely to effect a cure than indifferent care 

 in a health resort. This is not surprising in view of the fact 

 that Kansas receives more sunshine each year than any state 

 between it and the Atlantic, or between it and the Canadian 

 boundary, and considerably more than what is commonly called 

 the "Sunny South." The western third of the state is a close 

 rival of southern California in this respect, and the air in those 

 western counties is almost as bracing and exhilarating as it is 

 in the mountains to the westward. 



It is probable that a great deal of the well-known energy and" 

 enterprise characteristic of Kansans can be attributed to the in- 

 vigorating effect of its climate, and especially the cold, dry air 

 that sweeps across the state in winter. An eminent authority 

 has stated, "the most vigorous people physically and the most 

 resourceful mentally are found in the most northerly regions, 

 that will produce not simply cereals, but an abundance of 

 them." 



Another very common fallacy about Kansas weather is that 

 it has changed materially since the state was settled, the prairie 

 sod broken up, and trees planted. A few years ago a person 

 who made the assertion in the western part of the state that 

 the rainfall was not increasing permanently from year to year 

 would have but little credence among old settlers who had seen 

 what had been called "The Great American Desert," producing 

 only buffalo grass and sage brush, changed into valuable crop- 

 producing farms. 



