268 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



some of whom were hung and others who should have 

 been ! This was followed in the early nineties by a rail 

 strike, panics, etc., due to the same causes as the earlier 

 troubles. 



The politicians did not make use of the health and 

 death-rate curves but no doubt would have tried to prove 

 that health was affected by political parties. The prob- 

 abilities are that these disturbances were due in part, 

 perhaps the larger part to ill-health, brought on by un- 

 favorable weather. A comparison with the chinch bug 

 curve indicates that weather which is detrimental to man 

 is favorable to chinch bugs. Thus we see that mth long 

 experience and careful records it may be possible to check 

 and anticipate various pest conditions by comparison 

 with human death-rate, and vice versa. 



Another type of work which has been undertaken re- 

 cently is the plotting of the relation between temperature 

 and rainfall in localities where certain crops are espec- 

 ially grown as compared with localities where it is de- 

 sired to determine possibilities. One of this type of dia- 

 grams shown in Figure 6 which compares a locality in the 

 Illinois corn belt with tropical Australia to show the gen- 

 eral method. It is one adopted by Griffith Taylor to 

 represent the climate of tropical Australia and to de- 

 termine whether or not various crops such as cotton, 

 coffee, etc., could be gro^\Ti there. 



There are further matters of interest in connection 

 with man and his activities with relation to temperature 

 and rainfall which demand some comment. On the basis 

 of his experiments which have already been referred to 

 and the opinion of various scientists whom he consulted, 

 Mr. Huntington has mapped the areas of most stimulat- 

 ing climate and has published maps of these areas. The 

 moist deciduous forest climate of western Europe and 

 eastern North America afford the variability and con- 

 ditions necessary to high efficiency along with mean 

 temperatures and humidites approaching the optimum 

 for the white race, namely, 65°F. and 80 per cent relative 

 humidity. These areas are also regarded as possessing 

 the highest type of civilization. Mr. Griffith Taylor has 



