92 THE CLIMATE. 



has taken place, and we must look to the atmosphere, rather than to such groups of atomic 

 plants, for explanation of the phenomenon. 



Bright as are its skies, soft as are its breezes, and charming to the corporal frame as is a 

 temperature without the fierce heats of summer or rigorous frosts of winter, one would expect 

 to find its people enjoying the glorious aggregations of eternal snow-crests and ever-verdant 

 valleys to a green old age. But, in truth, Chile can scarcely he regarded as a country favorable 

 to longevity ; and we have already seen that, under the most favorable interpretation of its 

 census returns, the population has only increased three per cent, during the last six years. 

 What influence to effect such a result have the appetites and diet of its people ; the possibly semi- 

 stagnant atmosphere of deep valleys, where there are neither electrical phenomena nor strong 

 winds for its frequent renovation ; or habits induced by the apathetic disposition engendered in 

 a climate with so few vicissitudes, are questions not yet solved by their physiologists. We 

 look abroad and wonder to see so few who have attained " three score years and ten ;" and they 

 tell us that phthisis pulmonalis, hypertrophy of the heart and liver, and epidemic dysentery, 

 sweep off numbers in their prime, leaving scarcely one in a thousand to attain such age, whilst 

 multitudes are cut off to whom life is only at its dawn. 



