176 EFFECTS OF WEATHER CHAP. 5. 



CHAPTER V. 



OP THE INFLUENCE OF PECULIARITIES OF 

 WEATHER ON THE FUNCTIONS OF ORGANISED 

 BODIES.* 



IT is generally believed that atmospheric 

 changes have considerable influence on the state 



* I may advert, in commencement of these observations on 

 atmospheric disorders of health, to certain sudden cures of 

 violent diseases, said to have been miraculouJy effected by 

 the invocation of Saints and the BLESSED VIRGIN 

 MARY, by prayers and by other supernatural means, since 

 some philosophers have referred these cures to fortuitous 

 changes in the atmosphere, which may have occurred 

 coincidentally with the pretended crative operations ; while 

 others have ascribed them to the physical efficacy of the 

 powerful sentiment of Faith exerted on the body by a mode 

 of sympathetic influence, similar to that whereby the senti- 

 ment of Fear causes paleness, Shame blushing, and Hope 

 exhilajation and encreased muscular action. I have introduced 

 these observations in order to confute the above notions, the 

 former of which is not borne out by a referrence to Meteoro- 

 logical Journals which I have made ; and the latter is un- 

 physiological and totally devoid of all medical analogy. For, 

 though Fear may depress the spirits and cause melancholy 

 and hypochondriasis, though Hope may exhilarate and produce 



