NEW TYPES AMONG MEN 183 



temperature from one day to another has a truly extraordinary 

 effect upon the deathrate. No other known factor appears to be 

 anything like so important. Moreover, the effect is plainly 

 visible not only in summer when people live with open windows and 

 breathe the outside air, but also in winter when the houses are 

 closed. Still more remarkable is the fact that the changes in 

 the outside temperature produce the strongest kind of effect upon 

 sick people, even though such individuals are protected from the 

 outside air in winter far more carefully than are persons in ordi- 

 nary health. If changes in temperature, either through their 

 direct effect or through some indirect means which we do not yet 

 understand, can swing the deathrate back and forth so remark- 

 ably, it seems reasonable to assume that they must have a pro- 

 nounced effect upon creatures so highly sensitive as newborn 

 infants. This effect would be accentuated by the fact that the 

 immigrants from eastern and southern Europe have had the habit 

 of swaddling their infants, but give this up when they come to 

 America. Thus the children not only are born in a climate far 

 more variable than that whence their parents have come, but are 

 more completely exposed to its variations. Even if they do not 

 greatly feel the direct differences of temperature, they feel the 

 varying conditions of humidity and perhaps of electricity which 

 accompany each change of temperature. 



The conclusion that variations of temperature, either directly 

 or indirectly, produce corresponding alterations in bodily form 

 and presumably in mental activity is fraught with the gravest 

 consequences. It may mean that the climatic conditions during 

 the first few months of a child's life have much to do with its 

 ultimate development both in mind and body. What conditions 

 are best no one can say as yet, but on general principles it would 

 seem as if exposure to fairly low temperatures was probably better 

 than to high, since low temperature is apparently favorable to 

 mental activity. The conclusion that variations of temperature 

 cause alterations in body and mind may also mean that the present 



