34 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT. 



disease with the natives, it would not seem to be a wise or 

 logical proceeding on the part of a physician to send to such 

 a climate a person who was likely to be affected by these very 

 maladies. Now, if these principles are applied to the case of 

 Southport, everything advanced in favour of its climate will 

 meet with the fullest confirmation. That the climate is at 

 once bracing and sedative, may be gathered from the physical 

 and moral history of the population. If we take as a type of 

 these, the fishermen, we find them broad and fleshy in their 

 frames, phlegmatic in temperament, slow in their movements, 

 and (though this must be attributed to something better even 

 than a good climate) remarkably decorous and staid in their 

 conduct. Amongst the natives, we also find many cases of 

 extreme longevity. 



Here may be quoted the picture of an imaginary climate 

 for the consumptive, as drawn by the eminent physician, 

 Dr. W. B. Richardson, leaving such readers as are acquainted 

 with Southport to -judge how far it meets the case. 



"I shall recommend no particular place as a resort for 

 consumptives, for I wish not to enter into disputation on this 

 point. But there is a formula for an hypothetical consump- 

 tive Atlantis. It should be near the sea-coast, and sheltered 

 from northerly winds ; the soil should be dry ; the drinking 

 water pure ; the mean temperature about 60, with a range 

 of not more than ten or fifteen degrees on either side. It is 

 not easy to fix any degree of humidity ; but extremes of 

 dryness or of moisture are alike injurious. A town where 

 the residences are isolated and scattered about, and where 

 drainage and cleanliness are attended to, is much preferable 

 to one where the houses are closely packed, however small 

 its population may be." 



