66 FOTHERGILL'S MEDICAL PAPERS CHAP. 



in inflammatory and plethoric subjects, but he utters a warning 

 against excess. The Bristol waters have an extraordinary 

 reputation in these disorders ; the annals of the hot wells 

 indeed show a large mortality, but this he thinks is because the 

 patients come too late. He has seen many persons recover 

 after drinking the water, and advises a trial in the early stage 

 of the disease. Much of the benefit may, he admits, be due to 

 travel and change, nor is it of little consequence that the 

 patients should be obliged to be out of their rooms early in 

 the morning in the cool fresh air to take the waters. 



Perhaps the chief interest attaches to FothergiU's remarks 

 on change of atmosphere and climate. A journey of itself 

 is helpful ; the fresh scenes stimulate hope in the patient's 

 mind. The air of all large cities is injurious to consumptives. 

 They should resort to a spot where the soil is dry and the water 

 is good ; where neither stagnant pools nor thick woods 

 abound ; it should be airy but not stormy, nor exposed to the 

 north-east ; and sheltered walks and rides must be available. 

 He goes on to examine the climate of London. The town, 

 he says, is surrounded by a ridge of eminences which enclose 

 besides the city a low plain to the westward. On the north 

 are Highgate, Hampstead and Kensington gravel-pits, on 

 the south Blackheath, Clapham and Putney. Over the town 

 itself hovers a dense body of smoke which spreads for several 

 miles beyond the suburbs (then of small extent) and covers 

 the herbage with soot. In summer the prevailing winds 

 drive the smoke northward, whilst in the winter the cold 

 winds from that quarter move it to the south, and their rigour 

 is softened by passing through the warm smoky atmosphere. 

 Consequently vegetation is earlier to the south and south-west 

 of the city ; for example, he has seen the double almond tree 

 in bloom at Chelsea twelve days earlier than in the north or 

 east. In spring time the climate of many parts of London is 

 too exposed for consumptives ; they should stay preferably 

 in the vales on the south and west, as Camberwell, Peckham, 

 the lower parts of Clapham, the drier parts of Lambeth and 

 Battersea, or Chelsea ; on the other hand, to send such 

 persons in summer to the low marshy banks of the Thames 

 amongst the gardeners' grounds is most improper. Islington, 

 " the general refuge of the city," is open to the north-east, 

 and is moreover smoky in summer. 1 As regards other parts 



1 It is said that Fothergill had a high opinion of Mitcham, calling it the 

 Montpelier of England, from its salubrious air. It was a place of many physic 

 gardens, and patients were sent there when the camomiles were in full bloom. 

 E. J. Hartley, Mitcham in Days Gone By, 1909. 



