DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



tOL. IX. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 1857. 



NO. 3. 



JOEL NOURSE, PROPniETOB. 

 Office.. .13 Commercial St. 



SIMON BROV\m, EDITOR. 



FEED'K HOLBROOK, J Associats 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



MASCK-MOEAL EFFECTS 05* OUR 

 CLIMATE. 



<'And now men see tiot the bright light which is in the clouds, 



but the wind passeth by and cleanseth them. 

 "Fair wcathercomeUi out of the North." 



Job. XXXVII., 21-22. 



^ I*? ARCH is the mos' 

 ^f/i^ remarkable 2)ortion 

 f^\ I of the year for those 

 >4 vicissitudes of the 

 ^i weather that distin- 

 guish our American 

 , climate. These sud- 

 , den changes are 

 injurious to the 

 health of delicate 

 .persons and inva- 

 |lids, and are the 

 subject of frequent 

 . and common lamen- 

 ' tations. They con- 

 stitute one of the 

 prominent evils of our own 

 climate, and cause, un- 

 doubtedly, a portion of the dis- 

 eases that prevail among our 

 ^ - people. But we are not disposed 



to joni with those who condemn 

 the American climate as one of the worst on the 

 earth ; on the contrary, we believe it is attended 

 with many very great advantages. Let us con- 

 sider in the first place its effects on the health 

 and character of the inhabitants. The Anglo- 

 Americans are apparently less robust than the 

 Europeans, to whom they are allied. They have 

 lees fulness of the muscular £;ystem ; less appa- 

 rent breadth of chest, and fewer of the common 

 marks ofv strength and hardihood than their rela- 

 tions on the. other skle of the water. But notwith- 

 standing these diiTerences in there physical devel- 

 opment, the Americans seem to be not at all infe- 

 rior to the Europeans in the accomplishment of la- 

 bor, mnking amends for their deficiency of solid 



muscular strength, by their superior activity. The 

 superior activity and the energy which usually ac- 

 companies it, are undoubtedly attributable to some 

 peculiar quality of our climate, and it is well known 

 that the physical causes of muscular inferiority often 

 produce a balancing superiority of nervous energj-. 



Sir Humphrey Davy speaks of the changeable 

 English climate, which is not to be compared with 

 that of New England in this respect, as having a 

 similar effect upon the inhabitants of Great Britain. 

 He says, "Of all the climates of Europe, Enghnd 

 seems to me most fitted for the activity of the mind, 

 and the least suited to rejvose. The alternations 

 of a climate so various and rapid, continually awake 

 new sensations ; and the changes on the sky from 

 dryness to moisture, from the blue etherial to clou- 

 dy dimness and fogs, seem to keep the nervous sys- 

 tem in a constant state of disturbance. For the 

 mild climate of Nice, Naples and Sicily, where even 

 in winter it is possible to enjoy the warmth of the 

 sunshine in the open air, beneath palm trees, or 

 amidst evergreen groves of orange trees, covered 

 with odorous fruit and sweet scented leaves, mere 

 existence is a pleasure ; and even the pains of dis- 

 ease are sometimes forgotten, amidst the balmy in- 

 fluence of nature, as a series of agreeable and unin- 

 terrupted sensations invite to repose and oblivion. 

 But in the changeable and tumultuous atmosphere 

 of England, to be tranquil is a labor, and employ- 

 ment is necessary to ward off the effects of ennui. 

 The English, as a nation, are pre-eminently active, 

 and the natives of no other country follow their ob- 

 jects with so much force, fire and constancy." 



Sir Humphrey Da\% had he known the Ameri- 

 cans, would have made them an exception to his 

 remark, as they seem to excel even the English in 

 activity, as our climate exceeds that of England in 

 its sudden vicissitudes. 



Thus we see that Providence has afforded us a 

 benevolent compensation for the evils that attend 

 our climate, and has in all ages given to northern 

 nations, both a physical and intellectual superiority 



