CLIMATE. 49 



by a certain professor who had not even done her the jus- 

 tice of investigating the truth or crossing her borders. AVe 

 have effectually disposed of the first charge, now let us 

 attack the second, "generally damp." 



We suppose he meant " humid," as that term applies to 

 the atmosphere or climate, while '^ damp " indicates " moist- 

 ure" or " slightly wet," and if this quality refers to the 

 soil, accompanied by warmth and fertility, it is very far 

 from being objectionable to any farmer or fruit-grower. 

 Taking humidity, then, to be the word that should have 

 been employed as applied to the degree of vapor held in 

 the atmosphere and not perceptible to the human senses, 

 let us see how it stands. 



Well, in the first place, humidity is by no means un- 

 healthy when accompanied by sunshine and fresh air, and 

 if these are to be had any where on earth it is in bonnie 

 Florida. 



In the second place we will compare the degree of moist- 

 ure held in the Florida atmosphere with that of some other 

 places, and note how she bears the comparison of scientific 

 and authorized facts and figures. 



Here are some items from the Signal Service reports, as 

 cases in point : 



The mean humidity for Jacksonville, Punta Rassa, and 

 Key West for the five coldest months of the year is 72.7; 

 for the same months in the three principal cities of Min- 

 nesota the mean was 74.3; while, crossing to Southern 

 France, we find the humidity for the same period to be 

 72.4 at Cannes and Mentone. That sIioays a difference in 

 favor of Florida of 1.6 against Minnesota, and an advan- 

 tage of only 0.3 in favor of the French cities, and the dif- 

 ference in both these readino;s would have been still more 

 upon Florida's side had the observations been taken in the 

 interior of the State at a higher altitude instead of, as 



4 



