78 HOME LIFE IN FLOEIDA. 



ical men, for it was then considered that equability of 

 temperature was, for an invalid, one of the first and fore- 

 most points to be insisted upon. 



But all that is changed now-a-days, like many other 

 things, as science advances, undoing and correcting our 

 views and our knowledge. 



Says a distinguished English physician, *'A long resi- 

 dence in a very equable climate is not favorable to health, 

 even with all the advantages of exercise in the open air : 

 a moderate range of temperature and of atmospheric 

 variation seem to be necessary for the preservation of 

 health." 



And another recent authority asserts, in speaking of the 

 dread that persons in weak health experience of cold 

 weather : 



*'If our invalids could indeed find a lotus-eater's land, 



" In which it seemed always afternoon, 

 All around the coast the languid air did swoon, 



I would predict that the results on their health w^ould 

 be rather pernicious than otherwise, and loss of appetite 

 and diarrhea would probably be induced." 



Now, just here is the difference between Florida and 

 Africa, or the West Indies : the one is semi-tropical, the 

 others are wholly tropical ; the one has decided changes of 

 temperature, the others have none — it is always the same, 

 an unchanging, wearying heat, the only variation being 

 from the wet to the dry seasons. 



No, we do not claim that Florida's climate is entirely 

 equable; on the contrary, we should regret very much 

 having to admit that it was so: happily, we can "hold 

 fast to the truth" and yet deny it emphatically; from the 

 northern to the southern boundary, even down to the 

 extreme point of Dade County, the temperature changes 



