Jdne 2, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



king himself was among the victims of this disaster. He 

 would seem, iu fact, to'have reigned for nineteen years ; 

 and perhaps a less interval of time than nineteen years 

 may have elapsed between the return of Moses and the 

 passage of the Red Sea. Xo trace of these earliest rela- 

 tions of the Israelites with the land of Egypt has been 

 found upon tlie monuments; and it would, indeed, be 

 extraordinary if the Egyptians had recorded this disaster 

 in their temple-sculptures, which never commemorated any 

 military events except victories." 



THE SEASIDE HEALTH RESORTS OF 

 ENGLAND. 



By Alfred Havilaxd. 

 IXTRODUCTION. 



IT is proposed to publish in this magazine a series of 

 short papers on those seaside towns to which people 

 usually resort, with the view not only of interesting them 

 about such places, but of guiding them in the selection 

 of the most appropriate to meet their peculiar health re- 

 ijuirements. 



Hitherto, accident, popular caprice, convenience, or 

 fashion have contributed principally, either collectively or 

 singly, in rendering many places famous as health resorts. 

 Some, however, have had their fame based upon more solid 

 foundations, viz., upon the experience of learned and prac- 

 tical physicians, who, after studying diseases generally in 

 relation to the various factors' which constitute climate, 

 have sought out the causes which iniluence their prevalence 

 or scarcity, and have thus been enabled to recommend 

 certain localities for the cure or alleviation of the diseases 

 of their patients. 



Hippocrates, 500 years before the Christian era, taught 

 tliis mode of investigation, especially in his immortal work 

 on " Airs, Places, and Waters," and it would have been 

 well had his teachings been more treasured and acted upon 

 by liis successors during the last 2,000 years than they 

 have been. However, during the last five-and thirty years 

 there have been accumulated such a vast number of returns 

 of deaths from disease, that at last it has become possible 

 to map them in such a manner as to show at a glance 

 throughout England and Wales where are to be found the 

 favourite haunts of those causes of death which characterise 

 this country's mortuary returns. On the other hand, the 

 same map will show where these fatal causes do not or 

 cannot thrive. Hence we have, on a grand scale, health- 

 guides as regards certain classes of diseases, and we shall 

 see in the sequel that, by a study of the principal factors 

 of the local climate of any place, we gain a clue to the 

 kind of diseases that would eitlier prevail or languish 

 there. On the other hand, a map showing the dis- 

 tribution of certain diseases will give us an insight 

 into the physical geography and climate of the localities 

 where they abound, or are rare. For instance, a map 

 pourtraying the geographical distribution of rheumatism 

 and heart disease will, at a glance, show the sites of all the 

 closed valleys of England and Wales, for it has been proved 

 that these causes of death are to be found in the greatest 

 abundance, without exception, in all those districts where 

 the valley systems are so formed as to preclude the possi- 

 bility of their being air-flushed by the prevailing winds. 

 Again, a map showing the distribution of consumption will 

 have defined on it, in unmistakable groups, not only those 

 localities where social causes foster it, but where the native 

 populations cannot, when inheriting this terrible lung 



trouble, withstand the full unchecked force of the pre 

 vailing wiuds. Such a map has all its exposed localities 

 defined by the colouring of the high mortality degrees. 

 One more illustration will suffice to prove our proposition 

 that the physical and climatic features of a country may be 

 predicted by a knowledge of its typical diseases. The 

 remarkable distribution of cancer in females throughout 

 England and Wales points out, by the colourijigof the higli 

 mortality riparial districts, the courses of all the rivers in 

 England and Wales that seasonably overflow their banks 

 after wet seasons. 



Kow, all this information, however interesting it may b<;', 

 would, after a time, cease to be so, were it not capable of 

 being applied to our daily use. 



A knowledge of how diflferent diseases are distributed 

 the great registration divisions of our countrj', its counties, 

 and six hundred and thirty districts, teach us lessons and 

 principles which would be valueless if not applicable to 

 our to-svns, villages, and dwellings. 



The distribution of heart disease and rheumatism teaches 

 us a grand lesson in ventilation ; it points out to us the true 

 mode of street arrangement so as to ofl'er every facility for 

 thorough air flushing ; it warns the invalid when seeking a 

 health resort to avoid such as abound in gridiron clusters 

 of streets, where diseases of the infectious class have their 

 stronghold, simply because such a street arrangement pre- 

 cludes thorough flushing of the air sewage. It teaches also 

 those subject to or recovering from rheumatism or rheumatic 

 heart disease, to avoid pent up valleys, however lovely, 

 where the benign influence of the sea winds is shut out 

 The lesson taught by the distribution of consumption 

 must be remembered by those labouring under this 

 lung trouble; they must not heedlessly select a health 

 resort, for some there are which foster this disease, 

 and even those which have a fair reputation for 

 its prevention or alleviation, may have sites within 

 their boundaries quite unsuitable for consumptive 

 cases. Health resorts, especially those by the sea, are 

 often selected, and, in many cases, very properly so, by 

 masters and mistresses of schools for their establishments. 

 Although at first it appears natural that a seaside health 

 resort would be an eligible place for a school, yet we shall 

 be able to show in the following series, that great pre- 

 cautions will have to be taken by those having the natural 

 charge of children and young persons, before tiiey send them 

 away from home to be educated even at health resorts. 



We must remember that the period of education is the 

 period of developmental life, and that whenever there are 

 hereditary taints in the young blood, whether of cancer, 

 consumption, rheumatism, itc, that such places should be 

 avoided during the scholar and student life tliat are known 

 to be favourable to the development of any of these and 

 similar diseases. 



We shall endeavour, in the papers which will follow on 

 the Sea-side Health Resorts of England, so to treat the 

 physical geography, geology, climate, and vital statistics of 

 each, as not only to interest the general reader, but clearly 

 to explain the simple principles which sliould guide the 

 health-seeker in the selection of a health resort 



POPULATION OF THE EARTH. 



A CORRESPONDENT (Mr. H. Percival) sends us the 

 following question : — 

 The land surface of tim earth comprises 52,000,000 */««irf 

 miles. The most deusehi ftopulaled ret/ion {t\ut Flanders) 

 has a population of about 700 to the square mile. J/ the 

 whole la7id surface of the earth were on the averaye as densel;i 



