NA TURE 



49 



THURSDAY, MAY i6, 1895. 



HYGIENE AND METEOROLOGY. 



Hy^icnische Mclcorologie. Fur Artze tiiid Natiirforscher 

 Von Prof. Ur. W. J. van Bebber, Abtheilungs Vorstand 

 derdeutschen Seewarte in Hamburg. (Stuttgart : Ferd. 

 Enkc, 1895.) 



NO long preface is needed to prove that meteorology' 

 and hygiene have a close and intimate connection, 

 or that the study of both sciences may be mutually 

 helpful. The exhibition of a small death-rate does not 

 exhaust the whole of the problems with which hygiene 

 busies itself. .\II that tends to ameliorate the condition 

 of the human race, all that ministers to the comfort 

 or promotes tlie well-being of the individual, is cared 

 for by the student of hygiene. That climate and the 

 phenomena, which we recognise under the comprehensive 

 term " weather," have an intimate connection -with the 

 health and comfort of the race, will not be seriously 

 denied, whatever different views may be held as to the 

 precise manner, and to what degree, the condition of 

 the atmosphere can operate on individual cases. Some 

 knowledge of meteorology has hitherto been demanded 

 from candidates for diplomas in sanitary science, public 

 health, or .State medicine ; and, judging from the rules 

 adopted by the Council, December i, 1893, the con- 

 ditions of the examination will in future demand a still 

 closer acquaintance, since the apphcant is required to 

 show the possession of a " distinctively high proficiency, 

 scientific and practical, in all the branches of study which 

 concern the pul)lic health." To those who seek some- 

 thing more than a bare superficial knowledge of meteor- 

 ology, this book will be very welcome, and not only to 

 those who desire diplomas, but to the larger, though less 

 specially instructed, class who desire the welfare of the 

 human family. 



Coming from one the direction of whose scientific 

 studies is distinctly meteorological, it might be anticipated 

 that the book would deal more with this subject than 

 with hygiene ; and to some extent this is the case, and 

 possibly the interest in the book will on this account 

 be diminished. We have a collection of facts, admirably 

 arranged, though drawn, of course, mostly from German 

 sources ; and such a collection will be of the greatest 

 value to some student of sanitary and social science, 

 who, trained in physiological schools, will produce a 

 work of greater interest, more closely connected with 

 the spread and mitigation of disease as affected by 

 climate or meteorological conditions of a more or less 

 temporary character. In one important respect, how- 

 ever, the book deviates from the generality of meteoro- 

 logical treatises, and at the same time removes an 

 objection whicli has frequently been urged by physicians, 

 who assert th;it weather statistics are not given in the 

 form which is most convenient or most instructive. To 

 take a mean of his observations is too frequently the 

 sole aim of the meteorological ob.server, and consequently 

 mean results for temperature, for example, are given, 

 where the range of variation is the more important 

 tkment from the medical point of \ie". This fact is 



fully recognised by the author, and he deals not only 

 with the mean values, but also with the amount of 

 variation from the arithmetic mean and the frequency 

 with which such variations occur. 



The book is divided into eight sections. The two first 

 treat of the physical properties and of the various ingre- 

 dients of the air. Elementary physics characterises the 

 first, chemistry the second. In this latter section are 

 described somewhat fully the gases which enter into the 

 atmosphere, not excepting those which are present in 

 minute quantities. Accidental ingredients, such as dust 

 and micro-organisms, -are also considered. One does not 

 meet with anything very new, but the facts are well and 

 pleasantly arranged, and would give any student all the 

 information necessar>- for fully comprehending the suc- 

 cessive chapters. It might have been expected that the 

 constituents of water would have been treated with the 

 same degree of fulness. Free o.xygen in water may not 

 be of the same importance as in the air, but the aeration 

 of water is not insignificant, whether regarded as an im- 

 portant withdrawal from the atmosphere itself, or the part 

 it plays in the oxidation of organic material, be it in the 

 form of ozone or hydrogen dioxide, or other efficient 

 oxidiser. 



The chapter on Temperature is admirable. From a 

 vast collection of material with which intimate study has 

 made the author closely familiar, he is able to systematise 

 and arrange those facts which have the greatest and most 

 obvious bearing on the subject. It is a graphic digest of 

 all that affects the temperature of the world, and is amply 

 illustrated by tables compiled from many sources. We 

 wish we could pay him a compliment on his maps. In 

 the map on page 1 10 it is only with great difficulty that 

 Europe is recognised, and the one on page 174 is very 

 little better. The tables are, however, so very well 

 arranged, that this slight defect is of little consequence. 



As an illustration of the minuteness into which the 

 author enters, we may quote the measures of the temper- 

 ature of different parts of clothing when worn. The 

 figures have been reduced to Fahrenheit scale, in which 

 form, if less scientific, they may be of use to some of the 

 commercial firms who are interested in such matters. 



The loss of temperature which the body experiences at 

 a temperature of 59 is diminished by clothing in the 

 following proportions : — 



Radiation from the hare skin lOO 



when covereil with wool 73 



when covered with wool ami linen ... 60 

 ,, when covered with wool, linen, and 



vest 46 



when fully dressed ... ... ... },^ 



It does not appear whether the velocity of the wind has 

 been t.aken into account in deriving these figures. The 

 importance uf clothing comes, however, again to the fore 



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VOL. 52] 



