ON CHAT^GE OF CLIMATE. 129 



time at least, to breakfast early, dine at 3 or ^ past 3, and 

 finish the day with tea, or something equally light. 



Exercise, is another essential part of regimen. Invalids 

 should, at first, be cautious to avoid exposure to the sun, and 

 exercise should be taken so as not to produce fatigue, but 

 only to excite a gentle action on the skin. Riding, as being 

 less exciting, and less fatiguing than walking, is to be pre- 

 ferred at first, and a pony to a horse, on the same principle. 

 Walking has another disadvantage, that it accelerates the 

 circulation, and increases the feeling of tightness and con- 

 striction in the chest ; it also increases the liability to chills, 

 as after toiling up a steep ascent, and getting well heated, 

 one is frequently met by a current of cold air, producing im- 

 mediate constriction of the vessels of the skin. When the 

 invalid has become acclimatized, he should gradually increase 

 his quantum of exercise ; and when fairly recovered, should 

 pass as much of the day in the open air, as his strength will 

 admit. 



The effects of the different seasons on diseases are by no 

 means unimportant : very few invalids can bear with impu- 

 nity the great difference of temperature between day and 

 night, and the excessively dry atmosphere of the cold season, 

 especially during the prevalence of the strong N. E. winds. 

 Exposure to the sun also, at this season, is generally attended 

 with bad effects. Upon the whole, the monsoon season (not- 

 withstanding its comparative dampness) is, from its greater 

 equability of temperature, the absence of cold winds, and the 

 cloudy sky, admitting of exercise being taken at every dry 

 interval, infinitely the best season for commencing the treat- 

 ment of a chronic complaint, and, where circumstances admit 

 of a choice, I should prefer April as the period for ascending 

 the hills. As the succession of the seasons differs considera- 



