42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pu)3. Doc. 



TiTK Weather and its Influence on Man 



AND THE PRODITCTIONS OF THE EaRTII. 



BY MR. J. WARREN SMITH, BOSTON. 



" Never try to do business with a man when the wind is 

 from the east," is an old New England saying and may be 

 aptly applied to the northern Atlantic coast, where the east 

 or north-east winds bring all the chilly dampness and pen- 

 etratino; cold of the Arctic waters. 



It is certainly true that weather changes aifect every one 

 to some extent. Most people feel depressed and irritable in 

 disagreeable weather, and correspondingly exhilarated and 

 amiable during clear, fine, anticyclonic weather ; but whether 

 it is due to the moisture in the air, the temperature, or to the 

 atmospheric electricity, no one can determine. The northern 

 lights are certainly most brilliant and active during clear, 

 cool weather, and all substances are most easily electriiied, 

 so why may not our whole system be so charged with elec- 

 tricity as to invigorate us to an appreciable extent ? 



An interesting article in a recent number of the Medical 

 Arena, by Mr. Patrick Connor of the Weather Bureau, treats 

 of the relation of the barometer to death. Investigations at 

 a near-by hospital, where records of the exact time of death 

 are kept, showed that deaths occur in greatest number from 

 midnight to 2 a.m., with a second maximum from 5 to 7 r.M. 

 These periods correspond almost exactly with the two daily 

 minima of atmospheric pressure, but it should be added that 

 the studies cover but a' short period of time and that there 

 were but few deaths in that time. It would certainly be 

 interesting to have further observations carried on in this 

 same line, and also to see if there is any relation between 

 the death rate and a falling barometer, due to an approach- 

 ing storm, or a rising barometer, with the approach of fine 

 weather. Mr. Connor asks a number of interesting ques- 



