22 rOEESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 



There now appears to be a reaction against the sup- 

 posed beneficial effect of pine forests, based, I suppose, on 

 Prof. Leonard Hill's campaign for unlimited movement of 

 the air (7). It will be best for me to give some extracts 

 from letters received from medical superintendents of noted 

 sanatoria. 



Dr. David Lawson tells me that " Dr. Walther adver- 

 tised the merits of the situation of the Nordrach Sanatorium 

 in a pine district, where the terebene vapours, exuded more 

 particularly in the spring months, added a special value 

 to treatment obtained there, as contrasted with that avail- 

 able at Falkenstein and other rival institutions which were 

 not located in pine forests. In the early days of founding 

 sanatoria in this country we accepted without examination 

 the claims made for the specific benefits of treatment in 

 pine districts. Personally I made a point of it to such 

 an extent that I selected a pine wood in which to build 

 Nordrach-on-Dee, Banchory. Whether the claim is right 

 or wrong I cannot now say. I am perfectly convinced, 

 however, that a sanatorium (8) ought to be in its immediate 

 vicinity surrounded by trees to provide shelter from strong 

 winds in winter which are injurious to the less robust 

 patients. Pine forests for the most part are located in 

 healthy districts, far removed from large centres of popula- 

 tion, and are therefore usually associated with those genial 

 atmospheric conditions which undoubtedly have a very high 

 value in the open-air treatment of phthisis." 



Dr. W. 0. Meek, of the Brompton Hospital Sanatorium at 

 Frimley, says : " At one time the presence of Scots fir trees 

 was considered of value on account of the exhalations of 

 turpentine, etc. I think this idea is now almost obsolete. 

 Scots firs seem to grow on elevated gravelly soils which are 

 very suitable for sanatoria ; and they are also very valuable 

 as a shelter from wind and rain both winter and summer." 



Both these experienced men beheve in the value of pine 

 woods as shelter; let us hear the other side. Dr. F. 

 Kincaid Etlinger, Medical Superintendent of the Pinewood 

 Sanatorium, Wokingham, writes to me : " When I came here, 



