48 SUMMER. [chap. hi. 



to the healthy action of the lungs. The fault, in this re- 

 spect, found with many hot climates is a searching and 

 irritating dryness, and in England it has heen found ne- 

 cessary to temper the dry air of rooms, artificially warmed, by 

 the introduction of vapour. There may be spots in Madeira, 

 either near yam grounds where much irrigation is carried on, 

 or where the soil or rock, usually very porous, is so close as to 

 retain the wet, which may be too humid for some constitu- 

 tions ; but, for the greater part, in the neighbourhood of 

 Funchal, there is no visible excess of moisture : there is no 

 fog, and there is comparatively but little dew. If dampness 

 has ever been alleged as an objection to the salubrity of this 

 island, it must be regarded as a complaint due to the unlucky 

 choice of some dwelling-house unfavourably placed, or to the 

 common fastidiousness of ill-health. 



" The verdant rising and the flowery hill, 

 The vale enamell'd, and the crystal rill, 

 The ocean rolling, and the shelly shore, 

 Beautiful objects, shall delight no more, 

 When the lax'd sinews of the weaken'd eye 

 In watery damps or dim suffusion lie." 



No one now, I believe, thinks that climate can heal a 

 deep-rooted complaint; it may arrest incipient disease; it 

 may, and does, assuage the sufferings of many whom it 

 cannot cure. In extreme cases, it would, indeed, often 

 be but useless cruelty to bring the invalid to die at a 

 distance from his natural home ; yet there are instances 

 in which, beyond expectation, patients have been kept alive 

 by so benignant a climate after they had been all but given 

 over by the faculty for many years. The dying invalid has 

 here all that climate can do ; the patient can be carried out in 

 his hammock, and draw the pure air of heaven with his last 



