THE OCEAN AS THE RESERVOIR OF HEALTH 9 



indeed, the summum lonum of natural forces, the chief 

 almoner of the Almighty. 



But it may be objected that, important as the 

 digression is, it is still a digression, for we were con- 

 sidering the effect of the winds upon Great Britain. 

 Well, while I admit that to some extent, I must needs 

 point out that not only does Britain receive incal- 

 culable benefit from the ministrations of the winds 

 reaching her from the Atlantic, but that the continent 

 of Europe is also the recipient of these benefactions 

 in no stinted measure. Surely it is worth remembering 

 that Paris, with its most delightful climate, is parallel 

 to St. John's, Newfoundland, or nearly so, and that 

 when the latter is masked in thick-ribbed ice, Parisians 

 are lolling contentedly in the open air on the boule- 

 vards. Again, leaving Britain aside for the moment, 

 think of Denmark and North Germany being parallel 

 with Labrador, that great coast whose very name brings 

 a shudder, where the few inhabitants do not live they 

 endure martyrdom, and look upon those things of life 

 which we regard as hardly to be endured as their chief 

 blessings. Yes, Europe is indeed blessed by her 

 position with regard to the prevalent winds over the 

 North Atlantic Ocean, and if anything were needed 

 to call our attention to the fact, it is abundantly sup- 

 plied by the occasional incidence of the east wind 

 which comes to us, not health-laden or mollified by a 

 wide expanse of ocean over which it must travel to 

 reach us, but filled with cruel energy inimical to life 

 and comfort by its passage over vast breadths of land. 

 Even though arising in the frozen ocean, it was not 

 entirely harsh and hateful when it first struck the land, 

 but in its passage over Russia, the last traces of 



