Public Parks. 55 



is highly unfavorable to health. On the west side of the town of 

 Marenne, in France, are situated vast marshes, and when the wind 

 blows from the north and north-east, fevers are rare ; but when the 

 wind blows from the west, south-west, or south, so as to pass over 

 these surfaces before reaching the town, fevers make their appear- 

 ance. On the contrary, at Saint Agnant, situated opposite to 

 Marenne, and on the other side of the marshes, the conditions are 

 reversed, and during the prevalence of the east wind the town 

 becomes sickly. 



EAST WIND. 



The east wind, with the exception of the north, is the least 

 frequent, and is more common in spring than any other season of 

 the year. In winter it is warm, and while from this direction there 

 is a diminution in the number of cases of acute inflammatory 

 diseases, and only a short time in spring is it disagreeable. The 

 lake exercises a marked inflvience upon this wind, and that from the 

 north-east. Edinburgh is supposed to be subject to fever through 

 the agency of the east wind which wafts it from Holland, and the 

 same wind wafts malaria from Essex to London. 



SOUTH-EAST WIND. 



Of all the winds, none is so depressing and enervating as the 

 south-east. It is a warm, moist wind, oppressive to man and beast, 

 in consequence of checking evaporation, thus raising the temperature 

 of the body, and causing the lungs to exhale a larger amount of car- 

 bonic acid than usual,* and in this way exhausting the vital energies. 

 In addition to the ordinary effect of a warm, moist wind, it is loaded 

 in the summer and autumn with the noxious exhalations of the 

 swampy region south-east of the city bordering on the lake and 

 Calumet river. The topography of the country south and south-east 

 of the city is such as to promote currents of air from this direction, 

 and even to direct them toward the city, as they meet with but little 

 obstruction, causing this wind to be more frequent than if such were 

 not the case, it being here more of a local than general wind. When 

 the weather has been intensely cold for a number of days, a change 

 to this direction, will diminish mortality, but for at least nine months 

 of the year it is the most fatal wind. In the summer and autumn, 

 even when no epidemic tendency exists, a change to this direction 

 generally terminates fatally to nearly all diseases, where the patient 



*jLehmann. 



