400 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— I. 



response is in keeping with the beat which is heard by an observer each 

 time the phase is changed. 



Monday, September 14. 



Dr. O. Kestner. — Stimulating climate, sheltering climate, personal climate 

 (n.o). 



Strong and healthy adults are influenced by climate only to a very slight 

 extent. One can study the influence of climates only on children, patients, 

 or weak and sensitive persons. 



From this standpoint, not from the standpoint of meteorologists, we can 

 divide the climates of Europe into two types, the sheltering climates and the 

 stimulating climates. The sheltering climates are found in forests, lower 

 hills, and seaside resorts protected by cliffs and heated by the Gulf Stream 

 drift. The stimulating climates are found in the high altitudes and in 

 seaside resorts exposed to winds and to direct sunshine. 



Sheltering climate is good for weak and sick people, but it does not help 

 for growth and development. 



In the stimulating climate are observed : 



Growth and development. 



Increase of haemoglobin. 



Increased combustions. 



Retention of food nitrogen for building new tissues. 



Better heat regulation and other skin reactions. 



Increased gastric secretion and increased appetite. 



The stimuli are : 



Either sun's rays, or 

 Wind and cold air. 



These stimuli affect the skin, and hence the most sheltered climate is 

 obtained by the use of heat in our homes, or by clothing out-of-doors. 

 Each one can fashion his own climate. 



Dr. M. B. Ray.— Climatic sensitivity (11.45). 



Some preliminary consideration is given to certain climatic factors — 

 temperature, radiation, atmospheric pressure, humidity and ionisation — 

 which exert an influence on the bodily health. 



Environmental changes thus induced are registered by the skin which 

 has a correlation with an intricate mechanism involving the blood, nervous 

 system and hormones of the body. 



The stability of the internal economy of the organism in the face of 

 atmospheric variations is maintained by an autonomic adaptation affecting 

 the chemistry of the blood and tissues, the acid-alkali balance, the gaseous 

 exchange and the state of the endocrine glands. 



Atmospheric disturbances involve periods of stimulation which for the 

 majority of normal individuals pass unnoticed. According to Peterson's 

 observations on the comparison of the records of barograph readings with 

 those of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in normal subjects, systolic 

 peaks coincide with a rise in barometric pressure or the beginning of a 

 fall, the diastolic pressure being low after this peak. In a normal individual 

 this rhythm does no harm, and if the climatic changes are sufficiently frequent 

 and intense, good will be done by the increase in the adaptative powers. 



