164 MESSRS. RANSOME AND VERNON ON THE INFLUENCE 



X.—On the Influence of Atmospheric Changes upon 



Disease. 



By Arthur Ransome, M.B.^ B,A. Cantah. M.R.C.S., and 



George V. Vernon, F.R.A.S., M.B.M.S. 



Eead April 17th, i860. 



Two hundred years ago the remark was made to Syden- 

 ham,* and the statement holds true now, that "no 

 physician hitherto has attentively considered the force 

 and influence of the atmosphere upon human bodies ; nor 

 yet has he sufficiently ascertained the part it plays in 

 prolonging human life.^^ 



From very early ages men have observed that certain 

 diseases prevail most during certain seasons, and have 

 ascribed to atmospheric changes an important influence 

 upon health, but, until recently, no solid foundation of 

 accurately observed facts had been laid. 



Most of the old medical writers deal with the subject — 

 some of them very carefully. Hippocrates devoted one of 

 his works to " Airs, Waters and Places ;" and his writings 

 upon epidemics, and his aphorisms, abound with remarks 

 on the influence of various states of the air upon the 

 human frame. Since his time many others have very fully 

 noticed the coincidence between these phenomena, as 



* Letter to Dr. Sydenham, from Dr. Thos. Brady, — SydenTiam Society'' s 

 Transactions^ vol. ii. p. i. 



