DAMPNESS. 



167 



drowsiness — it is curious to see how many of 

 our popular books make humidity increase the 

 weight of the atmospheric column. During this 

 season the dews of sunset are deemed especially 

 fatal to foreigners. At times the body feels 

 cold and clammy when the thermometer sug- 

 gests that it should be perspiring : super-satura- 

 tion is drawing off the vital heat. The lungs are 

 imperfectly oxygenized, and, in general belief, 

 positive is exchanged for negative electricity. 

 The hair and skin are dank and sodden ; indeed, 

 a dry cutis is an unattainable luxury. Iron 

 oxydizes with astonishing rapidity ; shoes ex- 

 posed to the air soon fall to pieces ; mirrors are 

 clouded with steam; paper runs and furniture 

 sweats ; the houses leak ; books and papers are 

 pasted together ; ink is covered with green fur ; 

 linens and cottons grow mouldy, and broadcloths 

 stiffen and become boardy. 



This excess of damp is occasionally varied by 

 the extreme of dryness. The hot wind repre- 

 sents the Khamasin of Egypt, the Sharki (or 

 Sh'luk) of Syria, the Harmattan of west Africa, 

 and the Norte of the southern "Brazil, Para- 

 guay, and the Argentine Confederation. At such 

 times the air apparently abounds in oxygen and 

 in ozone. Cotton cloth feels hard and crisp ; even 



