1870.] on the Human Economy. 517 



The following Table will show that the same law extends to the negro : — 



Table II. — To show the effect of climate on the capacity of the chest 

 in the black races. 



Age &c. 



Race. 



Aug. 13, 1869. 



Lat. 8° S. 

 Temp. 79° F. 



Aug. 25, 1869. 

 Lat. 16J° N. 

 Temp. 78° F. 



Feb. 12, 1870. 



England. 

 Temp. 32° F. 



BenjaminCampbell, aet.21 

 Height 5 ft. 5£ ins.] 



John Campbell, *t. 20 ... 

 Height 5 ft. 4 ins. 



John Williams, set. 31 ... 

 Height 5 ft. 4 ins. 



Negro of Sierra Leone 

 Negro of Sierra Leone 



cub. ins. 



210 

 174 

 176 



cub. ins. 



207 

 166 

 162 



cub. ins. 



185 

 156 





In the first case, a pure black, the capacity of whose chest amounted in 

 the tropics to 210 cubic inches, it became reduced in the winter of England 

 to 185 cubic inches. In the second, also a pure black, it fell from 1 74 in (he 

 tropics to 156 during the English winter. The 2nd column records the 

 results of the exit from the doldrums into the trades, — the lungs of all 

 races, and particularly those of the black tribes, being then supersensitive 

 to even slight reductions of temperature. 



That a similar decrease occurs in disease was shown in several invalids 

 from Bahia with chest affections : — 



Table III. — To show the influence of climate on the capacity of the chest 

 for air in pulmonary disease. 



Name &c. 



Aug. 20, 1869, 



3 P.M. 



Lat. 7° N. ; calms 

 of equator under 

 sun ; very sultry. 

 Temp. 83° F. 



Aug. 25, 1869, 



3 P.M. 



Lat. 16|° N. ; 

 cool N.E. trades. 

 Temp. 78° F. 



Abbott, set. 22 ; phthisis, early 2nd stage ... 



cub. ins. 

 135 

 148 

 147 



96 



cub. ins. 

 120 

 140 

 135 

 84 



Here, in all four cases, there was a decrease from 8 to 15 cubic inches, 

 even in so brief an interval as five days, caused by the cool dry north-east 

 trade-winds, suddenly met with after calm, moist, sultry weather near the 

 equator. The period was evidently too brief, and the disease not sufficiently 

 active in any of these cases, for this to have resulted from the formation or 

 increase of cavities in the lungs ; and it can only be ascribed to the law that 

 the pneumatic capacity of the chest varies with temperature, increasing in 

 tropical, and diminishing in temperate and cold climates. 



A knowledge of this law is evidently of practical application in prevent- 

 ing mistakes in the spirometric diagnosis of certain lung-diseases. Thus 

 the capacity of the chest of an individual debilitated by residence in the 

 tropics, and weak-chested, but with no active lung-disease, being, say, 250 



