156 
LETTERS FROM 
that been consulted at a later hour in the day, 
I believe that the result of our observations 
would have been very different. I can 
imagine no sort of weather more injurious 
to an invalid with weak lungs than the sud¬ 
den alterations of temperature we were ex¬ 
posed to a few days ago in the streets of 
Valetta. It is well even for the sound lungs 
that such days do not often occur. The 
sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, and 
the heat of the sun in sheltered situations 
quite oppressive, while at the same time a 
bitterly cold wind was blowing from the 
north or north-west, so that when we turned 
the corner of a street, and were exposed to 
its influence, we seemed to pass at once 
from the usual temperature of an English 
June to the piercing blasts of December. 
However, we have not had more than six or 
seven days of this distressing weather dur- 
