Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The atmosphere in relation to human life and health. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![the impracticability of colon!/,in^- the eciuatorinl zone with tlie races of the cooler temperate regions. Even the hi<;h stations on the hills, ■where the temperature may not be above that of the home country, are not sufticiently favorable to th<< continuance of the family ami to permanent settlement. Tiie air, thou;;li cool at nio:lit and aj^reeably warm by day, is somewhat too much rarelied, and the sun shines verti- cally. At 7,500 feet the pressure and density of the air are lessened by one-fourth, and the sun's heat increased by many de^^rces. Australia is not yet proved to bo eciual to the Mother Country as a permanent borne for the Anglo-Saxon race; indeed, there is some evi- dence that the British standard is not maintained, but this is largely accounted for by causes whi(!]i may be consicb-red witliin human control. Hot climates are not favorable to emigrants iil)ove 41 years of age or to chiklren under IG, and held labor <;an not well be undertwken. While Europeans visiting hot, moist climates are apt to be attacked in the bowels, the inhabitants of hot climates visiting Europe and North America are especially attacked by, and often succumb, to dis- eases of the respiiatory organs. The cold countries are unfavorable to the establishment of tropical races. A similar relation seems to hold here between cold and respiratory diseases and heat and bowel diseases, as we have seen to prevail in winter and summer in temperate climates, but the effect is accentuated Avheii the subject is unacclima- tized. That the natives of troi)ical Africa can increase and multiply in subtropical or moderately warm climates is proved by their increase in the Southern States of North America. Tropical islands are not in general well adapted for colonization by northern Europeans, for though their climate is more moderate than that of the mainland and tempered by sea breezes, fever often infects the valleys, and the moisture of the atmosphere has a relaxing influ- ence. But many islands not considered wholesome would be far more congenial if proper hygienic measures were taken and the most suit- able food and clothing habitually used. The Sandwich Islands are favorable for settlement, and may be compared with tropical highlands of moderate elevation. The most remarkable instance of the permanent settlement of English people in the tropics is that of the inhabitants of the Barbados and of Tuagua, one of the Bahama Islands. The former are descendants of rebels sent from England for slavery between 1G50 and 1700. They have survived through conditions of great misery and severe exposure. The islanders are now chiefly occupied in Ashing. Deterioration there has been, but this may fairly be ascribed to poverty and improper food rather than to climate. In Tuagua the people, some of whom belonged to fiunilies settled there since the time of Charles II, appear to have maintained somewiiat better health and physique. It is noteworthy how in some circumstances a seemingly small change of climate does harm or good and in others a very great change has no 230a 6](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21208724_0093.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
