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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![where tlu; water level is lii.i;li uiid where it is l:>w; the mere iiei;,Mibor- hood (>r a Hw:ini|), witliout any pDlliitioii of wal«'r supply, is olteii siifli- cieiit to i)r()str;it(' tr()()|)s. Tiicre can indeed be no doiibf that air infe(!ted IVom the •iroiiiid very coiiiinoiily eauses awidespn-atl epiih-mic of malaria. When the watiirs of a lh)()d subside, tluj lever extends over a wide area anil beyond the limits of tlni Hood; an<l exposnre to iiij;ht air withont any other source of eontandnation is a frecpient cause of fever even to the robust. Considering- tlie larj^e number of vaiieties o+ bacilli residing in nudd and in damp enrth covered by sand, the relation of diseases to the air and vapor enianatin<^ from liie <;ronn<l is a subject worthy of national or international reseandi. All over the world there are indications, if not such evidence as amounts to ])r<)of, that where the air sta.u'iuites or is confined in valleys ■without exposure to fre([uent winds, the condition of robust health iu a population is not well nuiin: ained. In certain valleys of Switzerland, of the Pyrenees, of Derbyshire, in ]jn<;l;ind, niul of paits of India g'oiter and cretinism have been common; in low-lying clay districts iu England cancer lias been showu to be prevalent above the average, and in limestone or chalk districts to be below the nverage. Valleys lying across the direction of the pre\ailing wind and not well ventilated are liable to an excess of heart disease. Whether these effects are in any degree due to stagnant or miasmatic air or wholly to differen(;e in the water supply it is uncertain, and the subject demands incjuiry. Climate Inis often been credited, even by great writers, with effects on the human constitution which statistics have failed to indicate. INIost i)eoi)Ie have supposed that suicide in England must be most fre- quent in November or iu w'inter when the dark foggy aif depresses the spirits. As a matter of fact, however, in England and in Europe, as a whole, suicides are most frequent in the summer half of the year, and especially in IMa}' and June, when the aspect of nature is most cheer- fnl and the air bright and pleasant. A very distinct and considerable rise in suicides, crimes, and nervous diseases takes place in the spring and early summer. The first cold Aveather in autumn produces a tem- porary and smaller increase. Montesquieu assumed that the number of suicicles is excessive in England, and attributed them to depression, caused by the dark, cold, damp climate. As a matter of fact, the sui- cides in England are not excessive when compared with France and central Germany, and the climate is not often dark and damp for long periods. Esquirol and Cabauis asserted that a rainy autumn following a dry summer is productive of violent deaths; Yilemais maintains that nine-tenths of suicides happen in rainy and cloudy weather. Quite a different order of things is revealed by a comparison of the figures for suicide, and especially for the suicide of insanity, for the different months. The quick increase of the temperature of the air, the dryness and sunshine of the spring have the effect of preci])itatiug mental alienation and increasing nerve instability; the organism is least robust when the winter passes away.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21208724_0097.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
