South Africa as a health resort : with especial reference to the effects of the climate on consumptive invalids : and full particulars of the various localities most suitable for their treatment : and also of the best means of reaching the places indicated / by Arthur Fuller ; together with a paper on the same subject by E. Symes-Thompson read before the Royal Colonial Institute ; reprinted by permission from the Proceedings of the Institute.

  • Fuller, Arthur
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: South Africa as a health resort : with especial reference to the effects of the climate on consumptive invalids : and full particulars of the various localities most suitable for their treatment : and also of the best means of reaching the places indicated / by Arthur Fuller ; together with a paper on the same subject by E. Symes-Thompson read before the Royal Colonial Institute ; reprinted by permission from the Proceedings of the Institute. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    gS Rainy Seasons. carefully-prepared inquiries with a view to obtain definite information on climate, elevation, water supply, &c., together with references to cases of disease treated in the several districts. Time and space make it impossible to do full justice to these communications here, but I have endeavoured to classify them accord- ing to the different areas, some of which are of great elevation, some low-lying, some humid, and others exceedingly dry. I have already described, in as few words as possible, some of the typical places mentioned in these reports, and will now pass to a comparative survey. Dryness and clearness are the chief characteristics of the air, due to the fact that rain falls at long intervals, and the greater part of the country is glazed with baked clay, from which the water runs off as fast as it falls ; there is nothing to retain the moisture, or allow it slowly to filter into the earth ; this, though bad for agriculture, is good for those for whom a dry, rarified air is essential. The rainy season occurs in winter in the West and in summer in the Eastern Province, so that the wet season may be easily avoided by travelling from one part of the Colony to the other. The three winter months are exceedingly trying in the high, exposed parts, for the houses are built without fireplaces, and coal and wood for fuel are almost unobtainable, dried cowdung doing duty for peat, as well as for cement for flooring and stucco for the walls. The mean temperature of the Cape Colony is 63 degs. On the coast lands the mean summer heat is 68 degs., and in winter 56 degs. That the climate is favourable to the growth and development of genus homo is shown by the fact that the descendants of the early Dutch settlers, who have been in the Colony for 200 years, are amongst the largest and most robust of men. It is not unusual to see men from 6 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 6 inches—not lanky, weedy, or ill-grown, but with bone and muscle more than proportionate to their height, Army statistics show that the Cape and Australia are the most salubrious stations in which the British Army has been stationed. Before the Suez Canal was opened, the Cape was recognised, and justly, as being the sanatorium for broken-down Indians. The climate of the coast lands—that, for instance, of the suburbs of Cape Town—has been compared to that of Madeira. At Wynberg, Rondebosch, and Kalk Bay the air is clear, bright and sunny in summer, but in winter overcharged with moisture. It proves ener-
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