The ocean as a health-resort : A handbook of practical information as to sea-voyages for the use of tourists and invalids / by William S. Wilson.

  • Wilson, William Samuel.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean as a health-resort : A handbook of practical information as to sea-voyages for the use of tourists and invalids / by William S. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    CLIMATE OF THE INLAND PLAINS. Abstract of Mean Annual Besults from the Meteorological Stations at the Royal Observatory, near Gape Town, and at Graaff Reynet, in the Sneeuwbergen Mountains* Royal Observatory. GraafiE Reynet. Peg. Deg. Mean height of barometer (corrected) 30-031 27-508 Mean annual temperature .... 62-38 64-41 Mean daily range 14-11 24-52 Highest recorded temperature . 99-5 105-0 Lowest „ „ ... 39-8 28-0 Per cent. Per cent. Mean annual humidity (9 a.m., 1 and .5 p.m.) 7200 55-98 Inches. Inches. Mean annual rainfall 22-476 13-196 Mean annual number of thunderstorms 15 23 Feet. Feet. Height of the stations above sea-level 37 2,517 By the above table the following facts are brought into prominence: viz., that while the mean annual temperature of Grraaff Reynet is only about two degrees higher than that of Cape Town, the mean daily range is nearly ten degrees greater ; that the mean annual humidity of Graaff Reynet is rather more than 16 per cent, less than at Cape Town ] and that the rainfall at the latter place is some 9j inches more than at the former. It now only remains to add a few general remarks as to the influence of the climate of South Africa on disease. Unfortunately the statistics bearing on this subject are very imperfect, but the following are a few of the facts that appear to have been estabhshed. Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, and hydrophobia are unknown in the Colony ; the liver diseases of tropical climates are rare ; small-pox, measles, and scarlatina occur occasionally in an epidemic form, but not so frequently as in England ; typhoid fever occurs from time to time, but is probably not so prevalent * From the Appendix to the Colonization Cii-cular for IST^-