Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Climate CLIMATE AND DISEASE.—The relations l)et\veen tlie effects of climate and the treatment ot disease are very complex for at least two reasons : in the lust place, hecanse it is cxtiemely dit'ticiilt to dcline climate i and secondly, hecaiisc the leaction to climate may \'ary within wide limits in different mdi\ idiials. dims, of two ])atients snlfeiin^ from the same disease one may be benefited by a certain detinite climate, and the other rendered worse. 1 he most ideal type of climate for a ^reat majority ot sick jieojile may be said to be one in which there is a maximum amount of sunlight, a moderate amount of moisture, and one in general in which the atmosiihcre is free Irom dust. IMiich, how'ever, depends upon the disease under consideration. Tor a climate might have all the ideal conditions that the mind of the jihysician might desire, and yet, by reason of difficulties of transjiortation and of obtaining food, proper housing, and protection, it might be badly adapted to the individual case. Thus, in many cases of tuberculosis, in which the disease is not advanced too far, certain arid regions of Xew Mexico and Arizona have showai themselves to be very desirable as regards climate ; but until such places shall have been placed within the region of civilisation, and provided with good facilities for food sujiply, transj^ortation, and nursing, they offer little hope excejit for those wiio can command all of the resources in spite of the difficulties. A classification of climates is difficult to lay down. So many factors— such as pressure of the atmosphere, prevailing temperature, prevailing w inds, average humidity, amount of electrification in the atmosphere, amount of sunlight, amount of rain, etc.—all contribute to the estimate of the general problem. There is no definite system for the classification of climates, since no region of the globe has an unvarying series of climatic conditions ; and at best one can only approximate the general average. So that when one has to take into consideration not only the adaptability of the climate to the individual and the disease but the economic features as well, it often becomes a very perplexing problem. There are practically no individuals, either sick or well, that are not benefited in some degree at least by change of residence under different climatic conditions. This applies particularly to those afflicted with certain disorders which are in part due to, or largely aggravated by, unhygienic climatic surroundings, such as tuberculosis, and by the various neuroses and neurasthenias so largely incidental to city dwellers. I he most important diseases that can be benefited by climate are tuberculosis, neuroses, mild mental disturbances, chronic Bright’s disease, chronic heart-disease, and, chronic bronchial disease. In tuberculosis, as has already been outlined, no general rule can be laid down. Patients with incipient tuberculosis can recover even in a London street, if they can be made to live twenty-four hours a day in the open air ; and, on the other hand, patients die of tuberculosis even in the most favourable climatic surrounaings and$