The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-03-03
MORE ABOUT AIKBN.
A Detailed Statement OF its Sanitary
Advantages by a Northern Visitor.

Advantages by Northern VasatOrs
ga yaletudinaran'' writes to the New York
World from Aiken, S. c., under date OF The
18th ultimo:
''whither shall I go?" is q question which
agitates the minds OF thousands of invalids in
the Northern States when the early frosts IN
September begin to tinge the forests with gor-
geous hues. Perhaps an acute illness has so
reduced the vitality of the patient that, al
thouph from disease he dare not encounter
the rude blasts of a Northern winter; or con
sumpti IN, IN some of its multiform guises, has
laid it's cold h hand nd upon vital organ chilling
obstructing breath, disturbing circulation, I'M
pairing digestion, irritating nerves, pros
frating strength, and at the same time,
whole future with hope. My own condition
was briefly this: One hot night in June
(and last June you remember was hot) slept
beside an open window. During the night
sore; from this ensued cold with trifing
cough; then pneumonia in both lungs, which
for many weeks kept me vibrating between life
and death, and finally left me with ''slight
tation, by various professors, at length deci-
ded was occasioned by "tubercular deposit" in
the right lung. Medication, they told me. was
Of no use, but exercise in the open air would
do much to restore my strength. But how
can an invalid exercise out doors in New York
during the winter ? WHITTIER shall I so ?"
became my inquiry. The professional, re-
sponse was that there was not such probabili-
ty Of benefit from change OF climate as would
warrant physician in prescribing that course
STILL as was bent on going somewhere, and it
neglected to do what might have been of SER
vice." why, under these circumstances. medi-
cal assent-not advice-was given that might
goSouth; and Aiken was indicated as the place
most likely TO prove beneficial. At this time I
was extremely nttenuated and feeble. a walk
OF quarter Of mile exhausted mo, my pulse
exceeded ono hundred, my cough was racking
and frequent, with constant night sweats, and
erratic chills followed by fever.
resolute will, however, was left to me, and
started for this place. I arrived here during
an unusually cold spell. and for q few days my
symptoms were aggravated; yet spent all the
time out doors that my strength would permit;
and at the end of fortnight began to i'm
prove, and that Improvement has continued,
slowly, very slowly, until now. At present 1
can, as daily exercise, walk three or four
miles, and gallop on horseback from ten to
twenty miles more, besides playing croquet two
breakfast to sundown, without any sense OF
exhaustion. I have had neither chill, fever,
nor night-sweat for two months; my pulse
beats from seventyto eighty, my cough is less
frequent and severe, and my weight increased
five pounds. Whether the progress of disease
in my lungs is arrested am not able to decide;
can only say that my sympt oms are alleviated
in tho manner and to the degree have set
forth.
WHERE AIKEN rs.
Although Aiken has been known at the
South for twenty years and more as desirab Q
resort III winter for those suffering from pul
.oL V.ave>1 saeross Ns
influences which prevail SO extensively in the
South, it has no general 1epute at the North.
Many of those now here did not know of it up-
til they reached the South. Aiken is in the
western portion OF South Carolina, one hun
dred and twenty miles from Charleston, elevat-
ed six hundred and fifty feet above the level of
that city, and three hundred and fifty feet
above Augusta, Georgia, from which it is
seventeen miles distant. It is upon the ssWater-
shed" which divides. the streams emptyinp
into the ocean at Savannah through the river
OF the same name, and those reaching the At
lantic at Charleston through the Edisto River.
The village lies directly upon the South Caro-
lima Railro i'd, and the station is less than two
hundred feet from the hotel where Z am writ
ing. There are from one hundred to one hun
dred and fifty dwellings,, and as each building
lot is from two to three acres in extent. and
the rectangular streets are all one hundred and
fifty feet wide. it is almost village of sfmag-
nlticent distances" have not been able fullv
to decide whether the village is in the woods
or the woods in the village, so numerous are
the trees. Many Of the grounds are prettily
laid out and nicely kept.
r THE CLIMATE. II
The climate is not so warm as to be debilita
tng, nor Is 1T so cold as to interfere with the
fullest enjoyment Of outdoor exercise and
amusement. have taken pains to preserve o
record or the thermometer since the middle of
December, at the hour Of A. M, as follows