The Portland daily press., 1870-03-11

topics, trust it may hot prove tedious to
your readers. Tue healthiness of Minnesota
climaie-her "balsamic airs and bracing
breezes'-has been written and told of in all
parts Of the land. Pilgrims in pursuit Of
health, from the bright-eyed, cadayerous con-
snmptive to the veriest victim ofhypochondria
come here to find that chiefest of all temporal
blessings, health. 1t is sometimes very anus
ing to hear the poor, emaciated weaklings Of
two hundred pounds avoidupois, with broad
chests, full respiration, red faces and immense
abdominal proportions, who would have found
ready admittance to your recent Fat Mems
convention" without the use of scales.-tell-
ing lugubriously OF their infirlnities. and that
the overruling desire to secure perfect health
alone drove them out from the land of thei,
fathers. to seek larger ard stronger proper
tions in the rariied atmosphere OF this North
western State; and have frequently discov
cred that such "inyalids" had failed to Gnt
their business expectations in coming here re
allied, and so fell back on the health dods,
to cover up the real cause of ther jumping ou
OF the old Eastern frying-pan into the fire O
Western speculation.
1t would be presumption in me-the meres,
novice in hygiene-to offer AN opinion touch
ing the sanitary qualities of this climate and
Its effects upon consumptives, when " doctors
of eminence disagree. DR.. Gilchrist of Owa.
tousa,-one Of the most delightful localities in
nh, ci ri nf nlyna 1aHr
its and eminence, has recently written an ar.
ticle for tae Eastern Medical Journal, in which
he taxes e,ided ground against this climate
in its effects upon consumptives. He insists
that the air is too much rarifed, that vital
forces are too active, and that the whole ma.
chinery ofthe animal body is subjected to too
much acceleration to be beneficial TO persons
OF weak lungs, especially if those organs are
diseased. He warns physicians not to send
their consumptve patients here, as such /:
course is almost always sure to result in has
tening the progress Of the disease and short
ening the period prior TO its fatal termination
and he very distinctly hints that many physi
clans continue the practice of advising con
sumptives TO remove to or visit the West. sim
ply because they see no reader way to prevent
their dying upon their own hands. The Doc
tors article has been sharply criticised by some
of our editorial gentlemen, though am not
aware that any disciple of Esculapius has TAX
en- up the cudgels against him. From this
Craze subject turn to that of
TIE WEATHER.
The equable character OF our Minnesota
winters has become proverbial. 1t has often
been said that the dwelers in this State are
free from exposure to all Sudden changes
and that humidity of the atmosphere is al
most unknown. The present winter has not
vindicated this common idea. have known
the weather to change, in single night, from
thirty-five or forty degrees above to sixteen or
twenty below zero, and I have seen the past
lew months the same drizzling rains, heavy
mists and dense foss that are SO prevalent on
the coast of Maine. 1t Is but just to say thai
the present is an exceptional winter, and man,
persons -thinlS-the climate Is undergoing
change, and becoming like that of the New
England S!ates,-in consequence, perhaps, o
the great influx and large influence of Yan
KEGS! THIS is quite as rational solution O
the alleged change or modification, as The
theory OF a local editor of much influence
who attributes it TO the extension of railroads
the rails serving to distribute electricity as
they DO wheat and lumber, though such dis
tribution has thus far escaped the vsilant eye
of the tariff makers for such railroad privi-
leges.
A SOLID FACT.
While the present has been one of the mild
est winters known 10 "the oldest inhabitan!," )"
there are facts which may satisfy your eastern
readers that 'mild," when applied to the
weather, is relative term, and that what is
SO called in one latitude or locality may be
anything but "mild" in another. For exam
pie: your State papers recently expressed
doubts as to the success Of tie ice crop of the
Kennebec and other waters of Maine, and il
is but few weeks since Bath paper consrat.
ulated its readers in view OF the TACT that the
Kennebec ice cutters had commenced work il
earnest, and were harvesting the solid block
full ten inches thick. TIE same day l read
the paragraph in the paper referred 10,
passed a teamster whose horses were putin!
and smoking on hillside, where he hat
stopped his load Of ice, freshly taken from th,
river, that bis animals might "blow," apc
when inquired how thick the ice was he
lacopically replied "Iwenty-eight inches
and soldier or bluer specimens OF arc .ic
manufacture l have never seen anywhere.
Though the weather at the present writing is
very mild" aud spring'ike, the old ice has
added from three to five inches to its thick.
ness since the incident above named occurred
and second crop ice is being cut near Susper-
sion Bridge at ST. Anthony Falls, full fifteen
inches IN thickness. Such solid facts as these
are sufficient to show what even a wild Min
nesota winter is capable of producing. and
that Maine is as far behind this State in her
ice as in her cereal products.
But it may be said-it has cften been said
that while the mercury indicates greater
severity here than in New England, owing to
the extreme dryness of the atmosphere and
other causes, the human system is not sensi-
tive 10 the cold here as there; that while the
mercury may so down among the thirties and
forties, no serious Inconvenience to man or
beast is experienced, the rapid circulation of
the blood, and the remarkable activity of all
the vital forces rendering the body invulne-able
to such cold weather. In Offset to this i'm
preston will adduce but single
SAD ARGUMENT.
In the daily papers of this State of two
weeks since, under the telegraphic head, was
paragraph headed, "Si1 men frozen to
death!' During clustering day the weeb
previoas, it seems that six soldiers, who had
been sent out to guard team deserted by The
teamsters, were all frozen to death, near Red
River, less than hundred miles further
north than this point, and on the same day
two wood choppers perished from cold not
half the distance from this place.
RAILROADS.
This is one of the States nearest the para
disc of railroad constructionists. In Maine,
with your granite and traprock lodges, steam
drills, deep and long ''cuts" and heavy grades,
you have faint conception of the ease, rapid
ity and cheapness with which railroads are
put forward in the prairie portions of this
State. Last season had occasion to 90 over
the St. Paul and Pacific, as far as Litcbfield,
beyond the "Big Woods" and throughout the
whole eighty miles of road l saw but one
rock that needed reducing to render it NOV.