The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-08-18
Mountain and Seaside Climate.
Neir York Herald.

In the July number Of the Nineteenth
Century Professor FARMLAND present is some
important results Of his investigations on
climate In town and country, which are of
great value, especially in the no: season.
One of the most striking facts brought to
light by his inquiries Is the difference Of sem
sation caused by sun warmth Oh the one
hand and air warmth OH the other, which he
compares to that of an open fireplace and a
close stove. This difference Is most notice
able In comparing ones sensations Oh a
cloudless day at or near sea level and on a
mountain height. Thus, at Bellagio, he
says, with sun warmth of only seventy-two
degrees, the heat was most oppressive, while
on the summit of Diavolezza Pass there was
delicious sensation of GOODNESS, although
the sun warmth was no less than one hun.
dred and seven degrees at the former the
air warmth was eighty three, while it was
only forty-three degrees on the Pass. 1t is
common In contrasting the merits Of differ
ent places as summer resorts TO overlook the
difference between the solar intensity and
the air temperature, aud TO compare the
readings Of thermometers which, from i'm.
proper exposure of the instruments, mix up
these very different values. In the case cited
by Professor FARMLAND, the influence Of ell
ovation above sea level ION account Of which
the higher We get, though the solar heat in
creases rapidly, the air warmth continually
decreases) makes the chief difference. But,
as he has shown, other causes operate In pro-
ducing agreeable climate. "The nearer the
color of the ground approaches to white"
be finds, "the greater will be the sun warmth
and the cooler the air; while the darker the
color, the warmer will be the air and the less
will the heat of solar radiation be felt" The
reflection from land or water also powerfully
affects the felt solar Intensity, though at the
sea shore the floating watery and saline par
ticles so fill the air Gas q beam Of sunlight
or the electric light reveals) that they absorb
the suns heat and thus cool the air. But
perhaps the most remarkable fact adduced by
this investigator is that the highest readings
Of solar heat at sea level have been made at
q station (Romsdal, Norway near the Arctic
Circle and at other high ATTITUDES, where the
sums radiation was from five to twelve de-
grees hotter than al noon under nearly ver-
tical sun on the Equator. THIS remarkable
difference, confirmed by other observations,
must be ascribed TO the vast sheet of aque-
Gus vapor overhaneing the tropical belts,
which even when invisible absorbs the suns
heat rays, but increases the warmth Of the
air.
IL seems clear from these aud other well
established chronological data, that In the
crisis of the intensely cheated term" the
relief which so many crave will be best bad
at the mountain rather than at the seaside
resorts, provided the altitude Is sufficient,
and the higher the latitude OF the former the
better. But 1t also follows that as the suns
dark heat rays after warming the earth can
not repass the vapor profusely overhangng
the sea shore, the latter resort Is longer tena-
BILE by the invalid. People who 90 to the
mountains for health should 90 early and
wind up their summering" at the sea
shore, where the thermal changes at the close
Of the warm season are not so extreme and
enervating as at high levels.