The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1888-09-28
HEALTHFULNESS OF MIDDLE FLORIDA.

HEALTHFULNESS OF MIDDLE FLORIDA.
The following article on the healthful-
ness Of this section Of the State is from
the pen of one Of the Oldest and most ex-
perienced physicians in Florida. 1t was
written some time since, but in every
sense fits the present as well as it did the
time in which it was written. The coun-
ties particularly referred to are those
lying between the Suwannee and Apa-
lachicola rivers, and known as the couu-
ties. of Madison, Jefferson, Wakulla, Leon,
Hamilton and Gadsden:
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.
This section of the State lies in lati-
tude thirty-one degrees, and is bounded
on the east by the Suwannee river, on the
west by the Apalachicola, on the north
by the State Of Georgia, aud on the south
by the Gulf of Mexico. Its extent from
east to west is about one hundred and
twenty miles, and about forty miles from
north to south, on the meridian of ITALIA
hassee.
The upper half Of this area is high,
rolling country, called coax and hickory
lands" and Astounding in that growth.
The soil is a dark, sandy loan, of from
twelve to twenty inches in depth, based
upon a subsoil of red clay, which, in some
places, crops out on the surface. The
land is easily cultivated, and yields large
crops of cotton, corn and cane. This sec
ton is we'll watered by springs of very
pure water, small streams, running gen.
orally towards the Gulf, but often sinking
and disappearing before reaching their
destination; but mainly by lakes of all
dimensions, the waters Of which being
rain water are always clear and pure
PECULIAR TOPOGRAPHY.
The topography of this country is pc
culiar; although elevated two hundred
feet above the level of the Gulf, and very
undulating, still it has no Watershed"
but it's surface is covered by fluctuations
which form the ponds and lakes above
mentioned, and there is no exit for this
volume Of water except by subterranean
passages and evaporation. The peculiar
feature of these lakes is the absence of
marsh from their margins, and conSc-
quently no noxious exhaations arise from
them.
The southern portion Of Middle Florida is
totally different geologically from that just
described, being evidently tertiary or
recent formation. The soil is light and
sandy, based upon limerick, popularity
called "rotten limestone" which, besides
carbonate Of lime, contains also salts Of
iron, sulphur, &c. This formation,
which is near the surface, abounds in fos-
silized she'll fish; and here and there are
found beds of genuine mari.
The growth is chiefly yellow pine, and
the lands are quite productive in corn
and cane, and in some sections possess
much fertility.
The range for cattle is as good as on the
pralries of Texas, and the adjacent wa
tiers Of the Gulf afford an inexhaustihle
supply Of fish and oysters.
DISEASES
The diseases of Middle Florida are few.
and possess little variety. In the spring,
from sudden variations of temperature,
from want Of adaptation of clothing, and
from imprudence in diet, diarrhpa pre-
walls, and sometimes sporadic cases of
dysentery occur. In the summer, bilious
remittent fevers, usually of mild type,
show themselves and in the fall inter-
mittents, with occasionally case of the
much-dreaded "congestive chill" These
diseases are very amenable to medical
treatment, and are rarely fatal. The ra-
ito of mortality is unusually low, and
remarkable exemption exists from all
epidemic or contagious diseases. Scare-
tina, that scourge Of infancy North and
East, is here simple disease, requiring lit
tie treatment. Whooping- cough, measles
and Group cause no alarm, and variola
requires but little treatment, and is sell
dom fatal, rarely attacking whites, even
those unprotected by vaccination, and is
certainly greatly modified by climate.
MIDDLE FLORIDA RESORT FOR CONSUME
TIvEs.
Phthisis, the ready headsman of the
remorseless tyrant, Death, causes science
TO grieve at her powerlessness to save,
and forces from it's professors the humli-
ating confession that there is no s" balm
in Gilead" and "no physician there :" to
stay its bloody hands. But Nature, the
great healer, has in her laboratory an an
tidote for ever poison and salve for
every bruise and the balm of her breath,
borne on the soft breezes of the Gulf.
charged with the healing resinous exha-
lations of the pine forests, finds it's way
into the most remote tissue of the dis
eased lung-healing over the liberated
surface, closing the open abscess, and by
it's mysterious power doing what no drug
or medicine in the pharmacopia has yet
done, in revivifying the blood, and bring
in0 hack TO tho DaIlid cheak tho bloom Of