The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-05-25

| cause this city was built here and not
IN another place from purely CONNER
| cial considerations, for the salke OF the
harbor and without any regard what
soever TO the sanitary value OF the
| place. Because in choosing its site
the white settlers did not follow tho
wise example of Spaniards in Central
| and South America. The latter have
| built with but few exception all their
| large cities at considerable elevation
and have them connected with har-
bors by railways. Guatemala has
500 feet elevation, Mexico 1924, Bo-
| gotta 5000, Santiago 1000, Papagan
| 5000, Cusco 800, Coclambo $500,
! Lima 500, LapAr 1900, Quito $500,
Caracas 2SS0. IL is i'm general i'm
proper to build a city in low place
| even in a most northern country,
since the lower the place the more
difficult the sewerage. For q country
! of the latitude OF the Hawaiian ISL
ands this is the greatest blunder
which will never be redeemed
neither by the use OF drugs, nor
by most expensive sanitary arrange
ments. What is the use ofthe whole
Latin cooking when people are COM
PEELED to inhale their lifelong poison
Gus miasma generating i'm the ferment.
ing ground? Which of you who live
here does not feel the organic. neces-
sity OF yearly excursion to the Coast
to take a breath OF fresh air? Happy
are those who can afford it. The
majority of citizens are what was
called in oldeu times ddScriptiqLobi,
bound to the soil by his economies
and business necessities and require
ments.
will not dwell here upon another
practical, very practical point now in
the hands OF the Labor Com mi ssion,
since l have had the pleasure already
to give them my opinion in connec-
ton with other information that they
required from us. There are many
other points. AS elements OF nature,
climate can be influenced and con-
trOlled by human efforts to a certain
degree only. One can drain swamps
and waste, injurious water, one can
cover with verdant woods the most
barren and dreary deserts, but the
most important climatic agencies, the
latitude, the altitude, the direction OF
atmospheric and ocean currents, tenn
perature and humidity, will always
remain out Of our control. These data
are given by nature and must be ac-
cepted as such whether bad or good
All we can do is to accommodate our
selves TO them the best we can. Being
unable to abolish the blind natural
forces we must learn to regulate, di.
rect, utilize or avoid them i'm order not
TO expose ourselves TO innumerabIe
VlclSSlLuueS. Ihis 10 only
through an attentive, diligent study
of the climate of each country. The
necessity of an extensive knowledge
of climatic peculiarities OF each place
is obvious enough.
Not less obvious il is when we con
slider climate as curative agency. The
more we depart from the mysteries OF
vitalisms and spiritualism, the larger
grows the distance separating us from
Hahneman's and Consortes' legerde-
main, the more our pathological con
gestions are permeated with the
mechanical principles OF natural
sciences, the more we get convinced
of the truthfulness of the old saying:
AbL0t0 c0us0 tOLtituT e6ectuS, that the
real remedy for n disease can be found
only in the removal Of the cause.
Since nobody gets sick because be
does not take drugs, nobody can get
cured by the use Of them. The benefit
derived from drugs is always palliative,
temporary and cannot be relied upon
in any case where the exposure to the
influence or Injurious agencies is per
manent. If the weakness of the con-
stitutiOnal power OF resistance or the
action of Injurious external cause be
permanent, no drug will ever effect q
real cure. The faith in drug specifics
is losing ground more aud more
wise words OF my highly respected
teacher, Professor n. Pirogof are full
of profound meaning. He used to
say that the professional career of
physician can be divided in three
periods. The first, when he faithfully
believes in everything that he was
taught in school. The second, when
he believes only in the results
of his own experiences; and
in both. Fortunately, the old
faith is never given up before the
corner stones Of new one are laid
down. Olympic deities do not leave
their headquarters unless driven out
by a new set. The new faith is in the
TenlOUdL 0f the cause, in the utiliza-
ton Of the same natural agencies that
under certain circumstances are capa-
BILE Of causing disease-climate in the
first line. Hence over again, the ne
cessity for physician to become thor
oughly familiar with the climate OF
country he lives in.
In this respect the resources afforded
by these islands are really ineZhaust-
ible and in skillful hands might be
utilized not merely towards attain
ment OF q higher standard Of health
for every individual citizen, but to-
wards material welfare as well. To
present conditions OF extreme cOmpe-
titiOn amongst various countries as
amongst individuals, the prosperity OF
each depends upon the knowledge 70
utilize its own resources and advaut-
ages. Climate is one of such natural
endOwments.
There are countries in far less
blessed climatic conditions whose very
subsistence depends upon the patron
age Of foreign invalids. In Switzer-
land, for instance, there are hotels and
sanitariums whose only advantage il
the high altitude, where millions OF
capital are invested, however, which
are run at a good profit and considered
q well paying enterprise. Being silu-
ated on the highway between Amer
A1f. rg o.,InrrvaH NTH