The record-union., 1896-10-11
CHANGE OF AIR.
Complete Revolution in Medical
Opinion.
clean Sea and Mountain Air, and
Why the People Seek
for It.

restoring lost health, very little is
known as to the reasons why tenn
porary removal to a new district is
frequently of such great benefit to in
valids.
That progress has been made on the
practical-aS distinct from the purely
sclentific-side of the subject is made
plain by the fact that most Of the views
and customs prevalent among physi-
clans a hundred years ago have now
been almost entirely discarded. Better
methods of observation and more ex-
act habit of recording results Of treat
ment-if not more enlightened theories
on the physiological effects of change
of air-have enabled us to take several
considerable steps in the right direction.
1t seems odd enough to us in the pres
ent day that our great-great- grand
fathers and their physicians considered
sea air to be peculiarly unwholesome,
and spoke warningly of its dampness
and chilling effects. The air Of mount
ainous regions was looked upon as raw
and trying for delicate lungs. In the
olden time dwellings were scarcely ever
built on an eminence except for pur-
poses of defense, the more favorite sites
being those in sheltered valleys. Most
of our ancient mansions and farm
houses occupy damp and low-lying po-
sitionS, such as no sane modern house
builder would think Of selecting. Eng
hsh literature tells the same story.
From the time of Elizabeth to that of
George the Third we find fruitful
vales'' and shady nooks' continually
spoken of as the ideal places for hu-
man dwellings. Up to the time of the
present generation consumptives were
ordered to warm and damp regions
such as the West Indies or Madeira, be-
cause it was thought that phthisis, 1.-The
English disease" resulted directly from
the harshnesS of our climate. A very
favorable last resort of the eighteenth
century physician was to send patient
to visit the place of his birth, since 1t
was thought that natal air" would be
likely to prove peculiarly beneficial. This
last theory, although somewhat ludi-
crous when viewed from our modern
standpoint, strikes me as being some
thing more than mere piece of plausi-
BILE empiricism. 1t shows that, in spite
of their terrible faith in physic, the
doctors of those days did not lose sight
OF the Importance of conforming to
Natures programme.
CLEAN SEA AND MOUNTAIN AIR.
Although the beneficial effect of sea
voyages was to some extent recognized,
it is easy to understand that the ships
of the seventeenth and eighteenth CEN
turtles, damp and stuffy below, and pro-
visioned with salt junk and hard bis
cults, scarcely gave broken-doW In
valid a fair chance of deriving any
great amount of good from change
of air taken under such conditions.
LII
that sea and mountain air owes Its
virtue to its freedom from organic i'm
purities. Probably it is this quality,
more than any other, which gives it its
reviving effect on those who have been
living in the clogged and polluted at
nCsphere of large towns. Yet purity OF
the atmosphere per Sc is no preventive
of those very ailments which bring the
majority of patients TO seaside water
places and highland sanitariums. Ii
any invalid who has thus sought rellef
were to take careful note of the natives
Of his favorite health resort, he would
probably be disquieted to find that pale,
sickly children and aillng adults were
by no means uncommon. Patients Win
weak lungs are often sent to winter IN
Devon and Cornwall, although the NOR
tality from pulmonary diseases among
the permanent residents of these ia
yored counties is not a whit less than
among the dwellers in the midlands and
the north Yet the undoubted fact re-
mains to be accounted for that such
migrants to warmer climes almost al
WAYS derive marked benefit from the
change.
When the late John Addlngton
Symonds first went to live in the search-
ing and rarified atmosphere OF the En-
gadine. not a few of his friends thought
that he was making fatal mistake
and that he would certainly increase
the tendency to phthisis which com
pclled him to leave England. But since
then opinion has so veered round that
this Alpine Valley has become one OF
the most orthodox places of refuge fol
consumptive patients. Latterly certain
dry and elevated plains of South Africa
and Australia have surpassed 1t In pup
lie favor because il has been found IN
many cases that the safety OF the pa
tient depends upon his remaining per-
manently away from the bitter winds
of Britain, and the colonies offer greater
advantages in the way of occupation
than do the Alpine regions OF Europe
NOT A QUESTION OF TEMPERA-
TURE.
II is bv no means easy to indicate all
the reasons why the air of health resorts
eucb as these proves so beneficial in
cases of weakness of the lungs. AS
we have seen, 1t is not question OF
tenperature as our ancestors mag
ined and. although dryness may have
something to do with it, we find that
onr marching east winds are peculiarly
irving to sufferers from chest COM
n1aints There can be no doubt, how
ever. that the extreme purity or the all
In these regions is an important factol
in aiding recovery. Consumption, like
all other diseases in which micro organ
isms are the chief agents Of mischief. is
according to the latest medical philos-
ophy. a strife between the constitu-
tional garrison, consisting NANNY o.
phagocytes, or white blood corpuscies
and the invading hordes OF the enemy
The various characteristic symptoms
which arise in the course or Such mai
ady are so many phases OF the compat
Many physicians hold the view tnat th'
rash on the skin in such diseases al
scarlet fever and measles results IRON
the fact that the skin, as an excretorl
organ as well as the chief frontier linz
of the body, is a highly lmportan
strategic point, and therefore attract:
the combatants of both armies. II
the near neighborhood of each. tiny
coiled sweat gland deadly strife goe:
on between the phagocytes and theil
microscopic antagonists, and the re
suit is certain amount of redness ant
tc0.