Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-18
CAUSES OF sUNsrRoKE
Two Thousand lii1s = Lost in Last Summer.
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strsaa of tn. oorre,.t,o.
Of s.n.trofe 4td Meteorological
fheaomena.

The Department Of Agriculture has issued
an interesting f bulletin on the sunstroke
weather of lastf summer. prepared by DIR.
w. F. r. Phillips Gho is in charge of the
section OF clinha tofogy in the weather
bureau. The abnormal heat that prevailed
over the eastern two-thirds of the United
States during the last few days of July,
and the first fifteen days of August, 1896.
suggested to the chief of the weather
bureau the proprfety of studying the sub
ject of sunstroke, in so far as it is con-
nected with and dependent upon meteor
olosic conditions. With this object in view
he directed that circular. asking for in
formation, be sent to different hospitals To-
Gated in the affected region. From such
sources as were accessible there have been
collected 2.03S instances Of death during
August, 1895. directly attributed to sum
stroke. This large number Of fatal cases
was collected as follows: 1877 deaths re-
ported by health officials Of cities named
below; 2H from newspaper notices, and
not included in the foregoing; IA from spe
bulletin states that it must fall far short
Of the actual number of victims
The following table shows the number of
deaths from sunstroke during August. 1896.
Mass. 6i: New York. N. Y. 726: Brooklyn.
N. Y. 80; Philadelphia. Pa. 21s: Balti-
more, Md, %; Washington, D. c., SO; Wor-
cester Mass. 4: Rochester. N. Y. 2: Buff
Ohio. 13; Columbus. Ohio. q Chicago. ILL.,,
178: Muskegon. Mich. 1: Davenport, Iowa,
2: Keokuk, Iowa. 1: ST. Paul. Mimi, 1; ST.
Louis. Mo-. 1s2: Chattanooga. Tenn. 1:
New Orleans. La, .: Phoenix. Ariz., 1;
total, 1877. Add newspapers, POI: add spe-
cial reports. IA. Total, 2.O3S
The greatest number of fatal cases oc-
Cured in the week ending August Is. the
aggregate number being 1,224.
From the given table it is concluded by
DR.. Phillips:
(a) That the number of sunstrokes fol-
lows more closely the excess of the tenn
perature above the normal than it does
that of any other meteorologic condition.
CD That the number of sunstrokes does
not appear to sustain any definite relation
fatalities having occurred in one region
with a relative humidity above the average,
and in the other region with relative hui
midity decidedly below the average.
(c) That although the absolute humidity
was grea test during the maximum of sun
strokes. yet it does not appear that the
variations Influenced the number of cases.
AS provisional index to the ''sunstroke
temperature of each climate, the author
proposes the use of the average or normal
maximum daily temperatures during the
warm season of the year. and as a working
hypothesis derived therefrom submits the
imminent during the summer months when
the mean temperature of any one day, or
of several consecutive days. becomes equal.
or nearly equal, to the normal maximum
temperature for the same period
One item gathered from the reports, but
not shown by this table. is that only 10 Of
these cases were calored people. and the
mortality among them was g AS to sex,
100 cases were females SO far as occupa-
ton was concerned. all walks of life were
represented. but the greater number Of
cases occurred among those engaged in
occupations apparently requiring physical
rather than intellectual effort.