The Tucson citizen., 1902-01-24

many (as the writer sleep out during
the whole yer. There are not FIVE days
IN the whole year but the most delicate
invalid can spend part Of the day, at
least, out of doors. In this climate in
Iurics and wounds heal very rapidly;
contagious diseases are usually very
mild. There has been no epidemic, ex-
cept in whooping cough, for years.
THE winter months, from the middle
Of September to the first of MAY, are i'll
this locality the finest in the world One
bright sunshiny day succeeds another;
the nights are cool and exhilarating; the
whole country green with the richest
verdue and the brightest flowers. Truly
il is Joy to live.
AT present / have never known a per-
son coming to this Territory in the early
stages OF pulmonary disease andlocating
in the altitude suited to their particular
case that did not get well; nor have
known of one in the second stage that
did not improve. But cannot refrain
from raising my voice against the out
rage of sending advanced cases to this
or other sections to die among strang-
ers."
DR.. H. w. Fenner. of Tucson, Surgeon
of the Southern Pacific r. r., says
/ Tucson is a city of 10000 inhabitants.
on the main line of the Southern Pacific
Railway, altitude z, 400 feet above the
sea level. Tucson is one of the oldest
settlements made by the Spanish con-
querors. 1t is now the commercial and
railroad center Of Southern Arizona. The
climate is exceedingly dry and bracing,
h.an nY5fs1
yearly minimum and maximum being
26o and $50 respectively. The rainfall
is small and but little irrigation is car
| ried on. The water supply is excellent.
| The summers are long, the thermometer
ranges high. but the low degree OF humid
4 ity makes the clear warmth tolerable,
and the most healthfuI part of the year.
Sunstrokes and heat prostrations are
unknown. The climate of Tucson has
been found bv experience to be particul-
arly beneficial to most cases of pulmon-
AIRY phthisis. especially those of the
earlier or pre-tubercuiar periods.
DIR. Mark A. Rogers. of Tucson, says:
My experience has impressed upon
me the necessity for outdoor life in the
treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. In
order that the patient may live contin-
uously in the open air for a period of sew
eral months, or. for that matter, for a
year, or several years. climate is re-
quired which is continuously warm and
| drv. Such a climate the United States
does not possess. but the nearest ap-
| proach TO il is Arizona.
| Physicians rare'v send their pa+;~nts
to the arid -eg.ons exsr15g simmer nd
this | consider a great --.stakc. 1he
patients should be sent to the arid re-
gions SO soon as there is evidence of in
fiction from the tubercle bacillus, and
should be made to remain there until
they are well, or until it is apparent that
the case is hopeless.
Many physicians in the east order
patients to California for the winter,
apparently with view of sending them
to a dry climate. The relative humidity
in southern California is as great, and
in some instances greater, than that of
the Atlantic coast, and many of the best
physicians in California regularly send
their tubercular and asthmatis patients
to Tucson. California is beautiful
country, but the fogs which come in
rom the sea, and the emanations from
the vast irrigated regions, make it far
inferior to the inland desert regions for
phthisical patients. | think it may be
assumed as a general rule that wher-
ever there is irrigation there is high
degree OF relative humidity. and dpatients
suffering from pulmonary phthisis
should never be sent to an irrigated dis
trict. Indeed, some of the California
physicians have declared that irrigation
and malaria 60 together
The city Of Tucson has, in my opin.
ion, advantages as a health resort
which can not be equalied anywhere in
North America. know of m locality
where such a moderate winter climate
and such low degree of relative humid
itv are combined with the same latitude
and altitude. 1t is no longer considered
imperative to send tubercuiar patients
to an altitude of 5 ZOO feet, or over. In
fact. clinical experience has proven that
more frequently patients required to be
sent to an altitude or less, rather than
more than 1900 feet. The altitude OF
Tucson is 2, 400 feet. and that seems to
be amply high for all but the most ex-
ceptional cases. The city is situated in
basin near the underground Santa
Cruz river. 1t is completely walled in
bv massive mountain ranges. To the
north is the Santa Catalina range; to
the east, the Rincon; to the south, the
santa Mia, anu OA LuC WCSlt tuG i
son. Each of these ranges has an s1ti-
tude of 5 200 feet at least. Mount Lee
mon. the highest peak of the Cata1inas,
has an elevation of 10000 feet, and
Mount Wrightson in the Santa Ritas,
reaches an altitude of nearly II, 900
feet.
"The scenery at Tucson il as impress
sive as anywhere in the Rocky moun-
tains, and the gorgeous sunrise and su1i-
set beggar description.
During the nine months, October to
June, inclusive, 1S94-5, there were hut
twenty-five cloudy days, ana nine ok
these were in one month. Some idea uk
the transparency of the atmosphexe 1nay
be had when state that, at midday
and with the unaided eye, hare 80
Venus when 1t was but ten deeree1 <enk
of the sun"