Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-05-06
THE BAROMETER AND HEALTH
statement by senior Surgeon Charles
T.. Banks. United states Public
Health service.

Every person capable of putting two
and two together and obtaining the cor
rect answer has been conscious Of feel
ing out OF sorts. as the printer would
say. when the clouds hung low and the
sun was obscured. A week of duh wealth
er sets a whole community on edge and
the mental moral and physical compo-
nents of man are, at its close. about
fit for the scrap heap Under such at
mospheric conditions, when prolonged for
a number of days. an Englishman adj
mits that he feels "seedy" and the Amer
lean confesses that he Is feeling mean.
both adjectives relating to state of
mental and bodily dumps
This situation is generally attributed
to the lack of sunshine. for every hu-
man being retains the ancient beliefs in
relation to his life and its we'll
being He knows that it gives
warmth and light and brings forth his
crops from the fruitful earth, and right
" yields 1t respect for its great and
generally benign influence over mundane
existence. 1t is true that we feel bully"
in sunshiny weather, but sunshine is the
accompaniment of certain atmospheric
mometer or the solarimeter. A few sun
less days or hours are not sufficient, how
ever to put a hoo-doo on the tempera-
ment \ and activities of a whole popu-
lation there is another important con-
trolling agency but little understood
even II appreciated. and II exercises
much greater influence than the sun in
given space of time. If the sunlight
were absolutely necessary to our up
keep night-watc hmen and laborers on the
morning editions would be chronic inva-
lids and mine workers the most UNI
healthy people in existence. If sunligh,
were necessary to animal life all of the
night providers would cease to exist.
The gaseous envelope of atmospheric
air surrounding the earth is the medium
| in which we have to live, and it bears
the same relation to the human family
as the waters Of the globe to the order
of fishes, The air and water are essen
tal to the life as much a factor to mar
as the quality of water to the fish This
normal atmosphere air eXerts on our
bodies definite dynamic force or phys
ical pressure OF ~ pounds on every
| square inch of our bodies. If we live at
or near the sea Lowell. and the higher
| up We 10 tnlS atmospheric pressure III
mnishes until on tho heights of the Rock
les it Is probably two pounds less. The
normal pressure at sea level is indicated
| by the barometer at 80 dnches), and It
decreases by an established scale as 1t
ascends these mountain heights Most
| persons know that ascents of mountain
Gus peaks, thousands of feet above sea
| level results I'm marked physical distress,
difficult breathing. general depression at
the submits, and in extreme asses bleed
| ing at the nose and even from the lungs,
due to this lessened atmospheric pres
sure. Just SO II happens that when the
| barometer is "low' for a considerable
period, say a drop from 90, the normal
gauge to 90 or below, when stormy or
duh weather ensues, We get the analo-
gous effect mperceptibly, but in an ap-
probable degree. FOR 1t has happened that
definite measure of atmospheric pres
sure is released from our bodies and nat
urally there follows "A disloCation of our
normal balance. The average adult man
sustains on every pleasant day an atmos-
pheric pressure Of about II tons at sea