The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-10-06
+ l. + j. + j. i i. + i :. i. I. + 4. 4
/. FLORIDA SUMMERS.


Florida as a summr resort is grow
ing decidedly in favor. 1t has made
remarkable progress in this direction
during the season just closing. Not
once, but a considerable number Of
times the steamers plying between
New York and Jacksonville have made
the round trips since July /, with their
passenger accommodations practically
filled by tourists escaping the torrid
heat of the northern summer climate.
Sounds strange, does it not? But it's
a fact, and those travellers have stop
ped over for a week or two and have
been convinced that Florida summer is
what Floridians claim for it.
Filed away in the minds of most of
US is a lot of impressions that have
ripened into convictions, and we don't
know exactly where we got them or
why we kept them. We seldom be-
come sufficiently honest with our
selves to analyze them to find out
whether we ought to harbor them.
One of these beliefs that prevails
among some very sensible people out
side the state is that Florida being
so very far south is inhabitabe in
summer only by those who never lived
anywhere else or by those who are
forced by circumstances to stay and so
make virtue of necessity and brag
about summer conditions here.
These same we'll meaning but hope
lessly ignorant people declare that
Florida's excessive summer heat
brings sunstroke so frequently as to
cause no comment; that malaria keeps
us burning with fever or shivering
with chills, and they feel sorry for
the Florida Cracker, native or adopt
ed for half a dozen other i'll defined
and intangible reasons.
A few plain, proven facts seem to
contradict these beliefs and if they
could be brought squarely to these
sorrowing critics, they might be
shocked into a change Of heart-but
perhaps not, for some Of our heresies
are too deeply rooted to be removed
by facts or arguments.
In the first place. Florida Of all the
states in the Union, has the smallest
range of temperature the year
through, summer and winter. Con-
trast an annual variation of sixty to
seventy degrees with that of Chicago
and other northern localities, where
the temperature glides from 25 de-
grees below zero in January, to 100
above in July, with sometimes a
change of 40 or so degrees in the same
twenty-four hours. Those are facts
proven by the records of the United
States Weather Bureau.
Then Florida has deep, salt water
on all sides, except where Georgia
touches it on the north. From deep,
blue sea come daily the breeZes that
moderate the daylight temperatures
and make the nights almost invariably
cool. The heat waves of northern eli
mates bring death and destruction be-
cause the nights give no relief from
the heat of the day.
FloridG's climate does not bring
sunstroke. The State Health Depart
ment has no record of a case occur
ring in the 26 and more years Of its
history. In genuine sunstroke the
body temperature rises from 6 to Z
to 10 DEGREES above normal and the
patient almost literally burns up in
ternally. The rare cases of heat ex-
haustion in Florida do not produce
this high internal temperature and
few hours of rest restore normal con-
ditions. Death from heat, even in
Florida's hottest months, is so rare as
to be practically unknown
Then the malaria propositionI Flor
ida has It, as does every other section
where the anopheles MOSQUITO roams
about untamed and where the individ-
ual with the germs of the disease in
his blood is free to come and 90.
They have it in Alabama, in MinneSo-
ia and in Alasla. and also in the for
tv odd ether states and possessions Of
the United States of America. But in
Florida the health authorities recog-
nize malaria as problem to be seri-
ouslv studied. They know its origin
and its methods Of transmission. and
they act accordingly. AS a result. the
past few vn0re have showed a marked
decrease Of the disease in Florida and
it is growing less every year. The
proper screening of homes is doing
much to work the cure.
And there's another thing about
malaria. Often the diagnosis is
wrong and when a man Cor woman)
has eaten too much or the wrong
thing and he (or she) wakes up the
next morn;nn with a coated tongue,
a bad breath and sore muscles, he
calls it malaria. 1t is really a case
of administration, caused by the in
fection of the system with the poisons
of accumulated effete matter, which
have not been carried off by natural
methods and means. Castor oil is an
excellent and speedy cure
"Bilious" is a much abused word
and most laymen don't really know
what it means or recognize the condi-
ton when it actually occurs. And