Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-12
THE CLIMATE OVER THEREBY Frederic j. Haskin

tile to Americans 1t has been suggested that this
is the reason why the old dolicho-cephalic blonde
American stock is decreasing in this country and
the brunette European stocks increasing. Many
other facts might be cited in support of this the
DRY. But the important fact for the present dis
cusslon Is that COOL cloudy climate is well
adapted to the traditional American type, and to
such a climate he is going in this war.
We have heard much about sunny France
that many of us think of it a southern
country. AS a matter of fact, southern France is
as far north Boston, and northern France is in
the latitude of southern Canada, is all of Bel
gum But owing to the influence of ocean cur
rents, northern France does not experience the
extremes of heat and cold that visit most of the
northern United States. That great ocean current
known the Atlantic Drift brings the warmed
waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast
or Europe The sea both gives off and absorbs
heat more slowly than the land AS a result OF
this, the effect of the Atlantic Drift is to temper
both the winters and the summers Thus Dun
kirk the coast of France has almost exactly
the same climate Seattle, Washington,
own Pacific coast, where the climate is also reg
ulated by ocean currents. But in France the in
huence of these ocean currents is not interrupted
by great mountain masses to the same extent in
America, with the result that an equable climate
is found much farther inland in France Thus, al
though winter and summer we'll marked in
the interior of France, the winters not cold
nor the summers so hot in most parts of the
northern half of the United States. In the inte-
rior of northern France the average temperature
for January, the coolest month, is few degrees
above freezing, which is about the same the
average for southern Missouri and Central Vir-
ginia But in these states there is much
variation; IN france the temperatures persist
close to the average.
The myth of sunny France" is completely
ploded by a study of climatological data. France
is much less sunny than America. But this is
not to be altogether regretted, for science has
searchingly questioned the popular conception
that much sunshine is healthful. 1t is believed
that the excessive sunshine of the tropics is
of the most adverse influences of that climate,
and it has been proved that some of the light
Tays-especially the actinic ray-are positively
destructive of living tissue. Heat stroke and sun
stroke ascribed to this fact is also the pc
culiar effect the nerves of the dry sunny table
lands of southwest.
A comparison of data for Paris and New York
shows that in New York the percentage of cloud
mess is less in every month of the year. During
January for example, Paris has on an average ~
per cent of cloudy days, while New York has
but 5S.
The heat of the American summer is un0ues-
tionaby the climatic factor from which the typi-
cal American consciously suffers most. This he
will escape in Europe The average temperatures
in Belgium and northern France during the hot
test months, which July and August, are from
63 to IS degrees, which is lower than the average
along the Canadian border. When it is taken
into account that the climate is also much more
uniform than ours, 1t is that the European
summers are much more endurable.