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Medical climatology
~40
THE
BRITISH
JOURNAL
OF TUBERCULOSIS
an administrator in connection with the founding and development of the Cambridgeshire Tuberculosis Settlement at P a p w o r t h deserves' fullest recognition. MEDICAL CLIMATOLOGY. Every medical adviser, and especially all who have to deal with cases of tuberculosis, should study the principles and practice of medical climatology. Dr. E. H a w k i n s has provided a remarkably informing and helpful guide to the climate of England and Wales. 1 The author set hin~self the task of producing a scientific and yet practical manual on the probable climate of actual and potential health resorts, places of education, and main centres of population, using as a basis the data issued by the Meteorological Office. Medical practitioners and others interested in the study of climatology in its relation to the prevention of disease and the restoration of the disordered will find the effectively arranged, reliable, up-to-date information so pleasingly presented in this volume of the greatest assistance. The work opens with a discussion of the geographical and meteorological factors in climate and their physiological effects, and this is followed by an excellent summary regarding the climate of the British Isles. Then follow a series of chapters in which the various districts are considered--inland, seaside, riverside, etc. A special ~aapter is devoted to Greater London. The work closes with an excellent study of the therapeutics of the English climate. In the appendix is a seasonal therapeutic guide to health resorts and a section on spas. There is a particularly serviceable index and therapeutic guide. In it are the names of a number of places which claim to offer special advantages for tuberculous subjects. The following suggestions are given as to the selection of a climatic station for phthisical cases : " When one apex only is affected, open-air life in any climate will be probably quite suffffcient ; but with both sides in trouble, or with a cavity, mild or warm districts are necessary in winter, with cool or more bracing places in summer. Always choose a climate which allows the greatest amount Of time to be spent in the open air, so as to increase the resisting powers of the patient. Avoid h o t places in summer, owing to the depression and loss of appetite produced, and to the risk o f possible chili if a cool breeze sets in and increases the humidity. High altitudes, which in other parts of the world have been found so satisfactory in bracing up the lung, are scarcely sufficiently dry, sunny, and free from wind in the British Isles; but when there is no ulceration, no bronchitis or emphysema, and no serious cardiac lesion, places like the borders of Dartmoor, and many others at a slightly lower elevation, may be visited in summer." A useful list of suggested centres is given. Dr. Hawkins has provided his monumental volume with a splendid series of ingeniously constructed and effectively printed charts, most of them in colours. 1., Medical Climatology of England and Wales." By Edgar Hawkins, M.A., M.D., D.P.H. Pp. xiv+3o2, with i49 charts (144 in colours). London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd., 136~ Gower Street, W.C.i. i923. Price 25s. net.
THE
BRITISH
JOURNAL
OF TUBERCULOSIS
an administrator in connection with the founding and development of the Cambridgeshire Tuberculosis Settlement at P a p w o r t h deserves' fullest recognition. MEDICAL CLIMATOLOGY. Every medical adviser, and especially all who have to deal with cases of tuberculosis, should study the principles and practice of medical climatology. Dr. E. H a w k i n s has provided a remarkably informing and helpful guide to the climate of England and Wales. 1 The author set hin~self the task of producing a scientific and yet practical manual on the probable climate of actual and potential health resorts, places of education, and main centres of population, using as a basis the data issued by the Meteorological Office. Medical practitioners and others interested in the study of climatology in its relation to the prevention of disease and the restoration of the disordered will find the effectively arranged, reliable, up-to-date information so pleasingly presented in this volume of the greatest assistance. The work opens with a discussion of the geographical and meteorological factors in climate and their physiological effects, and this is followed by an excellent summary regarding the climate of the British Isles. Then follow a series of chapters in which the various districts are considered--inland, seaside, riverside, etc. A special ~aapter is devoted to Greater London. The work closes with an excellent study of the therapeutics of the English climate. In the appendix is a seasonal therapeutic guide to health resorts and a section on spas. There is a particularly serviceable index and therapeutic guide. In it are the names of a number of places which claim to offer special advantages for tuberculous subjects. The following suggestions are given as to the selection of a climatic station for phthisical cases : " When one apex only is affected, open-air life in any climate will be probably quite suffffcient ; but with both sides in trouble, or with a cavity, mild or warm districts are necessary in winter, with cool or more bracing places in summer. Always choose a climate which allows the greatest amount Of time to be spent in the open air, so as to increase the resisting powers of the patient. Avoid h o t places in summer, owing to the depression and loss of appetite produced, and to the risk o f possible chili if a cool breeze sets in and increases the humidity. High altitudes, which in other parts of the world have been found so satisfactory in bracing up the lung, are scarcely sufficiently dry, sunny, and free from wind in the British Isles; but when there is no ulceration, no bronchitis or emphysema, and no serious cardiac lesion, places like the borders of Dartmoor, and many others at a slightly lower elevation, may be visited in summer." A useful list of suggested centres is given. Dr. Hawkins has provided his monumental volume with a splendid series of ingeniously constructed and effectively printed charts, most of them in colours. 1., Medical Climatology of England and Wales." By Edgar Hawkins, M.A., M.D., D.P.H. Pp. xiv+3o2, with i49 charts (144 in colours). London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd., 136~ Gower Street, W.C.i. i923. Price 25s. net.