Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/337

Rh change is indicated for the case in hand?" The question, to be properly answered, necessarily includes a knowledge of the region in which the individual has been living. Shall an inhabitant of Virginia go south or north for the winter? Or, had he better go west, or northwest, or southwest? Shall a New-Yorker go to Florida, and, if to Florida, shall it be into the tonic Atlantic breezes of the eastern shore, or the milder and softer air of the Gulf coast? Does this person's condition and meteorological surroundings indicate a change to the rarefied air of Colorado or to the denser atmosphere of Tennessee, Michigan, or Minnesota? Ought the change to be to the moist breezes and frequent rains of Washington in the northwest or to the constant sunshine and more even temperature of southern California in the semitropical southwest? If the Pacific slope seems indicated, shall it be in the coast cool winds or the warm and calm interior valley? Or, had we not better make a new climate of our own? The bosom of great Ocean furnishes a variety of climates all its own. In former days a sea voyage was much resorted to for chronic invalids, and with decided advantages in many cases. A life at sea, if at all prolonged, has the disadvantage of leaving too many comforts behind to be recommended for any but the young and comparatively robust. It is said that three hundred miles from land the air is free from living germs. Many persons have returned from long voyages in health entirely restored.

But we need not go to sea, or go abroad, or even to the south, or to the wide west. We can make a climate of our own if we properly work for that end. It is not even necessary to rattle over ten miles of pavement in order to get a change of air. We have it right there on the veranda; we can have it fresh from the outside grand air, by opening the windows and opening them wide till all the stale air in the room is blown out and all the room is filled with ozone. We can change our food at home if we like. I know a man who almost rejuvenated himself by living on little else than fish, oysters, and clam juice for three months. We can regulate the temperature and take a sun-bath whenever the sun shines. And we can stop fretting if we are sufficiently determined to do so. Actions are but the evidence of a predetermination. Why not determine to change our climate, when there is benefit to be derived from such change?

It has always been the unsolved puzzle of my professional life that so many people insist on reaching out to a distance for much that can be had better right at hand if they would but open their hand and take it. This is especially so in regard to climate and changes of climate. Notwithstanding positive directions to the contrary, many a child in pain with joint disease has been taken out miles over rough pavements "for the air," while every jolt