Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/158

154 by way either of example or of warning the lessons of the past have been brought to bear upon the present work.

On beginning work the commission was confronted by the fact that while from the first of October till about the middle of May the climatic conditions of Washington are most salubrious, during the remaining four and a half months the city is subject to extended periods of intense heat, during which all public business is conducted at an undue expenditure of physical force. Every second year congress is in session usually until about the middle of July; and not infrequently it happens that, by reason of prolonged or special sessions, during the hottest portion of the summer the city is filled with the persons whose business makes necessary a more or less prolonged stay

in Washington. Of course nothing can be done to change weather conditions, but very much can be accomplished to mitigate the physical strain caused by summer heat. Singularly enough, up to the present time the abundant facilities which nature affords for healthful and pleasant recreation during heated terms have been neglected, and in this respect Washington is far behind other cities whose climatic conditions demand much less, and whose opportunities also are less favorable.

In Rome throughout the centuries it has been the pride of emperor and of pope to build fountains to promote health and give pleasure. Mile after mile of aqueduct has been constructed to gather the water even from remote hills, and bring great living streams into every quarter of the city; so that from the moment of entering the Eternal City until the time of departure the visitor is scarcely out of sight of beautiful jets of water, now flung upward in great columns to add life and