The Theory of Environment / An Outline of the History of the Idea of Milieu, and Its Present Status, part 1

by Armin Hajman Koller

“We seem forced to search outside of the factories for the reasons for our seasonal fluctuations of wages.... There seems to be no recourse except to ascribe the fluctuations of the curves to climate [pp. 64–5].

“The verity of the conclusion just reached is strongly confirmed by comparison with other regions and other types of human activity.... The curves [in Figure 2, pp. 66–7] range from the Adirondacks in northern New York to Tampa in southern Florida and include one from Denmark. With them I have repeated some of the curves of Figure 1 for the sake of comparison. The most remarkable feature of this series is that although there is great diversity of place and of activity, all the curves harmonize with what would be expected on the basis of Figure 1 [p. 65].

“The general form of the curves for Pittsburgh and Connecticut is obviously the same....

“The agreement between the curves for Connecticut and Pennsylvania is far too close to be accidental [p. 76].

“We have now seen that from New England to Florida physical strength and health vary in accordance with the seasons. Extremes seem to produce the same effect everywhere. The next question is whether mental activity varies the same way” (p. 77).

Huntington uses the marks of “about 1900 students for a single year” in mathematics (weekly averages at Annapolis and daily averages at West Point) and in English (at Annapolis). From these data he compiles the curves in Figure 3 (p. 80). He says (p. 81), “The curves of mental activity all resemble it [the average curve of physical work] in having two main maxima, in fall and spring.... At Annapolis, just as at West Point, the time of best work is when the mean temperature is not far from forty degrees [Fahrenheit].

“Summing up the matter, we find that the results of investigations in Denmark, Japan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida are in harmony. They all show that except in Florida neither the winter nor the summer is the most favorable season. Both physical and mental activity reach pronounced maxima in the spring and fall, with minima in midwinter and midsummer. The consistency of our results is of great importance. It leads to the belief that in all parts of the world the climate is exercising an influence which can readily be measured, and can be subjected to statistical analysis” (p. 82).

This is his conclusion in Chapter IV (pp. 49–82), “The Effect of the Seasons.”

Having seen in the fourth chapter “that both physical and mental energy vary from season to season according to well-defined laws,” Huntington investigates in the fifth chapter (“The Effect of Humidity and Temperature,” pp. 83–110) “the special features of seasonal change which are most effective” (p. 83). Explaining the curves of Human Activity and Mean Temperature (p. 99), he says (p. 98), “With the exception of the last two, which are distinctly the least reliable, the physical group all reach maxima at a temperature between 59° and 65°. Even the two less reliable curves reach their maxima within the next four degrees. All the curves decline at low temperatures, ..., and also at high.

“Another point brought out by the curves [on p. 99] is that as we go to more southerly climes the optimum temperature of the human race becomes higher. It is important to note, however, that the variation in the optimum is slight compared with the variation in the mean temperature of the places in question. For instance, in Connecticut the optimum seems to be about 60° for people of north European stock. This is about ten degrees higher than the mean temperature for the year as a whole. In Florida, on the other hand, the optimum for Cubans is about 65°, which is five degrees lower than the mean temperature for the year at Tampa. In other words, with a difference of twenty degrees in the mean annual temperature, and with a distinctly northern race compared with a southern, we find that the optimum differs only about 5° F. This seems to mean that for the entire human race the optimum temperature probably does not vary more than ten or fifteen degrees [pp. 100–101].