All these matters have to be weighed, and from them a conclusion reached as to what climate is best. It is a complicated question, and it is not enough that the doctor make his diagnosis and then oracularly pronounces the name of some locality as that best suited for your disease. It is easy for him, but it may turn out hard for you.

CHAP. III—WHERE IS THE BEST SOUTHERN WINTER CLIMATE?

In studying this question of climate, more particularly with reference to those who suffer from diseases of the throat and lungs, I have taken some pains to satisfy myself whereabout in the South those of them whom a Southern climate suits will find the most eligible climatic conditions in winter. I shall give the result of my studies, though for reasons which will soon appear, it is of no great use just now. I build for the future.

The model climate for such invalids must satisfy four conditions. It must have an equable temperature, moderate moisture, moderate and regular winds, and freedom from local disease.

First about temperature. Here the mere amount of heat or cold is not so much to be looked at, as what meteorologists call the range. The thermometer should show no great difference in the day and the night, or between one day and another. Sudden changes should not appear on the record. Warmth is desirable because it leads to a life in the open air, prevents chilly and close rooms, and soothes the irritable air passages. Heat above seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit is objectionable, because it is debilitating, and hinders exercise.

In the United States, Key West has the warmest climate and the least range. Its mean annual temperature is 76°.5; its range 52° Fahrenheit. This is rather too hot. Nor is it free from some other objections. The island is small, barren, and uninteresting; there are no rides and drives, and violent winds from the north and northeast occur more or less every winter.

Many have lauded the climate of Texas. It is true that the hottest portions of that State have a mean annual temperature of 73°. But then the winters there are as cold as in Southern Georgia, and the range is nowhere less than 70°, and generally 80° to 90°. Then there are the “northers,” chilling winds from the north, which reduce the temperature 10° to 20° in a few hours. In fine, the climate is much less equable than on the south Atlantic coast. The winter temperature of most of Texas is as low as that of South Carolina.

This is too low. The mean temperature of Charleston, S. C., is 66°, the range nearly 95°. At Savannah the temperature of the year is 65°, the range about 90°. The summers at these points are hot, the winter months often cold, damp, and raw. It is precisely these months, and these only, which interest us just now. To present the matter more fully I extract the following table from the Medical statistics of the U. S. Army. It is based on careful observations extending over many years, and shows the temperature of each of the winter months in a number of places in the South:

Locality. December. January. February.
Aiken, S. C., 47° 45° 50°
Charleston, 52 51 52
Savannah, 53 52 55
Tallahassee, 55 55 60
Mobile, 52 55 50
Pensacola, 56 54 56
St. Augustine, 57 57 60
New Smyrna, 63 62 64
Cedar Keys, 62 58 58
Tampa Bay, 61 61 63
Ocala, 63 58 58
Miami River, 67 66 67
Key West, 70 69 70
Corpus Christi, 57 56 57

Corpus Christi is the hottest place in Texas; yet its winters are colder than on the eastern coast of Florida, and its annual range is 70 degrees. The highest winter temperature observed anywhere on the mainland of the United States was at Fort Dallas on the Miami river, and at New Smyrna, some miles north of it, both on the east coast of Florida. Furthermore, their range is less than anywhere else. During four years that the army officers watched the thermometer at Fort Dallas, the highest point reached by the mercury was 95 degrees; the lowest 35 degrees; a range, therefore, of 60 degrees in four years.