I will be content, therefore, with observing,
that when an Englishman takes change of
air, it rarely happens that he does not
necessarily change also the character of his food
and the amount of exercise habitually taken.
Considerations of this kind will account
abundantly for the very great benefit which
we see constantly accruing to others, and feel
often in our own bodies, as the consequences
of an occasional judicious removal for a few
days or weeks from one part of England
to another. And still no mention has
been made of the reviving influence exerted
on the body through the mind, which is
refreshed and amused with change of scene,
and change of thoughts, and change of
occupation.

In considering the climate of a place with
regard to the amount of heat there to be met
with, we must take into consideration the fact
that the same given yearly average of heat
may be spread over the year very differently
in two places. In the heart of the continent
—anywhere far inland—there will be all the
heat run through in the summer, and all the
cold thrown into the winter. In other places,
as on western coasts, there will be a sort of
average struck, and a moderate amount of
warmth will be maintained throughout the
year. Again, as regards sea-sides, a western
coast, out of the tropics, is always warmer
and moister than an eastern one, because the
wind that sweeps over the flat sea upon the
shore, in one case comes over a broad ocean,
that is always uniformly heated, and the
east wind comes from journeying across dry
land. People who are scrofulous, who have
diseases of the lungs, are paralytic or
rheumatic; also old people generally, should seek
warm climates.

The moisture that accompanies the warmth
upon our western coasts oppresses the robust
by rendering the air already overcharged
with vapor, unfit to receive the full amount
of healthy exhalation from their bodies; but
to the consumptive patient such defect in the
air is a blessing. His weak frame cannot
bear the drain of that abundant exhalation
which is provoked by a more bracing air, and
which begets a sense of well-being in healthy
men; the moist air takes as much as he can
spare, and asks no more.

Again, exhalation and secretion from the
body is increased when atmospheric pressure
is diminished, as it is diminished in proportion
to the height of land above the sea. Thus
high ground may, like dry ground, be very
bracing and delightful to those who need or
who can bear free exhalation and secretion;
but, at the same time, perhaps perilous to
others—as to those who suffer from bronchitis
or consumption.

Climates liable to sudden and frequent
changes always are unfit for invalids. Sandy
and gravelly soils are the driest, chalk is
tolerably dry; there are few invalids who find a
clay soil beneficial, and to many constitutions
it does harm. It sometimes, however, modifies
usefully a climate otherwise too dry.

The power that an Englishman has of
varying his climate, without quitting his own
country, is very great. Our island lies nearly
in the centre of that zone of the globe in
which the range of temperature is greatest.
We have, on one side of us, the largest mass
of earth in the globe, namely Europe and
Asia, forming physically but one continent;
and on the other side the wide Atlantic.
We are also within the direct influence of the
great ice-fields to the north.

The English climates suitable for invalids
are arranged by Sir James Clark under five
heads. These are thus, according to him, the
climates of London, of the south-coast, the
south-west coast of Cornwall, and of the
west of England.

The climate of London generally suits
people affected with spasmodic asthma: the
draining, the paving, the great masses of
dry brick and stone, the smoke, and the
multitude of fires there burning, have an appreciable
effect upon the climate of the town. It
is made drier and warmer than that of the
surrounding country, especially, of course, in
winter. The days in London lose about a
third of a degree of heat on account of the
impediment offered to the sun's rays by our
veil of smoke; but the nights are, on an
average, almost four degrees warmer than
the nights in the adjacent country. Many
invalids are, for this reason, benefited by a
winter residence in London. If all products
of decomposition, all overcrowding, and whatever
else is obviously unwholesome, were got
rid of from among us, there is no reason why
the London climate should not be, in the main,
as wholesome as any other in the land;
wholesomer by far than a great many.

On the south coast summers are cooler and
winters are warmer than in London. On
account of the reflection from a chalk soil,
light is there more intense than in other parts
of England. The chief places of resort upon
that coast are Hastings, Brighton, and the
Isle of Wight. Hastings is protected from
the north and open to the south winds. It is
a good harbour of refuge for people with
weak lungs who wish to escape the north-
easterly winds prevalent during our three
months of severest winter. At Brighton the
air is drier and more bracing, especially in
the more elevated parts of the town east of
the New Steyne. West of Cannon Place the
soil is clayey and the air moister and milder,
better adapted to the constitutions of those
invalids whose system is unable to work
with vigor. The climate of the Steyne is
intermediate between these two. The brisk,
dry climate of Brighton best suits invalids
with relaxed constitutions who secrete and
exhale copiously. It is capital for children
and as a wholesome place of rest for healthy
people. Its steadiness during autumn and
early winter gives it great value during that