196 FLORIDA.

of their offspring manifested any constitutional predisposi-
tion to pulmonary disease. Independent of uterine diseases
among females, so common in every civilized country, and
constitutional syphilis among colored people, I will ask you
if your experience will not bear out my statement, and if
Your practice among residents is not almost exclusively con-
fined to acute and not chronic disease and broken health ?
If this is a fact, it would appear that the climate is pecul-
iarly adapted to the cure of such conditions, and have we
not a potent agent to use, and, if used aright, to benefit suf-
fering humanity ? .
 "The word climate, in its common signification, indi-
cates a region bounded by certain arbitrary lines, but in
medicine it possesses a wider meaning. The effect of cli-
mate upon the human system is the sum of the influences
which are connected with many factors. The climate of
any locality, professionally speaking, depends upon its tem-
perature, atmospheric vicissitudes, prevailing wmds, humid-
ity, its elevation above the sea-level, its proximity to the
ocean or oceanic currents, its contiguity to mountains,
lakes, rivers, arid areas, soil, drainage, vegetable produc-
tions, malaria, general sanitation, and other factors, which
we shall briefly consider. .
 "Temperature is an important factor in climate, and a
very large proportion of the profession, who have made a
special study of pulmonary diseases, advocate a dry, sunny,
and temperate climate for their successful treatment. In
view of the great dissemination of phthisis throughout all
zones, and the marked percentage of mortality ('nearly
two sevenths of all deaths resulting from this disease'), it
is exceedingly important that correct opinions should pre-
vail with regard to its treatment. The importance of
laboring to check this disease and limit its mortality is an
urgent necessity, more especially when there is a growing
demand for more attention to the preservation of health,
and when the conviction is gaining ground that this is an
important function of medical science.
 "The modern professional view that a temperate, dry,
and sunny clime is best adapted to the treatment of a large
proportion of pulmonary diseases is one of the most valua-
ble contributions that modern science has made in the treat-
ment of such diseases. It may be stated, as a general rule,