Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1894 — WEATHER AND DISEASE. [ARTICLE]

WEATHER AND DISEASE.

An Important Investigation on the Effects of Climatic Conditions. Secretary Morton has opened a new field of usefulness for the weather bureau in directing that it shall col; lect data respecting the relation between certain climatic conditions and the prevalence of certain epidemics of disease, such, for instance, as the present visitation of la grippe, says the Philadelphia Record. That such relation does exist is something more than a matter of moral certainty. The archives of medical science both at home and abroad teem with evidence showing the public health is largely dependent upon atmospheric conditions; but the investigation of the vitally important subject from the meteorological standpoint, and on a comprehensive national scale —which in time might readily develop into an international system—could not fail to let loose a flood of light from a new quarter upon a question of importance to human health, happiness and progress. Indeed, it is not impossible that the sanitary researches of the weather bureau might constitute in time its most valuable function in a specific sense if not in the popular estimation, and it seems likely, too, that its evolution in this direction might be practically accomplished with little if any appreciable enlargement of its expenditures.