Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1884 — Our Sanitary Facilities. [ARTICLE]

Our Sanitary Facilities.

Among the rich resources of our land are its many and varied hygienic conditions. It does not .contain the fountain of immortal youth, which PonCe de Leon came in quest of over three and a half centuries ago, but it does comprise more natural helps for prolonging youth and arresting deathward tendencies than any other. Our thousands of miles of sea coast, lined with tasteful summer cottages, and the neighboring islands dotted with the same; our diversified conveniences for city boarders in the country, on the mountains and by the lakes; and our forests for hunting and fishing and getting close to nature, are worth more to us than our mines. So would our Saratoga be, if, instead of its being a center of fashionable folly and display, its waters were honestly and intelligently used. Persons of weak lungs at the North can escape our trying winters by spending them at the. South; while those enfeebled by Southern heat may find invigoration in a suitable summer residence at the North. Moreover, all these changes—so immensely broad is our area—involve great diversities in manners, customs, methods, scenes, and scenery, and they divert the mind and feelings from their ordinary state —a prime condition of benefit, equal at ; least to any other one. Prominent among our special health resorts are Colorado and Southern California. The former has a changeable climate, but the dryness and pureness of the air make it exceedingly helpful to consumptives, provided no cavity has yet formed in the lungs. Dr. S. F. Davenport, writing of Southern California (at Santa Barbara), affirms that ho know's of no climate anywhere which, the year round, equals it in sunshine, warmth, equable temperature, little wind, no cold winds, slight rainfall, and little dampness. It is especially adapted to consumption in some of its forms, chronic bronchitis in its dry form, and all neuralgic affections. No climate seems better fitted for the broken-down man of business, or the nervous invalid, to whom the slightest household care is a burden.— Youth’s Companion.