Directly, by promoting evaporation from the skin, and abstracting heat
from the body in proportion to their dryness and rapidity of motion. Their
indirect action is more important, as the temperature and pressure of the
air depend to a great extent on their direction. Thus winds from the north
in this country are usually concomitant with a high barometer and dry
weather; in summer with a pleasant feeling, but in winter with much cold.
Southwest winds are the most frequent here of any, as about 24 per cent.
of the winds come from this quarter against 161/2 from the west, 111/2 from
the east, and the same from the northeast; 101/2 from the south, 8 from the
north, and a smaller number from the other quarters. Southwest winds are
also those which are most frequently accompanied by rain, as about 30 per
cent. of the rainy days are coincident with southwest winds. Another set
of observations give precisely the same order, but a considerable
difference in their prevalence, viz., southwest 31 per cent., west 141/2,
and northeast 111/2 per cent. Easterly winds are the most unpleasant, as
well as the most injurious to man of all that occur in this country.
I now propose discussing very briefly the known relations between
meteorological phenomena and disease.
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