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Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ 11 se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas et6 filmees. Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmees d no'. ^ , nor do I pietend to the possession of any, even t -^i PREFACE. Several years an-o, portions of the following- papers were read before the Natural History t^ociety of Montreal, and formed part of its annual course of Somerville ItM-tures. They were put aside to be added to, improved, and cor- rected as leisure would allow. But that leisure never came ; neither is it in prospective ; and I soon found my- self drilting- away into the regions of surgery which furnished fewer opportunities of adding" to the material then in hand. Many additions, however, have since been made, as professional reading or observation would some- times furnish. The familiar colloquial style has been preserved, as being more suited, it seems to me, to a pro- miscuous audience of learned and unlearned. It is, methinks, the more ^uitcd to a paper of a fragmentary character, and one having no — and which could possibly have no claim to be considered a complete homogeneous essay on the subject of which it treats. The reader, therefore, must not suppose he is entering upon an exhaustive paper on the exact thermometrical, barometrical or hygromotrical bearings of this country. I have neither the intention to mislead, nor the desire to teach. The meteorological features form a part, a necessary, but perhaps the least important part of the paper. They were introduced to maV:e known to those beyond the con- lines of this Dominion those tlnn-mometric and other con- ditions, which, in other countries, are so little understood ; and which have gone so far 1o adversely inlluence opinion in their regard. Having said this, I may state frankly that never was 1 a meteorologist in the restricted sense of the term ; nor do I pretend to the j ossession of any, even IV PREFACE. ol" the least portion of that truly surprisiiio- knowlodgo laid claim to by those who, ])y the pretended study of cer- tain phenomena claim, but fail, io foretell Ihcrniomelric chan^'(^s a whole year in advance ! Jlather do I share the timidity of that staff of observers at Washington, Toronto and elsewhere, who, with returns from a vast number of observers scattered over the whole North American conti- nent ; and witii a network of t(»le2,'raphs centering* at cer- tain points, ventu:. . but scarcely venture to predict the stereotyped " Probabilities for the next twenty-four hours." In the first part of the subject — the climate proper — T have made use, without scruple, and sometimi^s, 1 fear, without acknowledg'mimt, of the labours of ol)servers w^ho, in many parts of Canada, have endeavoured to record features of meteorolog'ical interest. In the second part, the difficulty has been almost insur- mountable. It is this latter part which has most grown under my pen ; and which I have had most pleasure in w riting. In the first part I do but transcribe ; in the second, I found little to transcribe, and had to strike out for myself. It could not be but that some opinions and statements — not orig-inally mine — find expression ; and if so I cannot mend it now. They have been digested and assimilated, and I might as well try to give individuality to the grain of wheat, ground and forming part of the loaf w^hereon I fed at breakfast, as to give to each his due share of praise, if praise there be, in striking for me a thought worth record- ing, which otherwise might have remained dormant. The late Judge McCord, the late Drs. Hall and Small- wood, all cherished personal friends, furnished me much material for the first part of my papcn-, and more than once urged me to give my observations to the public ; and the late Bishoj) Fulibrd, of respected memory, imder whose presidency the lectures were delivered, considered it to be my duty to give such information as I possessed. The approaching visit of the British Association for the PREFACE. V Advancement of Science, which has done me the distin- guiKhed honour of naming* mo Vice-President, (uiuses me to wipe the du(st fron" my manuscript and to confide it, in synopsis at hnist, (o its members, and perhaps to the printiM-, with such slight touches as additional information may have ailbrded. In the s(Mond part of my subjeijt : The Relations of this Climate to Health and Life, I have had no writer to con- sult ; none to follow ; from none todilFer ; for, while there- sources — the boundless natural resources — of this country have had numerous explorers, allusions to our climate have been hasty and oftc^n unfair statements of those more sensible features which tire first noticed by the traveller or excursionist ; and which are most misunderstood. It is not, it cannot be denied that very vague and inde- finite impressions an^ entertained with reference to the climate of Canada and to its infhuince on the economy- notions which havi^ beeii conlirmed by hasty travellers who have come and gone, and who have related as among the marvellous, what they saw and felt while here. Canada has, in this way, come to be regarded by many, at* a most ungracious, trying, and exhaustive climate. I need only, in illustration, direct attention to the geographies and histories until lately in use in the schools. It may be, that, to counteract those erroneous impressions, patri- otism, with me, may have had a too full scope ; but I have endeavoured with singleness of purpose to trace the pecu- liar meteorological features with fidelity, and to indicate their influence upon us. There are some subjects upon which, though their general principles are clear, it is extremely difhcult to be precise, and the present is one of them. It is only those who have attempted to write on the subject that can be aware of the difficulties of the task. This is the expe- rience^ of those who have had the most favourable oppor- tunities for the work — -access to the best libraries ; infor- VI PREFACE. iiiution liom numerous observers ; friendly intercourse with those scientilie auxiliaries whom European society can so well furnish ; and leisure for the work. Much more dilficuli is such a task lor om; who, busied in the daily avocations of a laborious profession, attempts, at irregular intervals, and of short duration, to deduce gene- ral conclusions from such definitive special information as industry alone can pro(;ure ; for the life of a surgeon in Canada, it is hardly necessary to state, is cut up into a thousand little iVagments, in which he is always attempt- ing to accomplish what he cannot; and to finish what he has scarce time to begin. Yet no subject more than Climatology requires access to ofhcial records, and leisure for their arrangement ; for the observations of those who devote themselves to the subject of Meteorology are often recorded in widely distant local periodicals. Isolated faints, as such, are useless i'^ this as in other sidences ; and it is only when multiplied, and compared with others, they obtain any value. A subject comprising such various elements as climate has not yet received, even in Europe, a position which entitles it to be regarded as a positive scienc^e ; while in Canada the observers have been too few ; the results of their observations have not been properly averaged ; and even the averages obtained have been too much influ- enced by the extremes. The instruments used by observ- ers in one section of the country uo not always agree with those used in another ; and the records of observers, even in the same locality frequently disagree. Thus, while instability is apparently the chai acteristic feature of cli- jnate, instability seems to characterize many observers ; and Meteorology is still regarded as the most equivocal and uncertain branch of natural philosophy — nay, as beyond the pale of philosophy altogether. Greneraliza- tious alone are allowed, while in many instances even PREFACE. Vll generalizations are regarded acs anomalies, and the deduc- tions therefrcm as unreliable — if not erroneous. Every science has its period of infancy — but the science of Mciteorology seems to have leaped from it at once into maturity by the aid of that universal genius, Humboldt (who has left the impress of his wonderful intellect upon (;v(^ry branch of science), and Sir Wm. llerschel. Hum- boldt and Herschel caused observations to be so multiplied that something like a sys*,cm has been formed from them. And during the last few y^ars a rapid approach h is been made towards generylization. Bache, Redlield, 131odgett and others, in the United Spates, have continued the work ; while Canada, in the persons of Judge Mc( 'ord and Mr. Skakel, the pioneers of Canadian Meteorology, Col. Sa> -ne, Capt. Lefroy, Dr. Kelly, Prof Cherriman, Dr. A. Hall, and Dr. Smallwood (whose diligence and accuracy have earned for him the fori-most rank among meteorolo- gists), with other local observers, has already furnished a series of observations which will enable us to form a fair conception of the climatological features of this country. Sir John Richardson, Prof Hind, Sir George Simpson and many of the factors of the Hon. the Hudson's Bay Com- pany ; Scoresby, Parry, Sabine, Franklin, Sir Jas. Ri(;hard- son, Capt. Waddeil ana Sir James Ross, who, as Humboldt says have displayed a perseverance of which we scarcely find a para] iel in the history of humau exertions, complete the chain of meteorological evidence from the Arctic to the Atlantic and Pacific — " from the happy zone of the olive, to the (,'limate where the soil is covered with lichens." And now the Canadian Parliament, ever quick in words of promise, and sometimes slow in thought and action, are making provision for the establishment of a system of meteoiolcgy in Canada, by causing every grammar school to be provided with a barometer, one thermometer for the temperature of the air, one hygrometer for evaporation, one rain-guage, one wind-vane, and ' it shall be part of the Vlll PREFACE. dutj'- oi' (3very county grammar Hchool to keep a meteor- ological journal, which shall bo presented annually by the Chiel' Superintendent of Education to the Grovernment in his annual report." In speaking of the diiferences between the diseases of Canada and those of Europe I may have been more decided than miglit appear warrantable ; but, in extenuR-Lion, I may say, that from my connexion for many years, as surgeon, with the largest hospital in Canada, receiving within its walls every nationality, and more especially those nation- alities whic^h form so large and distinctive a i)ortion of the inhabitants of this part of the country, something almost akin to dogmatism w^as with difficulty kept under, for, witli Virchow, I may say : — " Nichtsdestoweniger bekenne ich olfen dnss es mir nicht moglich ist mich gan/ zu ontsubjectiviren. Mit jedem .Tahre sehe ich immer wieder von Neuem, dass ich selbst an solchen Stellen, wo ich geglaubt hatte s(;hon ganz objcctiv zu sein, immer noch ein grosses Stfick subjectiver Vorstel- lungen bewahrt habe." As I was desirous of ascertaining the views of the mem- bers of my profession generally upon certain questions dis- cussed iii 1 he second part of the paper, I addressed to many, if not to most of the abler members of it, a series of (jues- lions for a report of their opinion. Very few replied ; and those who did were so little in accord with each other that I \vas left precisely where I was before. There was no disturbance of tln^ deductions I had already made, and which 1 had given, to those moi-jt competent to do so, a fair oi)portunity to discuss, perhaps to refute. There was a singular unanimity, however, in the replies to a ques- tion not put by me : that little or no attention had been given by them to the subject. As little or no attention had been given to what I consider a most interesting, though a neglected subject of medical enquiry, so lar as this country is concerned, I placed my paper before the PREFA(-i])le. Then there are influences, general influences, which no observer can adequately recognize, or who can measure their power, or ascertain their duration or limit. And besides those general influences, there are local influmices which supply an atmosphere of their own, independent of air, or earth, or sky, or winter's cold, or summer's heat. As an illustration : — Intermittent fever is generally met with in low damp situations, near swamps, marshes, ponds, lakes, or sluggish streams ; and rarely or never on high and dry land, or by swil y flowing water. Here we have certain data, good, so far as they go. But they are XVI INTRODUCTION. veiidored almost uui^ntory by the I'ai^t that tertian is not invariably met with in low marshy grounds. The season of the yejir ; the neighbourhood of hills, lakes, rivers, for- estf , and 'he nature of the soil, etc., have their inlluence, generally, bat not always ; for the individual subjected to tho.5e inllut'Hccs may have been so saturated with the disease at a Ibrmer period as to be proof against a new attack ; or the vis medicdtrix, given to dillerent persons, indillerent propor- tions, may be sufficient to shield him, more or less, from their operation. It would seem as if this branch of medi- cine must ever remain to some extent conjectural ; that, as Dr. Ferriar remarks, " nature, as if in ridi<;ule of the attempt to unmask her, has re(;onciled contradictions and realized improbabilities with a mysterious versatility, which inspires the true philosopher with diffidence, and reduces the systematic to despair." He who "endeav- ours to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection, and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces," would require that extended knowledge of the various branches of science to which an universal genius such as Huml)oldt might perhaps venture timidly to aspire. Yet notwithstanding the difficulty of tracing the con- nection, writers have, at all times, recognized a relationship between the climate of a country and its inhabitants : " As the air is, strch are our humours. It offends commonly if it be too hot and dry, thick, fuliginous, cloudy, blustering or tempestuous." " Residents of warm climates," says Leo, "are ordinarily so choleric in their speeches, that scarce two words pass without railing or chiding in common talk, and often quarreling in the streets." " Cold air," says Montaltus, " is almost as bad as hot, and the people of northern countries are generally dull and heavy." " In a thick and cloudy air," says Lomnius, " men are tetric, sad and peevish ; and if the western winds blow, and there be a calm, or a fiiii' sunshine day, there is a kind of INTRODUCTION. XVll alacrity in men's minds ; it cheors up men and boasts ; but if it bo a roiig-h, heavy, cloudy, stormy weather, men are sa«l, lumpish, and mucli dejected, angry, was])ish, dull and mt. T\v\ .b'ws al•(^ descondtul from Abraham, and the dark piMictratinu: eye, dark liair, and brunettu complexion aro usually rc<>Mrded as (hreo ot'thcir morodistini^uishiniif features. Ihit in the north of Europe there are many with liL»'ht sandy hair, lair <'omplexion, and liL>'hi. eyes. As we proceed southwards they bix-ome davk(»r and darker ; and when we arrive in India, th(^y cannot ])e distinguished, in colour, from th(> almost black Hindoo anion'4' whom they have dwelt ibr several c(^niuriv's ; and the lenij;th of time th(>y have been resident, and th(» numbtn* of ''•(Mierations of tropical birth, may be rou^'hly estimated by thcnr gradations of colour. l!](|ually striking* are the features of their old task-mastin's — the Egyptians. As we travel from Egypt towards Negroland there is a regular progression of colour which is altogether independent of the mixture, and may be called geographic. The inhalii- tants south of the great desert of Korosko are much darker than those on the northern side, and the hair is remarkably curly. The Arabs are dark in direct ratio to their prox- imity to the equator, and M. Tremaux has found the Foun or Founzi with skin as black and hair as curly as the Negro, with flux's of a decided African type. The Arabs occui-)y the country between the Negroes and Founs, but only for a few centuries. They, as well as the Founs, are in constant hostility to the Negroes, and the latter are invariably sold and sent north when taken prisoners. There is no mixing of races, yet the solar rays are gradu- ally removing all shades of distinction, and the circum- stance most strongly corroborative is the fac^ that those who have been longest exposed to the meridian, most nearly resemble the Negro. Thus the Founs have been longer in Negroland than the Arabs, and are darker ; and the Barbs, who have been longer than the Arabs, and not so long as the Founs, hold an intermediate place in colour and ill character. SX INTRODTTCTION. But tho infliieiiro of climato, pvopor, is most ovident in circumstanceH whon^ it is least hiiidcn'd l)y other coiidi- iions — as in the case of those in.)st exjiosed to it — the Aborii?ino8 — ivul hi'ie again tho physical features of tho country have peculiar iniluence. In some instances, it does not require the long- continued operation of cliiiiiite io ellect changes t! ^ most marked. Those versed in ethnograi^hical qucstio >> inform us that lilnglish women in Sydney, Auslr^dia, who have had portions of a family in England, but who had ceased to bear children, after aiTival in Australia sometimes again beconu^ prolific and have childnMi ; but the effect on thtnr minds of the new order of things is like that on Laban's sheep — their offspring in Australia are totally unlike what had been born in England. Tho latter were light-haired, fair, rosy, plump, ]^]nglish-looking — the Australians were dark, straight-haired, and of more serious countenance, resembling, in some respects, their elder brothers less than thi^y did the people among whom they were now living. Here we have a marked example of the modifying influence of climate and social circum- stances on the outward physiognomy. But soil and cli- mate also affect the national character — materially when the inhabitants are in a rude, uncultivated state ; and, but partially, when their social condition is more elevated — for civilization is constantly developing latent intellectual endowments and theii* resulting phenomena, making individuals to differ from those that preceded them, when these were placed in circumstances less favourable than were those to mental development ; and distinctions which were at first ma/en'al at length become intellectual. Man, in his migration over ihe earth's surface, is subject to much vicissitude and change, while nature continues to operate by definite and unvarying laws, leaving him to modify and mould himself to their operation, but not to alter them. Climate, therefore, as understood in its re- INTRODUCTION. XXl stricted souse is, as do Bonstetten says, " but ono oC the many rausos that alFett man. Ik. influence, though always operative, is felt gradually through ellects which some- times would appear to be tbreign to it." But there is still a third element afiectiug man in health and disease, and iniluencing all tables of mortality ; and one, moreover, of great potency — the ordinary condition of wealth and comfort. Gibbon says, and nciirly every physiologist believes, that man is better adapted than the inferior animals to boar those changes of temperature, and of other qualities of atmosphere, consequent on a riunoval fro]n one climate to another. But for this boasted prerogative may we not say he is more indebted to the ingenuity of his mind, than to the pliability of his body? "Were man, in a state of nature, deprived of the power of protecting hims(^lf, at the expense of other inferior animals, against the external influences of climate, he would be the least likely to survive transplantation. " L'homme est une intelligence servie par des organes," and to him alone it is given to " study vvoll tho olimo, Would to its manners /th obso title of Mistassini, a lake which is said to rival Huron in size, and to surpass it in the number and variety of its finny inhabitants, should till 1884 have remained unno- ticed since the time when a Jesuit missionary alluded to 82 it, ill a maimer so casual, as to have lod to a belief that its existence was a myth. The greater portion of the surface of this country is but litt,l(( elevated above the sea. According to IFuinlmldl, — Europe liaB a moan olovation of f)71 foot. Asia 1,151 " South Amori(!a 1,132 " Nortli Ainorica 748 " Canada (roujjlily ostiiiiatod) may bo placed at 300 " The ascent from the ocean to Lake Superior does not average more than six inches in a mile ; and even this ascent is not markedly noticeable iill we proceed west- ward. Montreal, the head of ocean navigation, and which is reached only after pa,ssing over several hundred miles of fresh surface water, is at low water but eighteen feet above the level of the soa as it rolls under the lighter fresh water along the bed of its great estuary. The low altitude of Canada is favourable to its climate and vegetation. Were the i>lateaus, on the north coast, much elevated, vegetation would be confined to the mosses ; and animal life to the few hardy, thick-furred, thinly scattered animals who could remain to nip ihem. All the long and gentle slopes descend towards the Atlantic and the Frozen Ocban (which is only a depend- ence) ; a. all the short and rapid slopes, or counter slopes, are directed towards the Pacific. The land in Canada ascends in a series of plateaus as we approach the interior, and we reach the height of table-land, as it is termed, on the south side of Hudson's Bay. While admitting, to its fullest extent, the importance of this low altitude at the Labrador (;oast, it is equally im- portant that the h'gh bold Rocky Mountains and Mexi- can Cordilleras should exist to protect us from the genial influence of that ocean. Were the ascent from the Pacific by gentle slopes ; and were the mountains cutting us off 88 from the racilic rcmovod, existoiico on thiH purl of tho coutinont would bo almost impossiblo. Cold winds from the Arctic and Labrador coasts would be succeeded by warm breezes from the Pacific. Soft clouds, loaded with watery vapours, would t>nt^rvate us on the one hand ; and hail, sleet and snow, with intense cold, would chill us on the other. The changes in temperature; would be too suddcm — too severe — for man, with all his in2,'enuity, to endure. The size and shape of this country operate in control- ling the distributi(m of heat. The greater the land surftu^e the greater the measure of heat ; and as the continent of America widens as we ascend in latitude^ wo find the centre of the system of atmospheric circulation north of the geographical equator. Yet the Ari-tic and sub-Arctic regions are colder than those of Europe and Asia, and why ? Blodgett affords the following explanation : — " The refrigeration at the extreme north of this continent is excessive in winter, and there is no accumulated or accumulating heat at the south to balance it, as the land narrows so rapidly — there is no Africa, Arabia and India to compensate our Siberia, and consequently the continent as a whole is below that of the eastern hemisphere in temperature. The eastern hemisphere has a very largo land area at the border of the tropics, while this has very little ; and, as the effect of land areas to increase the tem- perature by accumulation, or to diminish it by radiation, depends wholly on the sun's altitude, the middle latitudes may be softened in winter temperature by land at the north, and such is evidently the case with the north of Europe." This continent diminishes in breadth as we advance towards the south. There is no accumulated heat, therefore, at the south, to temper the cold of the north. The series of vast lakes and rivers exerts unmeasured influence on the climate of this country. "Were it not for 3 , o-^otA coLLrGe Gii DRUMMONO STREET MONTRCAk 84 their proGcuco I Hhoiild not noAv ])o hero to spoak of them ; nor you to listen to mo. The sun's rays reach the surfaces of those numerous lakes after having parted with a por- tion of light on their journey. On reaching the surfaces they are absorbed and converted into heat. They con- tinue to pent^trate, with a gradually decreasing energy, till, at a depth which, compared with the lake itself is inconsiderable, the rays of light are no long<'r seen ; and the rays of heat are no longer felt. The dei)th at which the rays of heat and of light are sensibly felt depends on the clearness of the water. The trauslucid waters of Li v9 Superior do not receive one-tenth part of the incident light at a depth of five fathoms. Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, being less translucent, receive still less. The influence which these larger areas of fresh water exert is, in a measure, proportioned to the depth. If the collections of water are deep, the surface is steadily main- tained at a higher or a lower temperature than the sur- rounding air. In summer the surface waters are heated, and when heated, become specifically lighter, and, in con- sequence, continue to float upon the surface. During the night, or on cloudy days, the portion of surface water cooled by the withdrawal of the sun's rays, or by the low temperature of the air, becomes denser, and sinks. The surfaces of the lakes are constantly experiencing changes in temperature, but at considerable di^pths the tempi^raturo in winter and in summer is nearly uniform. The d(H'pi'r parts of the lakes are always excessively cold, the atmospheric influences being iTiodified in their effects by the laws of statics. " The mean temperature of the climate," says Sir John Leslie, " is not communicated by these variable impressions ; every change to warmth being spent on the upper stratum, while every transition to cold penetrates to the bottom, which thus experiences all the rigors of winter without receiving any share of the summer's heat. But, if the beds of these profound bodies Sf) of water romain perpetually cold, thoir surfact iinclori^oos some varioty of toraporahivo, and is ^oucriiUy Wiumcr than tho avoratfo vviM'tkly or monthly heat of t,lit» air." "Watiir, it is known, has a i^roat capiicity for h(Mt, hiil, a fooblo coiidu(;tiu£f povvor. It n^rows warm but slowly in the rays of the sun. Tho ovaporatioii, binu^oousidorahlc, producRs a cooling wliich tempers still further tho boat roooived at tho surfaoo. Finally, tho cooler partic^los of the lower layers of water, set in motion })y the; waves and the (airronts, incessantly lill tho places of those of the superli(ual layers of water, and prevent it from rising to a higher temperature. It is tho same with tho cooling. Tho suporfir temperature which belongs to tho surface of the water, az-d which, combined witli the abun- dance of vapours that saturat(» tho atmosphere, gives to the sea (and her,> to lakt^) climate its true chara<'tor. The ocean whi<'h surrounds G-roat Britain and Ireland equalizes their temperature, and rendiu's the summers less hot, a;?d the winters loss cold than those of continents under tho same parallels : for the great mass of the ocean is but little afTectod by the (changes of the seasons, ^ut preserves a medium temperature during the whole year. It will therefore be readily understood why the larger lakes in Canada are never frozen. The arras or shallow bays ; the rivers leading to and from them ; and tho shallow margins of the lakes themselves, may be locked in thick- ribbed ice ; but tho deeper parts will ever remain unfrozen. ^i 36 It is quito different with the surface of the soil, whose particles are fixed. The soil rapidly al)Sorl)s the solar rays. The surface layer is more quickly heated, since it cannot be displaced, as in the water, by another ; and it soon attains an elevated temperature. But for the same reason the earth easily loses heat by radiation, whether during the nights or the clear days ; and the loss is so much the greater, as the radiation is favoured by the inequality of the surface and the transparency of the atmosphere, which, in Canada, is more usually dry, and less charged with clouds. The lands remo red from the influence of the oceans or lakes have thus a climate char- acterized by the extremes of cold and heat ; by more violent changes ; and by a drier atmosphere. These are the essen- tial features of the continental climate. If the former is constant, the latter is excessive. If we now observe the manner in whi(^h water and land are affected with regard to their temj^erature when near each other, and receiving the same quantity of heat from the sun, we notice that the water is colder than the land during th(» day, and warmer during the night. In the same way, taking the different seasons of the year : in summer the water is colder than the land ; in winter it is warmer. Considerable bodies of water, therefore, pre- serve the mean temperature, while the land experiences the extremes. " This tends," as Gruyon says, " to soften all the differences — to establish uniformity of climate." Climate. Canada, minus its lakes, is not unlike the north of Europe in being both continental and oceanic. Its oceanic features, however, are limited, being lost in the contin<:ntal a short distance from the coast. Even the cold ail- from Lake Superior, as Mr. Jackson observes, only afpjcts vegetation near its shores; while further 8t inland th(^ temperature more resembles that of the settled parts of the country. Yet to the lakes and rivers we are indebted for so great a range of animal and vegetable life. But not alone by position, as the reverend writer of " Ocean to Ocean " would permit us to believe. Mr. (xrant found vegetation in longitude 110' and latitude 54°, upwards of 700 miles north of Toronto, to be of the same (character as that of Ontario. The extreme heat of summer would give to Canada a continental climate were it not associated with profuse rains at regular intervals ; and the cold of winter, like the heat of summer, is se\"ere without being destructive. The extreme cold in winter lays vegetation completely asleep and preserves it ; and the thick mantling of snow covers up warmly the roots and spongioles and pre- serves them, with their investing epidermis, for use in the ensuing spring. The mountains which course the Atlantic and Mississippi valleys affect the tempera- ture but little ; and vegetation still less. One feature peculiar to our climate is this : changes oi;curring in one part sweep with a regular progression to other and more distant parts ; intervening parts sometimes modifying — someti: ics retarding — but never preventing that progres- sion. " The changes of temperature," says Blodgett, " and the oscillations of every sort strike over this portion of the continent as changes would over anv plane surface ; they are symmetrical and uniform, and knowing what they are at a few places, we may easily infer what they have been at all." If we compare the climate of this country with that of Europe, we will find that it closely resembles St. Peters- burgh in its winters, and Paris in its summers. If we seek a climate which resembles it in both seasons, we may find its counterpart in the north of China. As the climate of Canada during the summer months has been compared with that of Turkey, I deem it neces- sary to state that nowhere in Canada are the winds so variable as in the Ibrmer country. At Constantinople, for instance, the winds I'rom the Bosphorus are, in winter, sometimes so violent, and so uncertain, that communn^a- tion with the adjacent villages is cut oft'. There is but one part of Canada (Saginaw Bay, in Lake Huron,) where such uncertainty exists ; and it depends on the quarter when(;e the wind proceeds, whether cold like that of Russia, or a warmth like that of the south of France, will be felt. The climate of Canada is much more uniform than that of Europe — I mean that the meteorological differ- ences are such as can be, and are produced by position alone. Yet Europe enjoys a higher mean temperature than any other division of the globe in a similar lati- tude, and the extremes of heat and cold are not so violent nor so wide apart. These advantages it owes to its numer- ous oceaue, bays, etc., and to its being situated at the western extremity of the greatest range of land on the surface of the globe. Many of you well know the difference in Europe, not only in temperature, but also in the products of vegeta- tion caused by hills and mountains, lakes and plains ; and havj recognized differences when their causes were not apparent. Thus the grai^e vine flourishes in Diirkheim, Hochoim, Deidesheira and other parts of G-ermany, but does not pass 51^ to which it is parallel in Eastern Europe. It is not met with beyond 47' 30' on the Atlantic coast of France; 49' in the interior; nor T)!)' 20' on the Ehine at Coblentz. At Penzance, in Cornwall, says "Whitley, oranges, lemons, myrtles, etc., " require no protection I'rom the frost, and in sunny exposures are grown in the open air. Yet, up to 1747, a small field of wheat was a great curiosity, as very little could be made to grow there." Certain hills in Britain are always enveloped in clouds ; others in the vicinity are always clear ; while on 89 others (G-reenoc^k, forsooth !) it doos not rain always, tor " it sometimes snaiosy The Dominiou of Canada is so vast in extent that one part may be charg'ed with perpetual snows, while the other is bathed with almost perpetual heat and sunshine. One part recei\''es the (3old caller atmosphere of the Frozen Sea ; another the humid air of the Atlantic ; another the mild, genial breezes of the Pacific Ocean. Yet there is no dislocation of temperature from what is proper to each place. In its extremely northern pans, vegetation is so stunted that the highest tree does not reach to a child's knee ; in the southern parts vegetation is most luxuriant, and umbrageous plants ward ofF the rays of the almost vertical sun ; and fruit and flowers grow with as much vigor as in Italy or the south of Fi-ance. Between these great extremes all the cereals, grasses, and flowers of temperate regions are met with ; and as we proceed northwards or southwards we meet with an unbroken gradation of vegetation. But sometimes several degrees of longitude are tra- versed in Canada without observing those ("hanges in vegetation which as many miles would represent in Grreat Britain. The Rev. GTeo. M. G-rant states that when along the North Saskatchewan (two hours and a half behind Montreal time — being then 3' 30' west of Mon- treal (Montreal being 73" 33', or in longitude 111' and latitude 54 , 350 miles north of the boundary line and 700 miles north of Toronto,) " the vegetation was of the same general character as that of Ontario ; and Bishop Tache had told us that at Lao la Biche, 100 miles further north, they had their favourite wheat grown ; where the wheat crop could always be depended on." A.t Fort Liard, on the Liard River, a tributary of the Mackenzie, in latitude 60", Mr. King says he had never seen better wheat or root crops than are raised there. " Wheat is raised with profit," says Sir John Richardson, " at Fort 40 Liard, latitude 60" 5' N, longitude 122' 21' W., and lour or five hundred feet above the sea." The Rev. Geo. M. G-rant, from whom I quote, gives this explanation why the isothermal lines should extend so far north in this longitude, and why there should be the same flora as farther sov 'i, though the summers are so short: — " The low altitude of the Rocky Mountains, as they run north, permits the warm moisture-laden air of iije Pacific to get across ; meeting then the colder currents from the north, refreshing showers are emptied on the plains. These northern plains of ours have also a comparatively low elevation, while farther north in the United States, or the same longitude, the semi-desert, rainless plateaux are from five to eight thousand feet high. Combined with these reasons another may be suggested — that the summer days being much longer as you go north, plants get more of the sun, that is, more light and warmth within the same period of growing weather. The sum- mer days where we are now, for instance, must be two hours longer than at Toronto." The oscillations in temperature in Canada are more frequent, and greater in summer than in winter. In winter the temperature is sometimes reduced almost to that of Labrador. But in all parts of Canada the curve is more or less regular. It is not unusual in summer to observe a variation of tem- perature of 30" F. in less than as many hours. Extreme variations are recorded where twice that number of degrees were passed over in thirty-six hours. Early in th e month of May the occasional rapid rise in temperature often induces the youthful and uninitiated to lay aside a por- tion of their clothing — an imprudence whi(;h is often followed by regret. In winter the oscillations in tempe- rature, though not so frequent, are occasionally gi'eater than in summer. Capt. Bayfield mentions an instance — 41 a rare one, certainly — where he observed the thermometer at Peuetanguishene, on Lake Huron, at 80 F. during the day, with heavy rain, to fall to — 38' F. next morning. It would be a libel, however, to state that changes remotely approaching to this are frequent. The climate of Canada may be considered a dry climate, yet more rain falls here than in G-reat Britain. But it Mis in a short period, and in larger quantities at a time. While only thirty inches of rain fall during the year in England, nearly fifty inches fall here. At certain times, and particularly at the commencement of bad weather, the air is sometimes so dry that dew cannot be obtained by the evaporation of ether. I say at certain times — but I may also add at all seasons, though not frequently in early spring and late autumn. In winter the air within doors is frequently at, if not above, summer temperature ; and that without at zero. The dew point, under these conditions, is easily reached. It is stated by Babinet that air at 86" F. contains six times as much vapour as air at zero. As a consequence, the air of this country, during the cold season, contains less vapour than the air of warmer regions, or at warmer seasons. When Judge McCord made observations, many years ago, at St. Helen's Island, opposite the city of Montreal, he found the lowest temperature was reached at 6 a.m. in January, February and March ; and 4 a.m. for the oth^r months except June, when 2 a.m. was lower than 4 a.m. The even hours alone were observed. Persons who are themselves ill, or who wait upon those who are, have observed, or lancied, that the temperature of the air is colder towards morning, and have attributed this reduced temperature to fatigue or want of rest, or want of food. But the temperature is in reality lower at or before daybreak, as already stated. Judging from the growth of the maize or Indian 42 corn — a cereal which requires a mean temperature of uot less than G5° F. for its growth and ripening, the summers of the central and western portions of Canada closely resemble the summers of the west of France. But the Canadian sky rivals that of France in clearness — a clear- ness which is obstructed only for a short period every few days ; or, it may be, at certain intervals, by a succession of showers which are developed by the heat, and move with the west wind. To this bright, clear, though sometimes, for a time, uncomfortably warm summer, succeeds an autumn which, like spring, is of short duration. The transtition from warm to cold weather is sudden and abrupt. But when frost is about to set in, the cool chill- ing winds of November give place, for a few days, to soft balmy breezes ; a thin beautiful haze covers the face of Nature ; and we revel for a time in that most delightful of all seasons — Indian summer — " The year's last loveliest smile." This beautiful but short-lived period, which has no counterpart in Europe, derives its name from the cir- cumstancce that the Indie n hunter takes advantage of it to track the bear and deer and other game to their winter haunts, where they are fat and in good order. The opinion that the haziness of this season is one produced by the firing of distant prairies by the Indians, is absurd. The haziness is more probably due to the conversion of the abundant waters into ice, when the caloric which pre- served them in a state of fluidity is given out. The heat is accompanied with mist, as we may see it ai any time rising from the surface of a partially frozen stream. This is a sea- son of uncertain duration — certain, however, not to last a week. The Lower Canadian habitant, as we may gather from the following, assigns to it a much shorter period : — "L'6t6 St. Martin _: De soir au matin." ^ V In those parts of Canada where the Indian summer has a longer duration, the sun goes down with a beautiful 43 crimson flush, and the temperature is peculiarly grateful. The wild fowl, taking advantage of this season to migrate southwards, are seen on tht» lakes and rivers in count- less flocks, and sportsmen, at long range, diminish their numbers. In Western Canada there is a period of mild hazy weather following the first snow, and lasting about a fortnight, to which the term is applied. If we are ignorant of the probable duration of this uncertain season, — uncertain in its occurrence — uncertain in its duration, — we are not allowed long to remain igno- rant of its termination ; for the sharp, piercing winds ; the crackling frost which crisps the surface of the ground and bridges over the ponds and smaller rivers ; and the thickly falling mantle of snow, like ermine, unmisiakeably an- nounce Canadian winter ; and the merry tinkling bells herald the announcement with joy. Berleaus, i-arioles, sleighs and traineaux replace the now useless w^heeled vehicles, and pass smoothly over one uniform plain, one level superficies of snow — level as the surface of a still lake. And on the bosom of the still lake itself, and of the running- stream, the skater glides with the velocity of the wind, for — " Mighty Poboan, tlie wintor, Breath ini; on tlio lakes and rivers, Into stone has clianged tlieir waters." Having cursorily alluded to the points of difference and of resemblance between the climate of Canada and that of the west of Europe, I shall say a hw words on the peculiar features of The Seasons. It has long been the custom to divide the year into seasons of three months each. This is an arbitrary division at best, anywhere ; and is totally inapplicable to Canada. Throughout the greater part of this country the SF 44 Indian measures his life by the summers ; but in the extreme northern parts winter is the great predominant portion of the year ; and by it the years are numbered : First, winter ; — when the temperature moderates, it is the season of " water drops ;" Liter still (May) that of thaws ; later still (August) that of " no ice ;" later still the fall, the aborogines' fifth season. This division is in reality less arbitrary than that which we are a(;customed to make. Our spring", like the gloaming, is of short dura- tion. Yet, obedient to custom, I shall rob winter of its March and summer of its May and add them to April, that we, like others, may have a spring — that season when " * • * the jnicy proves, Put forth their l)uds, niifokling by dogreos, Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd In full luxuriance. * * * * " This is a season of great variability — one portion differing from another, and from the same season in different years, April divides the extremes equally, and is the only month which may with truth be called a spring mouth. Dr. Drake says the true spring and fall seasons are " the sixty days immediately succeeding the equinoxes ;" that the "heat of this season is absorbed in the process of con- verting ice and snow into the liquid state, and can thus only imperfectly enter the atmosphere." When this change is accomplished summer is with us ; and no sooner is the ground cleared of snow and partially dried than vegetation springs forth with wonderful rapidity. Dr. Kelly states that " the two seasons (winter and sum- mer) almost fill up the year, for there is litdecan be called .spring, and not much autumn." And Judge McCord, writ- ing on the same subject, called spring " that very short period, the avant courier of summer." As might be sup- posed, when there is no lingering spring, leaf and blossom are not unfolded one by one ; but, as if by magic, so soon as the snow disappears, a shower of warm rain starts 46 every sloeping thiiii^ into lifo. The rivers are swollen, and move with unwonted power ; the air is pure and refreshing ; and cirrhus clouds chase each other through the heavens, or pour forth their welcome burden on the earth beneath. On the first of May the trees may yet be leafless, and on the iifth no verdure may be seen to vary the monotony of the still brown earth — and on the fifteenth every tree is clothed in green ; every bush with leaflets ; and the cattle are grazhig and browsing in mute thank- fulness to the great Griver of heat and light. Ere long " Ripo fruits and blossoms on the samo troo live ; At onco thoy promise, wliat at once they give." According to Blodgett's isothermal chart for this season, a line of forty degrees, mean temperature, passes through Nova Scotia near Ilalifox, Montreal, then parallel with the St. Lawrence, north of Kingston and Toronto, south of reuetanguishene to the Eed Eiver of the North. This may be regarded as the temperature of April, being too high for March and too low for May. The mean of the spring and summer months is nearly 10" F. warmer at Red River than at Toronto ! The advance in temperature is pretty uniform for those three months, and towards the Atlantic coast the march in temperature is more rapid than at midland stations. " In the greater part of North America," Blodgett says, " there is a regular course of differences in the successive months of the year, as follows : — January is coldest ; February, 2° to 4" warmer; March, 8^ to 10' warmer than February ; April, lO"" warmer than March, and nearly at the mean for the spring and also for the year ; May, 9" to 12' warmer than April ; June, 7' to 9' warmer than May ; July, 4^ to 6° warmer than June ; August, I'' to 3° less than July ; September, 5^ to 8"^ less than August ; October, 8^ to 10° less than September, and near the mean for autumn and the year; November, 10' to 14' less than 4e Octobor; and December 10' to 15" less than November." This ourvo is uot so sharp about the Athuitic and the great lakes. The udvance in temperature — not to tire you with figures — may be best illustrated by the influtniee extorted on some of the members of the animal and vegetalde kingdoms. Even before the snow is od' the ground the sap begins to asccnid in 1 Ik^ trees to form their leaflets, and is the season of which the woodsman takes advantage to insert the gouge and the spoil to draw from the majestic hard maple its ascending sap, to reduce it and crystallize it into sugar. =^ In Mar(;h, the robin {Tardus mii^raloriim), while snow yet covers the fields, is seen to mount his post near some dwelling and make frequent attempts at the song. But his voice is still husky, and that most probably furnished a theme for the " Down-East " poet when he wrote : — The first bird of spring ho mounted a limb, But ore lie had sounded a note He fell from the liuilx Ah I a deail bird was him, For the music had friz in his throat ! The song-sparrow sings in the month cf March. The part- ridge (order Gall hue, of the genus Tetrao,) now chosoes his or her mate (for we do not know to which sex belongs the privilege of choice) ; the woodco(^k {Sculopax minor) arrives towards the latter part of the month ; and at the same time the moose deer (the representative of the elk in Europe) leaves his winter haunts to search in the marshes for his food ; the wood-duck {Anns sponsa), according to Mr. Lett, makes its appearance about the fifth of that month, when " winter is restless in the lap of spring," to remain with us about seven months. On the twenty-third of the same mouth (April) the wild goose visits the *Three or four gallons How in one day from full-sized trees, and make about one pound of sugar. 41 North ;^ luul on the samoaay the frog first utters his harsh guttural sounds in this neigli])ourhood.t In the hitter end of April the woodpecker, of the laniily Picit/a; finds his way back to us from the South, where he has been amus- ing himself since October. Early in May the bobolink, or ri(;e-bird {Do!ichoni/x orizi/lorm), arrives, and is soon engaged in preparations for her young, and the rosignol, or song- sparrow {FringiUa mehdia), proclaims his gladness at the return of warmth. It has been observed that the earliest birds and mam- mals are those met with in the warmer parts of the coun- try ; but the same birds and animals arrive at matiirity earlier in the more northern parts. In tln^ warmer dis- tricts the young bird has all its feathers, and is almost enabled to dispense with th(^ fostering attention of its parent ere the northern bird has pecked through the shell which covers its nakedness ; but the northern bird is plump and full-grown ere that of the warmer tempera- ture has ceased to be a fledgling. " And now tlio buttc^rny, on pinions bri<;ht, Is ItuincliM in full si>lonilonr on tho day." About the first week in May snow has quite disap- peared from the neighbourhood of Quebec. At Montreal *Tho ro.jrnl.ir advent of tlio wild gooso is romarkablo. I bavo beard Dr. Rao state tliat dnrin'^ tbe so.ven j'cars bo was in soarob of Sir .Tobn Franklin bo wns novor witbont wild trooso for dinner on St. (ioor^o's Day {23rd April). On i\n\ 22nd be. would annonnco to bis men tbey wonld iiavo wild jrooscuni tbo followinij; oast formost of th(^ year. The meteoroloi>"ical reg'ister, lor a series of years shows, that the terap<'rature in each of the months of summer is found to have descended nearly to freezinj^ point, and that there is no month in which frosts do not occasionally occur. The heat of summer does not continue uninterruptedly for many days. Duriiiiy July and Aug'ust, west and south- west winds accompany th»; heat, and bring with them frequent thundtn* showers, which cool the air. Easterly winds aro. always accomp;uiied with cool wcnither, so that, from whattiver part the wind blows, we may look with confidence for cool weather, with or without rain. Some- times the rain is ushered in with high winds ; but more frequently, towards the close of several days of high tem- perature, the sky becomes overcast ; flashes of lightning illumine the darkness ; the thunder roars, and down comes the rain — more in streams than in drops. In the period which precedes a thunderstorm, when every animated being is strangely burdened and op- pressed, the 3l(H;tricity in the atmosphor'^ accumulates in the clouds; occasionally lightning flashes from cloud to cloud ; that whic^h has most, givch to that which has least; aiid, in this way, a whole summer evening may pass in brilliant, yet silent illuminations. More fre- quently, however, the lightning flashes to earth ; thun- der detonates ; rain fiills in torrents ; the electrical equili- brium is restored, and all again is calm. Thunder storms occur most frequently in the afternoon — rarely in the morning. The dimirushed temperature of morning ; the dews ; th(i vapours which afterwards arise, afford a more or less perfect means of communication between the atmosphere and the earth ; but, as day advances, the clouds become lighter and ascend, and elec- 4 60 trical communioatioii does not take place insensibly between the earth and the surrounding air. The thunder- storm, which may have begun in the west, trav^els east- ward, darkening as it goes, and is followed by even brighter sunshine. Th^ husbandman, busied in the field, allows the un-yoked cattle a few minutes repose — and often-times but a few moments — for the sky is soon again unclouded ; the whole face of Nature is changed ; and the rumbling noise of the retreating thunder tells us that other districts are receiving the welcome and refreshing rain. The summer in Canada has, by some travellers, been compared with that of Arabia. But there the atmosphere is in a state of constant repose, except when the dry, hot, withering simoom sweeps over its surface. Ilarely, indeed, is the atmosphere, with us, in a state of quiescence ; and the friction of its particles alone, independent of the heat, is an agreable excitant. The low altitude of Canada and of the St. Lawrence valley contributes greatly, no doubt, to the exaltation of temperature, not only at this summer season but also of winter, and favours those occasional low temperatures which have been noticed. The mean distribution of rain for this season is ten inches for the whole of Canada (except the lake districts), to the " Lake of the Woods " in the fiftieth degree of lati- tude, where it suddenly sinks to six inches. The rain falls in large quantities, and usually at such regular inter- vals, that we are not taken by surprise at its occuirence. During this season fire-ilies are first seen in the middle of June. "Wheat is sown at al)out the same time. About a month later the night-hawk (Chordeiles Virginianus) hatches her young. About the commencement of this month (June) the capehin, having, on their lengthened journey from the north, furnislu'd food to larger lish, move up the St. Lawrence in columns so dense as to offer resist- 51 ance to the oars and boats of the boatmen, and are quickly followed, for a short distance, by the codfish. The salmon, in the earlv part of Juno, appears in the estuaries ; and about th end of July, according- to Forrelle, begin to ascend the rivers, seeking the spot where they were born, ancl where they s^>ent the first year of their life. In Au- gust the female beaver, after having, in a separate lodge, given birth to her young and brought them up till they are able to follow her, returns with them to her partner and her family. AUTUMX. We now approach the autumnal season, when Nature clothes herself in the richest robes, and the temperature lowers to a more comfortable degree. The first month of the season (September) is one of exceeding beauty. It is a glorious season, for while the sun's heat is less sen- sibly felt, his rays ar(^ not less bright. The changes from the heat of summer to the tempera- ture of autumn are sudden, and but a short time elapses between th(^ sering of the leaf — green but yesterday — and • the rustle of its dry, lifeless form. Eains are now more abundant and more frequent than during summer. Frosts are now very frequent at night, even in the first month of this season (September) ; and a month later they are frequent during the day. November is more a winter month, though custom has assigned it a place with autumn. The mean temperaturt^ of the St. Lawrence valley and of the lake districts for the three months of autumn is 45" F., and 32" F. is the mean temperature of November in the same region. While north of the forty-seventh degree of north latitude, from Newfoundland through the Saguenay and the Upper Ottawa districts, the mean temperature of the three months may be represented by thirty-two degrees. This season corresponds closely, in its climat- ological features, with the interior of Europe. 62 Of course autumns vary, even with us. Sometimes they are long and beautiful ; but they are longer as we travel westward, where the snow is later in casting its white mantle over the brown earth. But this period of snow is often preceded by hoar frost which lights up and reflects, without concealing " every leaf and copse and meadow." In the second month of autumn the woods and forests change their garb, assuming the richest and most varie- gated hues. This season proclaims its lengthened days by its changed foliage : the ash becomes deep crimsoned ; ..xe soft maple leaf assumes a beautifully variei,''ated pink ; the hard maple a yellow. These changes are as sudden as the flowering and the leafing in spring. Some leaves, as those of the soft maple, become tinged with the richest crimson ; some with orange ; w^hile the evergreen, cedar, pine and hemlock give to the forest, at this season, a richly varie- gated appearance, which is not paralleled elsewhere. Summer, in her departure, gathering around her all her splendour expires like " a blood-stained martyr, full of joyful hope of a resurrection to come." Many of the Indian ceremonies in ante-Christian times (an'.' even in Christian times, where the missionary has had the good sense not to discard them, but to engraft upon them a living faith,) took place in Canada at this season, and borrowed some of their interest, and much of their wildnes':, from the surrounding scene. And now from threatened " winter's cold the birds take wing." Early in October the robin^ (the most common spe- cies of the family of thrushes, and named from its fancied resemblance to the robin red-breast of Great Britain), hitherto met with, singly or in pairs, may be seen flocking tog(!ther preparatory to starting for the south. At about the same time the song-sparrow or rossignol, of the order Passeres and family Fringillidae, migrates during the * See New Dominion Monthly, Vol. I., No. 2. 53 night, singly or in groups, to the warm rog-ions of the Southern States. On the 25th of October wild geese, and the larger kinds of duck pass us from the north. At about the end of the first week in November, crows leave here for the warm regions southward ; and about a fortnight later the snow-bird comes hopping around our dwellings. In the early part of October the black bear of the genus Ursus (styled by the Indian the "old man in the fur cloak," because it has the strength of ten men and the sense of twelve,) sleek, fat and glossy, retires to his don (either a cleft in the rocks, or a hollow tree), to dream of returning warmth in spring ; and where, it is said, like the marmot and other hybernating animals, its temperature is lowered and its respiration and pulse become slower. The Canada jay or moose-bird (G-arralus Canadensis) now follows, but never precedes the first frosts. Nature here, as elsewhere, makes provision for giv- ing to animals, for their preservation, a covering of the same colour as the objects around them ; and for chang- ing the fur or plumage as the seasons change, whiten- ing them when the ground is covered with its garb of white. And already the timid northern hare (Lepus Americanus) begins to change color — from its summer brown to a winter white. The cheeks are first whitened, giving to " pussy " an ancient appearance ; then the shoulders are streaked with white, which extends to the hind quarters, and completes the metamorphosis in little more than a week. Occasional Mis of snow now permit the use of sleighs and traineaux. But even yet the smaller rivers are quite free of ice. In Eastern Canada, the light snow which first falls, usually in the last week of November, is called la poudrerie fie Ste. Catherine, and the habitant will tell us, with seriousness, that some parts of Canada are never without its visitation in that form at that time. " 54 Ere we have cauglit the last sad, lingering look of autumn, .... The year growing ancient Nor yet on summer's deatli, nor on the birth Of trembling winter, we are made sensible of the renovating force of another, but not less pleasant season, when " Winter holds his unrojoioing court, And through the airy halls the loud misrulo Of driving tempest is forever heard ; Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath. Hero arms his winds with all-subduing frost, Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows." Had Thompson written his " Seasons " in Canada, his conception of winter would have been vastly different. In the minds of Europeans, generally, winter is associ- ated with dreariness ; bu.t, to th(! Canadian, with cheerful enjoyment, when festivities are looked forward to with pleasurable anticipation. The delight at witnessing the falling snow, and at seeing it cover up the inequalities of the earth's surface, permitting sleighs and cariolos to glide over it, is never equalled by that on witnessing its disap- pearance in spring. For health the most vigorous waits upon a physical enjoyment which has succeeded to the severe labour of ploughing, harrowing, reaping, harvest- ing, etc. The winter temperature of this portion of the continent is, according to Sir .Tohn Richardson, eight to fifteen degrees lower than that of the same latitude in Europe ; and lower than any one, ignorant of the physical geogra- phy of the continent, would expect. It is in this dry, clear, bracing season the thermometer is an imperfect guide to the sensible condition of the atmosphere. ,-- Persons accustomed to the raw, damp winter atmos- phere of Great Britain might well be alarmed at the pros- pect of being obliged to subsist, during three months of 55 , ; this season, in a temperature so much lower than that which had already sufficiently chilled thom in the coun- try whence they came. But the degree of (3old is rarely uncomfortable. There is no day too cold for out-door occupation, and with the thermometer much below zero, the backwoodsman, as I have often seen him, with un- covered arms and bared chest, glowing with heat and health, makes the forest ring with the stroke of his axe. There is no day too cold for him. The nature of his food, no doubt, is such as to furnish him with a large amount of the necessary animal heat ; but the immigrant of the previous summer, whose habits in that respect are not yet quite changed, seems to bear the low temperature with equal comfort. Charlevoix, writing about the ancient and interesting city of Quebec, says : — " On respire en ce lien, I'air le plus pur .... d'ailleurs le cliraat y est fort rude ; car plus on descend le Fleuve, et plus on avance au Nord, plus, par consequent, le froid est piquant." As an evidence of the ease with which cold may be borne, I may state that in the colder, mo?'e northern regions Dr. Rae's party was often reduced to the necessity of sleeping under a single blanket when the thermometer was *1T below freezing point. This may appear cold com- fort, but was added to by the practice of the men taking a kettle or two of snow to bed with them to be liquified. Yet the men, sandwiched in this way, were soon asleep, when the fatigues of the day's journey were over. Metals, during severely cold weather, when tightly grasped, blister and burn with as much facility as hot metals, as the heat passes from the hand into the cold metals so rapidly as to destroy the integrity of the part it left. The chemist could understand this. Those igno- rant of it are sometimes taught the lesson feelingly. Some years ago, when driving on a very cold day in the coun- try, the linch-pin required removal. My driver (a recent 56 importation) attempted to unfasten the strap, but his hands were too numb, and he attempted to use his teeth. But his lips came into contart with the metal, and were pinned there ; the tongue was protruded to aid in detach- ing the lips, and it, too, was caught by the tip. It was only when I had isolated the iron and had warmed it for some moments with my gloved hands, that it relin- quished its hold. The mucous covering of lips and tongue remained, howe^-vn-, attached. It is at this season the genial influence of the Pacific would be most sensibly felt ; but, the high, bold Ro(;ky Mountains shut us out from Miat influence ; while the winds from the northwest, north and north-east sweep chillingly over us. It is the opinion of some meteorologists that the causes of the extreme cold in winter are simply continental — the vertical configuration coming in as acces- sory to some extent, everyv.'^here, and decidedly so at the Pacific coasts. An isothermal line of twenty degrees, mean temperature, passes from the south of Newfoundland to Pictou in Nova Scotia, Kingston, Penetanguishene and the lakes. A mean line of fifteen passes through Frederict on, Montreal, the Ottawa region north of Ontario and Huron ; while a line of ten degrees passes through the centre of New- foundland, Quebec and the north of Lake Superior ; Ottawa, the Canadian capital, has about the same. The winters in the southern parts of the Western Pro- vince of Canada are nearly two months shorter than in Eastern Canada. That may account for Lord Sydenham's l)ref(!rence for Western Canada, which is very plainly expressed in his memoirs (1843) : — " I am delighted," he says, " to have seen this part of the country ; I mean the great distrii;t, nearly as large as Ireland, placed between the lakes (Erie, Ontario and Huron). You can conceive nothing finer — a climate certainly the best in North America." 57 As we proceed seaward, the climate of Nova Scotia, in point of temperature, corresponds with that of Eastern Canada. But, from its maritime situation, the frost of winter, though equally strong, has not the same iixed duration ; while the thaws break up communication. Mr. Haliburton does not reckon on more than six or eight weeks of sleighing in the season. The infi lence of the waters of the lakes in exalting the temperature of winter is most marked. The thermometer indicates the difference, but our bodies do not, for the air is more moist in consequence, and that moisture compen- sates, in a suitable manner, for the difference in tem- perature. I cannot refrain from drawing attention to the isother- mals as they pass into the Hudson Bay possessions. What become of them ? When they reach the upper end of Lake Superior they turn due northwest, and the line of 15" (the temperature of Montreal) passes through the Red River settlement ; while the great plains of the Saskat- chewan are as warm as Kingston or Pictou — actually five degrees warmer than Montreal. There is generally an interruption to the cold on the third day ; for the cold of winter has been said to have its tcrtain intervals. The severe cold always remits at or before the end of the third day, and it very rarely occurs that severe cold continues till the fourth day. But to this general rule there are exceptions. In 1*795 the thermometer registered here 23° below zero, and this hyperborean temperature lasted forty-two days, during whii-h there was no interrup- tion to the frost. This low temperature was general all over Europe.^ In the first month of the year there usually *nurinfj; that time Pichegru sent into tho sea of Holland detachmonts of cavalry and liirht infantry witli orders to cross the Toxol, and to take possession of tho ships of war which the ice had sur^jrisod when at anchor. Tho order was executed and " the novel scene was witnessed of the cavalry of France taking possession of tlie naval army of the Dutch," 58 occurs the January thaw. This winter thaw, which gene- rally follows autumn's cold, lasts eight or ten days. The thermometer often rises 50^ or 60" in a single day. The whole country is inundated with melter' snow — rains sometimes accompany the warm south winds, whi(;h soften still more the air — sleighing be comes bad, and loco- motion of every kind difficult. There is so strong a dis- position in the animal frame to inertia that returning cold is welcomed with joy, which, when it comes, pins the glistening particles of water on every branc;h ; and the rays of light from a bright unclouded sun are rellected and refracted with exquisite brilliancy. By moonlight the effect is heightened, mellowed and softened, espec- ially if cold is severe, for there is a seeming connection between the increasing cold and the increasing moon- light. Sometimes, when the sky is clear and cloudless, and the thermometer is low, a deposition takes place of small crystalline bodies which resemble hoar frost in their crys- talline character, but which result from radiation rather than precipitation. HAIL. The hail storms which sometimes occur at this season, but more frequently at a warmer period of the year, result from opposing currents at unequal temperatures and un- equally charged with moisture. The hail itself, although white, is a clear, transparent crystalline body. Ur. Kelly says they are quite free from the concentric layers that are observed in the round hail of more temperate seasons or regions. They seem to be drops of water, formed in an upper warm stratum of air, which are frozen during their passage through a colder stratum near the surface. But, shovild the stratum near the surface not be cold enough to freeze the watery particles in their rapid descent, then every tree and shrub is soon enveloped in an icy coat, 59 which, by its weight, is often sufficient to break off even the hirger branches. SNOW. Early in this season, violent cold winds drive the snow along' with wonderiul impetuosity. The snow is piled up in heaps on the lee side of hills and fences, when winds from another quarter disturb its quietness later. The superlicial layers of the snow are usually at the temperature of the air, however low. It is only at con- siderable depths the temperature of the snow is more elevated and more uniform than the air above. But the snow does not present the same appearance in all i^arts of Canada ; nor in the same place, at all temper- atures. Sometimes the snow consists of minute, intensely frozen particles which seek out and iind every crevice in one's covering. When at a low temperature along the northern coast (-25" to -45°) the snow often presents resistance to the onward progress of the sledge. Excessive cold produces an increase of friction, and renders the passage over the snow of sleigh runner or tobogan less easy. In general terms it may be stated that along the lake districts, where the water does not freeze, the snow in the neighborhood pa^-ks more closely, and is not easily lifted from the ground. It occupies a less bulk therefore than elsewhere. This is particularly noticeable in the Upper Ottawa and on this side of the Rocky Mountains, where Oapt. Palliser, at the head of a surveying party sent out by the British Grovernment, discovered a pass through them. Elsewhere in the interior the snow is drier, and being drier is more expansive. "When snow, in the interior, falls among tvees, in a woody district, it is very different from what it is in open and exposed districts. The latter is commonly rough and granulated, lacerating the feet of 60 man and beast, and not forming the soft, elastic, velviity cushion which the snow-shoer so much loves ; and which the partridge plunges deeply into to find warmth and safety from the predatory fox — yet which is firm enough to support the light-treading hare. When the traveller is reduced to the necessity of melt- ing snow for water, the hard and granulated article yields the larger amount of superior water. In places far removed from the humid influence oi the Atlantic or Gulf coasts, in the east ; or of the lake districts in the west, and where the first snow of winter remains till the last snow disappears in spring, each successive fall of snow increases the thicjkness of the earth's white mantle, and a section of a bank of snow, late in the season, will show a layer of light cellular snow ; another more con- densed ; another, i)erhaps, of almost impalpable powder ; another of impacted snow dust ; and perhaps another humid deposit, frozen or not, according to the temperature of the air at the time of falling. The largest quantity of snow falls usually in December and February. The mean distribution of snow is sixty inches, but it is rarely that depth at any time, for the snow very quickly packs, as it is termed, and the January and other thaws diminish it still more, converting a portion of it into water which, in the latter form, occupies but a twelfth of its former bulk. The melted surface snow freezes and forms a crust capable of supporting men, dogs and wolves, but not the timid deer,=^ who now falls an easy prey. In many parts of western Canada the snow is melted *The deer is obliged eitlier to lift its foot perpendicularly out of the nole it has made in the hard snow, or maim itself by coming into contact •\vith the cruist of frozen surface snow. Many a jwor animal, when cap- tured after a short and uneciual race, has its skin, flesh and tendons torn across ; and in some instances even the bones of the legs are broken. 61 soon aftor its precipitation, so that the ground, at times during the winter, is covered to the depth of many feet ; and at others is entirely bare. The thick mantle of snow has its economic uses. "With- out it, the continued action of cold during five or six months of the year would so rob the earth of its caloric, that the heat of a single summer would be insufficient to restore the warmth necessary for vegetation. But the earth being kept warm by this thick non-conducter of heat, no sooner does the snow disappear than the germination of plants begins. In this way the lives of myriads of insects are preserved from one season to another. In this way, also, the temperature of the waters of our lakes and rivers is maintained at 32' F., whatever may be the exter- nal cold ; and the finny tribes — by a kind and beneficent Being — are protected. That coating of snow or of ice — or perhaps of both — which looks so cold and comfo-tless, is in reality the warmest, the best protection against the cold ; and when returning warmth has broken up this thick covering, the temperature of the water is found to be the same as when it was crusted over in D(>cember, and the myriads of fish are alive and in good health, without having experienced the greater cold, or those occasional interruptions to it, during the winter, which air-breathing animals have felt, sometimes, to their discomfort. The prot(^cting value of snow is not always the same. At first the soft white coverlet falls gently around the various forms of vegetable life. As the season advances, the snow is subjected to disturbance and compression by the winds, rain and frosts. In more northern districts, vegetable life may have its warm, soft, porous, reticulated covering of snow ; above that an icy covering ; and these may alternate in layers, according to the frequency of the thaws or rains, and form diminutive ice watersheds, pro- tecting struggling vegetable life against untimely frosts and undue washings. \ 62 It may not bo n-onorally known that snow has, in Cannda served to ibvm breastworks for tho protection of the soldier. When Arnold invaded Canada in conjunction with Montgomery, he took advantane of the cold. Ho conp*^:'uoted ramparts of snow, with snow shaped in the form of walls. On these he poured water, which the intense cold soon converted into ice. The men wore as safe behind them as behind sand-banks. Snow crystals present as distinct a mathematical form of crystallization as that which characterizes the more lasting diamond or other crystal. They are well-deiined hexa- gonal or six-sided prisms, and vary from one-tenth to two-tenths of an inch. Mr. Grlaisher, in England, and Dr. Smallwood, here, have observed that when electricity is of a vitreous or positive character, the snow crystals present a stellar form ; while negative or resinous elec- tricity accompanies crystals of other forms. All throuti'h the interior — when the snow crystals have had time to form, and have formed slowly — the most definite crystalline forms are noticeable, dependent, as already stated, upon the electrical condition of the atmos- phere. When the winter weather is mild, no sound is heard when the snow crystals are crushed. But when objects move over tho hard snow a creaking sound is audible, as it were of complaining at the weight which crushed and crumpled its fair surface. It is only when tho frost is severe, and the snow crystals hard and crisp, that the sound is heard. Tho sound of a heavy-weighted sleigh is often hoard at a considerable distance. The habi- liint tells us that sometimes he has heard the sharp crisj) creakinor of the undisturbed snow. It is like the "fine crepitus " of medical language. It is heard onl7 in hilly districts, and is attributed to the unequal contraction and dilatation which go on on uneven surfaces. The hori- zontal snow-field is silent. .fr 63 In the dear winter atmosphere, when everything is clothed in white, diKtances are not correctly appreciated, and even cnrial perspective is at I'ault. Without points of comparison with Avhich one is familiar, conjecturing dis- tances would be erroneous. FROZEN RIVERS. All the small rivers are frozen over early in December. The Ottawa is sealed up early in January, and the St. Lawrence about teii days later. On the smaller lakes, the Indian, compelled by hunger to seek for food, when he discerns a fish lying at the bottom, strikes with a heavy piece of wood directly over the unsuspecting one. The impulse transmitted through the vertical column of water stuns or perhaps kills it, when, in either case, it iloats to the surface, and is removed through a hole cut in the ice for the purpose. All the rivers in eastern, and nearly all the rivers in western Canada are frozen over every winter ; while in the most northernly parts the smaller tributary streams are frozen to the bottom. The fish they contain antici- pate this, and secure themselves in safety in the deeper waters of the lakes or larger rivers. Although ice is usually of a lesser specific gravity than the water which sustains it, it sometimes happens that ice is found adhering to the bottoms of rivers, or sinking below the surface of lakos, whose surface has been agita- ted by the wind. But this is the case only with ice which is saturated with water, and which becomes water soaked, as even the most buoyant timber sometimes becomes ; and not with strong sound ice, broken up by the current beneath it. 7 The sinking of ice, as it is termed, is variously explained. It is not unusual, when finding ice adhering to rocks at the bottom of rivers, to ask : was it formed there, or did it form at the surface and sink? It may be safely asserted /t..^.v^-~^.W^ ;*-•■' (,. \ji>t^X*., i-. - . c . 64 with Kano that " ice never sinks in a liquid of the same density as that in which it formed." It woiild appear as if the ice often acted as acts a mem- branous diaphragm when interposed between lluids of different densities, as if endosmotic and exosmotic action were going on, reguhited by the difference in density, or, in otlior words, the difference in temperature between th(^ fluid above and that below the ice. This action is more noticeable when, during the winter, one or two thaws have occurred, which leaves melted snow or melted ice above thi.'> thick diaphragm. Subsequent congelation takes place, but a slight elevation in temperature again liqiiiiies the super-stratum, and the process of infiltration goes on. Ice, thus .e-united, is the soonest to show signs of decay. It often happens that, for some time before the general break up of the ice, it becomes softer, more slushy, infil- trated and sodden. Its crystalline, quartz-like structure undergoes changes which modify its cohesive force. No longer a clear crystalline strrcture which lies upon the water ; but the water below, and the slush above, by an action not unlike capillary attraction or infiltration, have permeated and disturbed its clenrness. As its clearness is diminished so likewise is its hardness. Sometimes this process of infiltraticn — this endosmotic or exosmotic action — begins from below, sometimes from above ; but evidence of this action, whether from above or below, is unmistakable. Sometimes it happens that deej:) down in our streams, rivers and lakes — either forced down by pressure, or forming there — are deeper strata of water-logged ice with a density neann- that of the water. As the temperature of the latter diminishes, those masses come to the surface, but not above it. But ice, however thick, however strong, however crys- talline, undergoes, even in the coldest weather, those ' 65 chani^es wliioli James D. Forbes recognized in the glaciers of Europe. He gave not to those crystal masses the phy- sical qualities of impenetrable solids, but imputed to them the viscous quality of semi-solids. The elasticity of ice is well known to any one who ven- tures across it when it is scarcely strong enough to sustain 'is weight. The thin sh(M>t of ice may bend many inches out of the ]:)lane, but again quickly returns to its position when the weight has passed over it. In masses however thick, the same elasti(n(.y is observed : it often bends with its own weight, tho^igh giving no sign of fracture. The cleansing power of the freezing process is remark- able. Ice, on the muddiest stream, is clear as crystal. The muddy impurities may be caught up and suspended in the meshes of the general mass, but only mechanically, as it w«'re. The ultimate crystal contains naught but 5 purest water. Even the salt of the sea is eliminated by ' ;. the freezing process. Cold, if intense enough, " will by t its unaided action, independent of percolation, solar heat, j; depending position, or even depth of ice, produce fro^i i salt water a fresh, pure and drinkable element." Along the northern coast of the continent advantage is taken of this quality of the purifying freezing process, where on cutting through the ice, for water, it is found to be putrid. Simpson found that even " when most nau- seous, taking the precaution of imbibing it through snow purified H: in ^ome slight degree." I may add that water must be very ])ad IiuIcihI which is not rendered palatable by this method. rCE BRKAKINO I'V. Many months after its formation — and the length of interval is as its latitude sometimes — the ice in the larg(.' rivers moves off as silently as it had form(>d months before; and what was on one day apparently a safe review ground for all tb trmies in the world, on another is off on its Journey to the ocean, leavi)ig a surface of 6 Of) water, undotted, b(^hind. Sometimes, however, the debacle, as it is termed, gives evideu(^e of stupendous power and of irresistible force. "When the face of the large rivers is yet frozen, the horizontal force of the imperfectly pent up current increases in strength in proportion with the increased opposition to its movement. Should the banks of the stream be of equal width, the whole may move off smoothly, and as noiselessly ; but should, as at Montreal, any inequality in the margin present itself, it is impressed against with such force that the margin ice is rolled up as if it were paper, or crushed into a million atoms. The hummocking goes on till, by an unseen force beneath, layer is piled upon layer. Blocks of seemingly solid ice are twisted and curled or thrust up from below — they mount or slide up planes of ice till almost vertical, and topple over as if from a turning-lathe. Sometimes the pressure is sc great that the cohesive force of the solid crystalline mass is destroyed, and it falls into small frag- ments or crumbles into amorphous masses. The direction is not always upward, and layer after layer takes a down- ward direction, and the rumbling and the grating below the seat of greatest obstruction is heard for a long dis- tance. But the propelling power is too mighty to be resisted. It is estimated that opposite the city of Mont- real, narrowed between its own greater island and the lesser of St. Helen's, the propelling power does not fall short of — . [Here I hoped it would be possible to give some idea of the enormous force, but Mr. Kennedy, from whom I sought information, and who has given me much that is valuable on another matter, writes me : — " I can form no estimate, in figures, of the enormous and com- plicated forces at work when the ice is moving."] Nor does the debacle take place noiselessly. As one mass after another rears and falls ba(;kward, crash succeeds to crush ; sometimes it is a noise as of grinding machinery acting on hard limestone or harder trap rock ; sometimes it is 67 like the whirr of a humming-top ; sometimes a? the discharge of distant infantry ; sometimes like all those combined. Those huge masses of ic(^ which, after nine months' incubation, pass from their northern birthplace, down- wards through Wellington Channel, Lancaster Sound and BalTin's Bay, traA^el on their journey of tender mercy, rendering distant southern portions of the globe agree- able, which, without their influence, would be unin- habitable. RELATIVE TEJIPERATURES. On review^ing the differences between the climates of Canada and of Europe, we observe that the differences are mainly caused ])y winter. Mr. Murray, speaking of the dilference, says : — " With respect to climate, this country exhibits, in many particulars, a striking dissimi- larity to Europe. In the iirst place, the temperature is much lower under the same latitude ; and this remark applies to the whole of North America. Thus Quebec, in 46' 49', has almost the same latitude with Nantes in 4*7° 13', yet the mean annual temperature of the former is 41° 74' ; of the latter 54° 68'— a dilferenge of nearly 13°. Edinburgh and Copenhagen, though more than 9° further north than i.^uebec, exceed it in mean annual heiit — the one by T, the other by 4°. The next distinction is the great difference in the tem- perature of wintm" and summer — the cold of the one and the heat of the other being much more intense than in those European countries where the annual mean is the same The influence of the winds, which blow chiefly from the north-west, over a vast expanse of frozen continent ; the position of the adjacent ocean, filled with fields and islands of ice, detached from the Arctic shores ; the uncultivated state of the soil, covert^l with vast forests and swamps ; these alone being the chief causes assigned for so remarkable a diflference." The 08 whole Saint Lawrence valley may bo put down, in round numbers, at forty degrees (40) for the year. The quantity of rain is about thirty-six inches ; and in the interior thirty-1'our inches. It little concerns us what may be the temperature of the earth beneath our feet. The experiments recorded are few, but they tend to prove in Canada (what has been observed in the hig-h latitudes of Europe) that beneath the frozen surface, the thermometer never sinks below the mean annual temperature, but is generally four, five, six, and sometimes seven degrees above it. WINDS. As it is my intention to describe the differences between the climate of this country and the climates of those coun- tries (Italy, south of England, France, etc.,) which are the favorite haunts of the invalid, particularly of the con- sumptive, I may be permitted to dwell at some length on the peculiar character of the winds, and the causes of those peculiarities. The winds, as we all know, are caused by the unequal distribution of heat ; and this unequal local distribution is the result of inequalities of the earth's surface ; differ- ences of soil ; and the relative quantity of land and water. The earth and the water — the continents and the oceans — touch each other only at their margins. A more intimate action upo^i each other is not possible, except by means of the most mobile of the elements, the atmosphere, performing in return the part of mediator. The winds are the instruments of this important work — the bearers of this wondrous water which renovates unceasingly the face of the mainlands and sustains their beauty. . . "To study the distribution of the rains and of the moisture," says Guyot, " is to study the course of the winds, which are their carriers. The winds are the consequence of a dis- turbance of equilibrium in the layers of the atmosphere, 69 and the tendency of the motion is to restore the equili- brium which has been destroyed. And that accomplished, the movement ceases and everything- settles into a calm. The winds sweep in all directions ; they cany with them, into the places where they go, the temperature and the moisture of the places whence they came. It is the winds which soften all the differences by blending oppo- site and extreme characters." The south winds reaching' us from the Gulf of Mexi(!o and the Southern States are cooled by the more temperate air of our more northern regions, and deposit their mois- ture in showers, while the eastern wands bring with Ihem the moisture from the ocean. The former, however, pre- dominate. Fortunate is it for us, and more fortunate still for the invalid, that the north side of this valley slopes so gradually towards the ocean, and that the high, bold Rocky Mountains and Mexican Cordilleras protect us so entirely from the Pacilic. The trade winds which reach us from the east are cooled in their passage across the Atlantic, but the heat lost is replaced by moisture. The same winds, reaching the opposite shores of Africa, are heated to an intense degree by their passage over the ])urning deserts of the interior. The snow stc ^s of wintin* are usually from the north- east by east, and in a line with the isothermals of the month in which they occur. The winds often attain a velocity of thirty-live miles an hour. No matter from what ,joint the wind lirst comes, it soon takes the general dh'ection of the St. Lawrence valley. Easterly winds become north-easterly ; and west- erly become south-westerly. The latter blow, on an average, one-third of the year, and favor the mariner in returning to Europe. The easterly or sea breeze inva- riably accompanies the temperate intervals either in 70 winter or in summer ; but in the Ibrmer season the modi- lying influence is more easily ascertained by the thermo- meter than by our Icelings, for the dampness which attends it chills us I'ar more than a wind of much lower but drier temperature from another quarter. It is like the east wind reaching Edinburgh from Leith — piercing the warmest clothing, and, driving the blood from the surface, constringes the capillaries to prevent its return. Catarrh, bronchitis and pleurisy are not uncommon after those changes, which occur generally in March, April and the early part of May. CLOUDS. These, when observed, are most usually either the cirrus or cumulus variety. When the former, they usually travel eastward, and are very lofty. They have had their origin at the Pacific^ coast, and in the moisture-laden air which rises from the surface of the earth and the surface of the lakes as they travel eastward. These light cirrus clouds are supposed to be vapour in a state of congela- tion, but which again lose their congealed form as they pass through lower regions of the atmosphere to reach the earth. The cumulus and strata varieties are still more fre- ([uently seen ; while the nimbus, which forms so sud- denly, and unburdens itself so quickly, is seen only daring periods of extreme heat, and is often ushered in with lightning. All these varieties, except the last, are often seen blending their forms into each other, so that they combine the character of cirrus, stratous and cumu- lus ; and the combination, especially of the two former, l>roduces an effect indescribably beautiful. But this is not a cloud-laden sky, and many days elapse without the presence of any of these varieties. If the arbitrary scale, adopted by meteorologists to express the proportion of sky which is covered by cloud, 71 be used, then, between a cloudless sky, represented by 0, and a sky quite hidden by cloud, represented by 10, might the sky of Canada be fairly represented by 1 dur- ing the year. During harvest-time the cloudless state of the sky per- mits the action of the sun's rays in ripening fruit and «:orn. The hay, which in early morning falls beneath the scythe, may be tossed and exposed, turned again and raked, and gathered into the barn ere the morrow. American writers, per contra, make the most of the "illuminated pea-soup atmosphere " of Great Britain, as they term it. Horace Grreely, writing an account of his sayings and doings in the great metropolis for the readers of the New York Tribune, says : — " If the day of your embarkation ))e fair, take a long, -jarnest gaze at the sun, so that you will know him again when you return. They have some- thing they call the sun over here which they show occa- sionally, but it looks more like a boiled turnip than it does like its American namesake. Yet they cheer us with the assurance that there will be real sunshine here." FOOS. The rapid evaporation which takes place all over Canada might a priori be supposed to aifect the clearness of the atmosphere and to produce fogs and mists as in G-reat Bri- tain ; but it is not so. We rarely have those fogs which so torment the denizens of Great Britain. There the atmosphere is generally so near the point of saturation that the slightest difference of temperature precipitates at once the fog vesicle. But in our dry atmosphere fogs are rarely observed far from large bodies of water, and then only when a warm and still atmosphere is suddenly cooled by cooler water. Sometimes, indeed, in cold weather, the same effect is produced when the surface of the water is warmer than the atmosphere. In both cases, however, the condensation extends to a consider- 12 able ht^ig"ht. The watery vapour which rises from the .siiriace of the earth does not usually condense till it reaches th(^ upper regions of the atmosphere. Hence fogs in the interior of Canada and along the water-courses are scarce. They are comparatively rare, except in the Lower St. Lawrence, and the noonday sun is seldom obscured by mists. While further westward "no south wind wraps the mountain top in mist," and the eye is not "bounded in its ken to a stone's cast." Steamers on the upper lakes are rarely hindered in their (bourse by fogs ; while those plying by night bc^tween Quebec and Montreal, — a distance of 180 miles — where headlands and distant lights guide the pilot in his narrow and tortuous course, the steamers arrive at their destination with the regularity of express trains. Even our highest hills — which, for want of better, we call mountains — are rarely enveloped in fog. When Newfoundland shall have become an integral part of the Dominion this will rc.^quire to be re-written, for there the warmth and moisture-laden air of the G ulf Stream is chilled by the cold air of the northern coast, and conden- sation goes on at the surface. But a fog, however dense, at Newfoundland is clean, and does not soil the linen ; nor does it produce that darkness which a London fog causes. A Newfoundland fog can be overlooked from the mast-head, whereas from the top of St. Paul's, in London, murkiness reigns supreme, and there the " pea-soup atmosphere " of Horace Grreely is not illuminated. MIRAGES. Sinc(^ the great western provinces hnxo been opened up, optical delusions — miraii-es — are witnessed on a scale of beauty hitherto unapi^roai^hed. My talented young friend, Dr. H. N. Vir.eburg, who has lived at Portage la Prairie, writes me : — " Providence has provided almost every portion of the IS glob(> with some Tcafure which lends a charm lo the hiiul- scapo. This is nowhoro better illustrated than in the houndlcss prairies of the north-western portion oT our Dominion. There, if anywhere, from conformation of the earth's surface, the poet's expression, 'dull, Hat and profit- less,' might be expected to be appropriate. But Nature, to counteract her own seeming deUciency, has availed herself of means of illusion, and by these means trans- forms a wild waste into a pleasant landscape. The monotony of a Hat surface is relieved by beautiful mirages. On (dear, bright days (and these an* by far the most numerous), in whatever direction the eye ranges, a lovely sheet of water is seen in the distant horizon, with trees and houses floating on its surface. The houses, with their surrounding trees, appear as so many floating islands at a considerably higher altitiide than the sur- rounding mountains. Very often, on driving over the prairie on a fine summer's day, I have experienced the most delightful sensation, and felt as if I were constantly approaching some fairy land, the description of which I had stored up in my youthful brain. I would drive along for miles having both the ' description ' and the ' fairy land ' in a hazy, pleasant distance, filling my mind with the most delightful thoughts, and being totally oblivious to the existing dreariness and solitude." AURORA BOHKALIS. All over Canada, but <;hiefly in its northern parts, the display ol aurwahorealis is oftentimes magnificent — usually commencing in the north or north-east, and floating up towards the zenith ; passing off towards the south-east and showing a tendency to " dispose itself at right angles to the magnetic meridian ;" sometimes presenting stalac- titic formations rapidly interlacing with equally brilliant stalagmites of surpassing beauty ; sometimes shooting upwards and downwards in vertical lines ; sometimes •74 ai)peariiig to " radiate from a luuiiuous ceutrc below the horizon ;" sometimes presenting a concave arch of scarcely perceptible motion overhead ; sometimes spanning the lirmament with a beautil'ul bright yellow, or, thonghless ol'ten, deepest carmine ol' scarcely perceptible motion, tinged with red or tipped with green, regularly blended, or fantastically grouped ; sometimes illuminating the heavens for hours ; sometimes appearing and disappear- ing w^ithin a few seconds. The aurora borealis seen in Canada is move beautiful as we proceed northwards, where the evenings are cold, calm and clear. The aurora has a marked eJtfect on the magnetic needle, and atmospheric electricity is much more powerful when red auronc exist than when they do not — and are accompanied with a large quantity of ozone. It has been observed that a white aurora in the north foretels cold and north wind ; and a red aurora in the south indicates south wind and warm rain. In Canada it is commonly the former. It is a matter of dispute whether the atirorce produce any audible sound, and conflicting statements have been made in support of, and against this. I incline to the former. Many times have I listened for some audible evidence of the oc-currence ; but twice have I had the opportunity of distinctly and unmistakeably hearing it. The aborigines of this country ; the Esquimaux north of us ; the Zetlanders and the Orkney men maintain the opinion that the aurora produces " a distinctly audible sound ;" while those who deny the existence of sound, attribute what we hear to the congelation of the breath at a low temperature. It has been likened to the rustling of thick silk ; but my medical hearers who honor me with their presence this evening, will under- stand me when I style it a fine crepitus as in pneumonia, and whi'h has been likened, not inaptly, to the fine, crackling sound produced by rubbing the hair of the T6 head betwoou finger and thumb near the ear; or, Jigain, .somewhat liner than, yet like the sound of, a sky-rocket discharged at a eonsiderabh- distance. Dr. lljaltalin, who has for some years been observvig aurone in L;eland, says he has heard this rustling six times in a hundred observations. It is stated by Wrangel and others that the aurora is ali'ected ))y the wind in the same way as clouds are. But I am not disposed to accept this assertion, as my own observation is to the contrary. BAROMETER. The lollowing observations on the barometer are Irom the pen ol" Dr. Kelly. Instead of introducing tables, which nre more or less fatiguing, I prefer the general observations in which Dr. Kelly's views are fully stated : — ■' The barometer, as it is marked, is not a much mort^ cer- tain guide to the state of the weather at certain seasons than was Farmer's almanac, published some years ago, or a more recent one of like fame, which was said to speak by contraries. This much, however, may be stated as an approximation to truth : The barometer generally rises with west and falls with east winds ; exceptions occur in greatest number between March and June, wlien the barometer frequently rises with north-east winds, which thus bring fine weather, as the west winds do at other seasons, " As east winds are generally accompanied by rain or snow, and usually set in soon after the barometer has attained to a considerable height, the high barometer here, particularly if the rise has been rapid, often warns us of the approach of bad weather ; while a very low state of the barometer, being the usual precursor of a west or laud breeze, indi(."ates that dry weather is at hand. The ordinary marks on barometers are here very bad guides indeed. For frequently, when the mercury has te rnarkod 'set fnir,^ rain or snow is vory near ; and when it has iallen to ' murk rain ' wo look torward with much assurance wliich cov«m' th(( earth's surlace ; but trees and smaller plants ; ( ereals and u'rasses ; roots and mosses arc the results ol pecu- liarity of climate. Schoun says climate and vegetation stand in su»h close connexion that alteration of climatal conditions must necessarily bring- al)0ut changes in vege- tation ; a total chang(> where the climate is greatly altered ; a partial when the alterations are slighter. Many meteor- ologists deny even this partial inlluence of their presence, or of their removal. That inlluence may not be on a scale sufficiently great to alFect the thermometer at a distance ; but tho inlluence, limited as it is, is yet considerable, and a series of minor and local inlluences affects the general result. The presence or absenci; of natural woods, and their greater or less luxuriance, may be taken as an indt^x of the climate, of the amount of humidity, and of the fer- tility of the soil. In Canada, the oak, elm. beech, maple, linden, chestnut, ash, hickory, walnut and other deciduous trees flourish in certain latitudes, bistween regions where llourish umbra- geous plants and evergreens, and the pine and cedar and still hardier mosses. But from one end of Canada to the other, the mixed forest is met with in rich luxuriance. The pine and cypress and beech and maple grow up together ; while plants with shrunken leaves and feeble stems are nowhere to be found within our territory! In all countries, Mr. Charles McLaren observes, having a summer heat exceeding 10° ¥. the presence or absence of natural woods, and their greater or less luxuriance, may be taken as a measure of the amount of humidity, and of I •78 the f licadwatei'S of tho Saskah'liewan, whi'i'o 1 hoy roam I:' (''UiitlosS herds. Tlie grass to feed them, says Sir (ieorure, is rich and abundant, and the ))ufi'aloes MJnter tliere, tojiother witli the domestic; animals taken thither fur t lie use of the white men and Indians. Tliose simple farts are ample in-oot of the eli- nuitologieal and i)roductive capacity of the country. The plains of the Saskatchewan measiire.")0(),U00 si|uare miles, an tenth degrcn; of longitude would comprehend very nearly the whole of England and Ireland, i»artof the (Jermau Ocean, the English Channel, the north-eastern corner of France, the whole of Belgium and Holland, and tiie greater pait of tlie valley d to the ^% 'b^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 y .^\, Qr ^ /^/. \ 1.0 I.I 1.25 I ^ Ilia 111= U III 1.6 V] <^ /^ ^;j '4>. >^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST M/.IN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 m iV ^v :\ \ "% V "-b V <*. V 90 soon as formerly ; and that Pere Charlevoix says : — " On a beau dire que les hyvers ne sont plus aussi rudes qu'ils I'etaient il y a quatre-vingt ans, et que selon toutes les ai)parences ils s'adouciront encore dans la suite." Judge McCord, who some years ago devoted much attention to meteorology, and, while tilling, in this society, the office which I now hold=^, succeeded in directing the attention of the British G-overnment to the ouestion, think? the extremes of heat and cold are not so great as formerly. The learned judge's opinion is expressed in the following words : — " I am distinctly of opinion that if the extremes of heat and cold, and their respective durations are less intense and long (which I believe), the mean temperature of these provinces has not materially (^hanged." Dr. Archi- bald Hall's opinion is to the same effect. Every old habitant will tell us he is sensible the climate has been improved by clearing away the Torests. He will tell us that certain of the early crops — and all kinds of grain are now sown earlier than heretofore — ran great risk of being injured by the frosts ; but that now the risk is comparatively triding. He distinctly traces the simultaneous disappearance of forests and untimely frosts, and says it is now somewhat unusual, in settled districts, to notice the occurrence of " . . . An envious sneaking frost That bites the first-born infants of the spring." That opinion is a very prevalent one, and has been noticed by many writers. Mr. Manning says: — "There prevails a general opinion that since British America has been partially cleared and cul vated, the extremes, both of summer heat and of winter cold has been seriously mitigated." On the other hand, for regions further north, Dr. Hayes says there is no doubt, in his mind, that at a time within historical and very recent limits, the climate of the Polar region was milder than it is now. * This was written twenty-live years ago. di The removal of the forests and the drainage of swamps have had a most salutary influence upon the health of the people. Intermittent fever, which only a few years ago altlicted almost every Euroj)ean who visited certain districts in western Canada, is rapidly disappear- ing ; and localities over which " the tertian shook his chilling wings " are now the most healthy. Agriculture has accomplished what medicine could not, and how V Let us contemplate a desert country : the rivers, aban- doned to themselves, become choked and overflow ; and the waters serve only to form pestilential marshes. A labyrinth of thickets and of brambles overspread the most fertile hills. In the meadows, the unsightly wild mushroom and the useless moss choke the most nutritious herbs ; forests become impenetrable to the rays of the sun ; no wind disperses the putrid exhalations of the trees which have fallen under the pressure of age ; the soil, excluded from the genial and purifying warmth of the air, exhales nothing but poison, and an atmosphere of disease gathers over all the country. But what do not industry and perseverance accomplish ? The marshes are drained ; the rivers flow in their accustomed chan- nels ; the axe and the fire clear away the forests ; the earth, furrowed by the plough, is opened to the rays of the sun and the influence of the wind ; the air, the soil and the waters acquire by degrees a (character of salu- brity ; and vanquished Nature yields its empire to man, who thus creates a country for himself. I have only, in conclusion, to allude to the CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE. As the law of the mutual diffusion of gases is universal, one might suppose the chemical composition of the atmos- phere would be the same in all parts of the world. But this is found not to be the case. The atmosphere of two contiguous localities is often known to disagree. Yet the 92 body ill a state of health cannot — and no instrument yet discovered can — indicate that difference or its causes. But the most sensitive of all instruments, the body in a state of disease, takes early cognizance of it. To this I shall have occasion to allude in the second part of this paper. Suffice it, at present, to state that there is a difference be- tween the chemical composition of the atmospheres of this country and of Europe. Whether that difference is due to the accidental admixture of stimulating^ gases with the air of Canada ; whether the relative amount of oxygen and of nitrogen in the atmosphere is changed ; whether the former is increased (a cirumstancc difficult, with a knowledge of the law of delinite proportions, to believe) ; whether oxygen is given out in the process of vegetable growth and mixes with, but forms no essential constitu- ent part of, the atmosphere ; or whether, in the same process, the air is deprived of a small amount of that car- bonic acid which it usually contains, I am not in a position to determine. Of all the antiseptics in use, or hitherto discovered, a cold frosty air is most certain in its action. Cold prevents the motion of particles ; and particles, in los- ing motion, lose the power to decay. The influence of cold is not confined to organic matter on the earth's surface, but extends to that floating in the atmosphere ; while it removes with it the vapour there suspended. Our coldest days, as they are the clearest, are also the purest. In Canada the atmosphere is chemically so pure that cold is uot esseiitial to the preparation of food, nor to its preservation. Meat can be cured or dried in the sun without the aid of salt or smoke, and this in the hottest months of the year. The Indian women practice this mode of preserving the meat of the buffalo and other ani- mals, and, as Catlin says, " in all the different latitudes of our Indian country." It*" K (?•- ■':'' do^-^ ' •• '*-|^i»^'^ #/ 9S AIR OF CANADA 8TIMULATIN0. But be the chemical constitution of the climate what it may, the air of Canada is unquestionably far more stimu- lating than is that of G-reat Britain, for instance. That circumstance has been recognized by almost every one who has visited this country. It was such as to arrest the atten- tion of the observant Georg(^ Combe, author of " The Con- stitution of Man," when visiting this continent. Combe (p. 59), speaking of the climate of the United States, says it is felt " by most British travellers to be highly stimu- lating. The air is drier, and it appears to me to be more highly charged with electricity than that of Britain." Old country persons, long accustomed to add wine (or something stronger) to water for their stomach's sake^ perceive, after their arrival in Canada, that stimulating beverages do not agree with them quite so well, or rather disagree with them more, than when in Europe ; and, ignoring the hyperstimulating influence of our dry clim- ate, they seek, in the fancied impurity of the article, for the cause of this difference. Canada must, from necessity, if from necessity alone, become the abode of temperance.^ In Canada the atmosphere almost always exhibits a sensible electrical condition, be that positive or negative. In clear weather the atmosphere is vitreous, or positive ; and during hail and snow that condition is usually pre- served. When the clouds drift with violence, the elec- tricity often becomes negative; but in clear, frosty weather — that is, during the greater part of the winter * Not many years at'o spirit rations were served out daily to the sol- diers of the United States Army; and that this duty mij^ht be eftbctually oxe(!utod it was tlio usajj;e of the .service, in many stations, to have it per- formed under the immediate superintendence of a commissioned oflicer, who certified to liis commandinji; ofiicor " that he luul actually seen oacli man drink his drams." A few years later, and an intelli}.;ent general in the same army issued orders for the suppression of the liquor traffic among the soldiers in camp and field ; and riot, disorder and diseasQ abated. How much more humane and wise was Mcljollaa I 94 season, — the electrical condition is positive. The same obtains in foggy weathe'-. A change of wind, however, may change that electrical condition ; or may increase or decrease it. SPECULATIVE. This brings me to the second part of my subject — th(; climate in its relation to life and health. As that part is a large one, I shall not enter upon it now, further than by asking : what are the effects of our Canadian climate upon Europeans ? Is life mon; intense Y Is the exist- ence (and I do not doubt its existence) of a tonic excit- ant in the atmosphere prejudicial or favorable to mental and physical development ? Is this climate favorabh^ or unfavorable to life ? Favorable or unfavorable to health ? We all know that dryness cf the exposed tissues attends even a short residence in Canada. That dryness is visible in the skin, hair, mucous membranes, etc. Physicians recognize still further changers in the internal organs, especially in the lungs and liver. The whole tempera- ment changes. Are these changes favorable to life or are they not ? These are questions which I long since pro- posed to myself, and I apprehend that their solution forms a worthy and no unimportant object of professional study. Such partial answers as I am as yet able to give to them, will be conveyed in a future lecture. But as curiosity is ever upon tip-toe, I shall anticipate the answers so far as to say that the maritime and continental features, harmoniously blended in our climate ar(\ me- thinks, favorable to the highest development of a hardy, long-lived, intelligent people. And may that people be a Canadian people — not loving the laud of their European forefathers less, but loving Canada more — to whom will belong the privilege, the great privilege, of aiding in erecting, in what was so lately a wilderness, a monument of libert}'- and of civilization, broader, deeper, firmer, than has ever yet been raised by the hand of man. PART II. When the traveller visits other countries in Europe, he sees everywhere traces of ancient splendour, and evi- dences of industry and magnificence, the result of wealth and industry in its former inhabitants. But wlitm, in obedience to those laws which he may not understand or think of, but which " uniformly govern the growth, grouping and migratioiis of humanity" in, and to, every quarter of the globe, the European immigrant quits his native shores for our Canadian provinces, he leaves behind him the air ho used to breathe and the soil whereon he trod. It is probable that a change of place is atn.'ompanied with a less or greater change of occupation, food, amuse- ments, habits, &c., and he is exposed, at once, to a new set of influences, not always of his own choosing. He perceives that the mornings and the evenings are clearer, though there may be nothing of that " little gloaming light, much like a shade "—as Spenser styles it ;* the skies, brighter ; the air, in winter, colder ; in summer, warmer than those to which he had been accustomed. If he has eyes to see — and if not, this is not the place for him — he will perceive that the people among whom he now finds himself are different. If he is thrown among those who like himself came from G-reat Britain, he may notice they are paler among the higher classes and less * This would be true of the greater portion of Ontario and Qtiobeo, wiiore there is but Httle pleasant lingerin<^ twilight, and where darkness follows quickly the rays of the setting sun : but in, and north of the Atha- basca district twilight lasts from sunset to sunrise, and is beautifully soft and clear. 96 ruddy (except in winter) ; browner among the out-door artizans. All look somewhat drier, so to speak. If he is from that less prosperous island, where rents are said to be proportionate to apparent comi'orts, he does not notice here, where it is happily unnec'ossary, any attempt at conceal- ment of the better part of the people's condition, but rather an ostentatious display of comforts — if Crabb will permit the use of that substantive outside of his own country. He will probably observe that, among- the thoroughly acclimatized section, the foreheads of many are higher, but not broader, and, at an earlier age than in Europe, grey, or more freed from hair ; the nose sharper and more pointed ; the lower jaw narrower ; the shoul- ders squarer, and often higher ; and the complexion more sallow, as if bronzed by the intemperance of the seasons. He will also not fail to remark that the herbage, though not less luxuriant, is different : the cowslip, the hawthorn, the " crimson-tipp'd " daisy, the heather and the primrose may not meet his eye ; but sturdy grasses and more gor- geous, yet less fragrant flowers surround him on every hand. The differences in the flora are marked : the spe- cies are distinct, although the genera are the same. But the differences seem to be more largely due to local con- ditions, than to conditions as between the two countries. In Eurojie the greater brightness is olserved in flowers grown near the ocean, consequent on the greater humid- ity of the atmosphere. Here that brightness is noticeable at a great distance from the sea, where our large rivers and vast lakes furnish that humidity far inland. If a map is laid out before him. he is amazed at the prodigious extent of the country he has come to inhabit, exceeding, as it greatly does, that of the whole United States of America. If he measures that extent with a compass, he finds that Canada is about a ninth of the whole terrestial globe (Malte Brun says the exact amount is 4,109,630 square geographical miles) ; and that. in additiou, it is indented with lakes and rivers of about one-third as great in extent, giving a water surface of 1,340,000 square miles. If he penetrates the forest, the variety of trees will astonish him — particularly if in autumn — when every tree shows an infinite variety of tint, of green, orange, yellow and red. He will find form succeeding to form, till the vegetation of the temperate zone passes rapidly before him. The oak, taller and less gnarled ; the sugar maple ; the pine ; hemlock ; birch, &c., remind him of his changed abode, and may, perhaps, lead him to exclaim with the observant Charlevoix, though in a different lan- guage : " Nous som.mes au milieu des pins grandes Ibr^ts du monde ; selon toutes les apparences, elles sont aussi anciennes que le monde m6me, et n'ont point ete plantees de mains d'hommes : a la vue rien n'est plus magnilique." The birds warble to him in unknown strains, and while decked in much gaudier colours, they sing less sweetly. Many of the birds, which in Great Britain make the groves and sky resound with the music of their carols, do here but chirp and twitter. Some genera of the feathered tribe are peculiar to the New World, as the genera of toucans, humming-birds, tinamores, wild turkey, and others. The quadrupeds,^ and particularly the horse, have undergone marked changes, and many of the animals, domestic and others, now met with, are not identical with those in Europe — but allied in species. If he has a mind capable of generalizing, he will per- ceive that, even in this diversity of phenomena around * Some of tlio larac <|u;i(lmpo.(ls of tlio old world have no livinjj; ropre- sentatives in the new. Tlie olopliant, camol, «<;iraffe, rhinocoros, hippopo- tamus, liavo no living animals to eipial them lioro; but over and anon, the fossil remains of the mastodon and the megatherium are discovered, to show that those monsters once lived and had their being here ; but now, l)eing unnecessary to the more advanced condition of the new world (geologicallv older, it mav be observed,) bad died out and were buried. 7" 98 him, there is unity ; and that however different in mould and figure are objects with which, in other forms, he was more fiimiliar, that here, as elsewhere, there is a blending quite as harmonious. If the vegtstation is of a character so widely different as to present a physiognomy somewhat strange to him, ycit will he recognize that here also there is affinity between form and form. If he dip beneath the surface, however, he will there meet with the same inclined strata that he had seen in Europe, telling him " that the solidification of the earth's crust is altogether indc^i^endent of climatic influences." That a change has taken place in the European consti- tution after a longer or shorter residence in this country, every one (except Mr. Latham, perhaps,) must admit. The high color which flushes the cheek, and reddens the lips of Europeans, fades somewhat. The skin is less soft and moist ; the hair becomes drier and straighter ; and the teeth — thanks to a pernicious mode of living to which I shall allude later — decay sooner. The fat whi(;h cushions the muscles, and gives a roundness to the general outline, is partially absorbed ; and the muscles themselves, or their tendinous extensions or their aponeurotic expansions, become more prominent, and especially about the face, giving to the countenance a more thoughtful — some think a more intelligent — certainly a more serious expression. Chubby-faced women, and round, fat, oily men are less frequently seen here. In a word, the " whole model of the barren earth which serves as paste and covering to our bones " is changed. Viewing these differences — and they are such as to arrest the attention of the least observant — he may, per- haps, fail to notice that, after a time, he himself has taken a new form of existence ; that new habits are springing up within him ; that new ideas, not always better ones, per- haps, are taking possession of his mind. Nevertheless, although he may not know it, he thinks and acts differ- 9P ently, and at length becomes sensible that a " (change has come o'er the spirit of his dream ;" that it has become necessary his natural and national (character should bo (and it is beirijr) modified to suit the now ordc r of thins^s whi(!h ho observes to exist around him ; that he has become, in fine, like Sir John Cutler's silk stockings, which were darned for so long a terra of years with worsted by his housekeeper, that it would bo dilhcult to say at what precise period thoy had lost their identity — as the G-erman " Walladmer " was said to have been darned by De Quincey. He may, and often does, no doubt, feel regret that the home of his sires and of his childhood is far away ; but he has little time for pensive thought and melancholy. There is soon noticeable a something in his step — a something in his countenance — which proclaim a life of ceaseless activity. He will not fail to observe that business and pleasure or recreation are here not so well associated — that each is not relegated, for a time, to what is appropriate to each — as in Europe : toil in the former is more continuous and severe — less interrupted ; and pleasure or recreation partakes more of the character of dissipation, save when an element of refinement had been blended with the more aggressive element of enterprise. Over-exertion in those who are compelled to work ; and too little exertion in those whose labour has earned for them an early compe- tence, here produce the same noticeable results. The emigrant of to-day — " On lold adventure to discover * >; * * if any clime, perhaps, Mifijht yield him easier habitation," notices differences when he sees the children of the immigrant of fifty years ago, and compares them to those in like circumstances in the country whencfe he and their parents came. The climate of Canada will best be considered under its 100 two opposite aspects of Heat and Cold; spring and autumn, beinf^ much like those seasons in Europe, require but little special notice. , Heat. During the hottest days of summer, when (mrronts of air strike us from the south as if from the mouth of a fur- nace, there is never experienced what occurs to travellers in Africa and in some parts of Asia, and even in the south of Europe, where the pores of the skin are shut, as if by cold, and cutaneous exhalation is checked. Here, on the contrary, the exhalant apparatus is more than usually active. In Asia and Africa, cloths kept con- stantly wet are hung up at the doors and windows ; in Canada we carry those cooling contrivances about with us. "Residents iu Canada are, perhaps, not aware of, or, if aware, are not sulhciently grateful for, a quality of atmo- sphere which thus preserves, in a remarkable manner, the temperature of the body, apparently independently of the elevated temperature surrounding it. One of the primary, or at least, most conspicuous effects of heat upon the inhal)itants is exerted upon the functions of the skin and liver. Even, with the more robust, there is, during the hot season, a relaxation of the solid tissues, and a more or less abundant transpiration. "With all, the movements are slower, and with a greater disposition to repose ; thirst is increased, and the fluids taken to relieve it, pass quickly, through the circulation, to the skiu. Finally, the stomach participates, and craves less for food than for drink ; but whether this is a result or a cause of the general depression, is differently determined. As to the influence of the heat of our summers on that organ, which, next to the skin, seems to take cognizance of an exalted temperature, it may be observed that sudden heat has not theefrectof invariably increasing the biliary secre- tion ; so that hepatic affections are unusual in June or early 101 in July, or mnchberoro Augusf, when a high tomporature has continued for a coupU; of months. Tht^ heat of sum- mer continues quite long enough for comfort ; but stops short ere bilious artections have become frequent. A few additional degrees of heat, and a few weeks longer con- tinuau(!e of it, might, perhaps, develop those putrid and malignant disorders of hot countries, which, in Canada, are happily iinknown. But we must not attribute to high temperature solely, the inlluence of other causes; for many there are — myself among the numbtn* — who are disposed to think that high temperature, even when long continued, is incapable of directly produt'ing disturbance of the functions of the liver. The high temperature and more rarilied air indispose per- sons to exercise ; and if the^ continu*^ to take the food they are in the habit of taking in colder seasons, the carbon is too great to be excreted from the lungs as car- bonic acid, and from the liver as bile. The rarified condition of the atmosphere diminishing, at the same time, the excre- tory power of the lungs, the carbon of the ti&snes, and (if much be consumed) of the food, is converted by the liver into fat. But a season approaches when that fat will be ser- viceable to us, and will enable us to resist, with comfort, the extremest cold. Liver affections are uncommon in \)ersons who keep up free cutaneous exhalation by a( five jxercise — there being a marked sympathy between the sLm and liver ; and they are rarely met with in those who, while taking active exercise, are temperate in eating and in drinking. In the heat of summer, other alterations take place in the economy which teach one how to accommodate one's self to altered circumstances. The sensation of warmth would be almost intolerable did not kind, beneficent Nature open those innumerable pores, the flood-gates of the skin, and bathe it with a liuid which, during evaporation, pre- vents the temperature rising above the healthy standard. Whether the maintenance of a moderate temperature in 102 the body in a hot surrounding medium depends on the principle of evaporation; or whether animal heat com- bining with the transuded fluid passes off with it, it is not my purpose to enquire. There are here, as elsewhere, some latent indispositions of the atmospher-^, the sources of which we cannot easily trace. lu Canada the sensible alterations in the air as to heat, cold, moisture, &c., do not influence in the same manner as in other cold countries in Europe — the colder parts of Grreat Britain, for instance — where the mortality is higher in cold than in wa^m weather — the reverse of what if observed here."^ Beyond those sensible condi- tions, therefore, (heat, cold, moisture, ozonic or electrical state) there are other differences which it is not easy to explain without taking largely into consideration the relative social condition of the two peoples. Cold. In Canada the cold of winter is severe without being destructive. The sharp, clear, bracing cold is more easily and more agreeably borne than is the humid, raw air of March or 0(^,tober. The cold, during winter, seems to be more superficial, as it were, and to call into activity the (capillaries of the surface of the body. The skin reddens, and there is an almost irresistible desire for exercise ; — not as during the cold wet seasons of other climes, where the only movements to which one feels im- pelled are involuntaiy ; — when people stand and shiver. It might, at first thought, appear that the temperature of Canada, rendered low by its geographical position, would affect the human constitution much as in those countries * In Glasgow, for instance, ts winter approaches, it is not unusual to read, year after year, something like the following, which I tran8criV)e : — " The severely cold and foggy weather wliich has set in has ircroased the mortality of the city, and unless a change in the temperature takes place soon, the death-rate will go up further." 108 whei-e the temperature is rendered cold by their great altitude. But if Chateaubriand be an authority, it would seem to be quite otherwise ; for the author of the " G-enie du Christiauisme " when speaking of Mont St. Bernard, says : " Un air trop vif use les ressorts de la respiration, et Ton y vit avec peine plus de dix ans. Ainsi le monde qui s'euferme dans I'hospice peut calouler a peu pres le nom- bre des jours qu'il restera sur la terre ; tout ce qu'il gagne c'est de connaitre le moment de samort, qui est inconnue au reste des humains !" But no such gloomy forebodings haunt the resident of Canada. The cold is, indeed, sufficiently exhilarating for comfort ; but not for early destruction. It is not here as the Iliad had it — " . . . Numbing Frost, whicli ;ill the works Suspends of man and saddens all the tlocks." That the cold of winter is severe, without being destruc- tive, I may state that northern voyageurs have been accustomed to pass many days in the open air in districts where the ice in the rivers was frozen to the very bottom ; where the few stunted spruce or fir trees were insufficient to afford shelter ; and where an upturned canoe, or sledge, or piece of canvass was made to do service in affording a screen behind which the men could sleep or take their morning or evening meal. To them it appeared incredible how people perish of cold in Great Britain. But the sky is clear ; the air is dry ; although the temperature, as regis- tered by the thermometer, is low. A much higher tem- perature, charged with moisture, would quickly penetrate to the centre of circulation and of life. But moisture in the air is inconsistent with extreme cold ; for when the thermometer is low, it is observed that the lower strata are " suffused with icy particles, the off- spring of intense congelation." When, however, the tem- perature is not so low as at once to congeal all the watery particles in the air, which, near the coast or larger lakes 104 or bays, are given off from the surface of the adjoining water, the superadded moisture adds to the discomfort in a ratio altogether disproportionate to the temperature. The exhilirating influence of a Canadian winter is sup- posed to depend upon its peculiar electrical condition. That exhilirating influence is continued within certain limits so long as motion continues. In the last years of the " Rescue Party," forced travelling continued some- times seventy to eighty hours almost without a halt, and with the thermometer — 40^ to — 50 without a frost-bite, showing, as the narrator states, that a low temperature is no obstacle to travel.^ That the cold winters are not destructive or inimical to life, we may show by the hardshijis successfully'^ surmount- ed by the Sisters of St. Joseph when founding the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Montreal two centuries and a half ago. During twenty-eight winters the walls of the building were a sin- gle slab or board in thickness, and so badly joined, says a writer, that when snow fell at night, their first duty in the morning was to remove it with shovels. They had not yet learned the use of underground cellars in preserving their food from the frost ; and frozen food — a small lump of lard or salt fish — became their portion. A writer of that period, M. Morin says : " They were at least two years without seeing any fruits or vegetables, except almost inedible wild plums once or twice a year, as any attempt at gathering berries or fruits for the winter was attended with too great danger from the Iroquois." It has been asserted that our sometimes intensely cold, dry air has a perceptible pungency upon respiration ; but I have never noticed it, though I have often remarked a *It is a singular fact, noted by those who have undergone long con- tinued latigue in a very low temperature, and one wliich physiologists may not easily harmonize with established theories, that persons are more prostrated by tbe repose and oomfort that follow, than by the most severe and constant labour and exposure. 105 sensation of dryness in the air passages, especially in the nostrils, and a disinclination, at times, to take a deep inspiration. The long continned action of severe cold is said to pro- duce, in the end, feelings of a most pleasing kind : — first languor, and to languor succeeds drowsiness, — and an almost irresistible propensity to sleep, which, if indulged in, terminates painlessly and pleasantly in death. But, in truth, the sensation experienced when cold is severe, and when its long continuance is benumbing the senses, is not so much one of pleasant drowsiness, as is so often stated, as it is of an indisposition to motion, because motion is pain- ful. Dr. Kane thus graphically and truly describes that condition : " Have you ever received the shocks of a mag- neto-electric machine, and had the peculiar benumbing sensation of ' Can't let go ' extending up to your elbow joints ? Deprive this of its paroxysmal character ; sub- due, but difiuse it over every part of the system, and you have the so-called pleasurable feelings of incipient freez- ing. It seems even to extend to your brain. Its inertia is augmented ; everything about you seems of a pon- derous sort ; and the whole amount of pleasure is in gratifying the disposition to remain at rest, and spare yourself an encounter with these latent resistances." The countenances of those frozen to death are singu- larly calm and placid, and not indicative of any suffering. There is a smile which has led the untutored Indian to believe that the frozen one had obtained — ere the vital spark had fled — a foretaste of those hunting grounds for which his heart yearns when in life; and that Gritche Manitou, the Mighty, had displayed before his vision bows and arrows, and rich furs of ermine — whiter than the snow already enshrouding him.^ Those who have been aroused * In February, 1646, when Pore de Noue was discovered frozen to death between Sorel and St. Ours, by the two Hurona and a French soldier Bent out to search for him, his snowshoes were laid aside, his hat was 106 from the lethargy which precedes death, describe that state as one exquisitely free from pain or suffering or anxiety, when remaining motionle.ss ; but the a\^ akening from it as a torture and a cruelty. It may be asked : what degree of cold, and what con- tinuance of it may be borne without experiencing that lethargy which steals over one's senses, and lulls to fatal sleep ? To this it may be answered that not so much the temperature, as the agitation of the air ; not so mu(^h the agitation of the air as the moisture it contains ; and not so much agitation, or moisture, or both, as the condition of the body at the time, and its power of generating and retaining heat. A temperature scarcely below freezing may be fatal to some. Yet, far north of us, persons have slept comfo^'tably in a snowdrift when the thermometer was fifty-four degrees below zero ! Voya- geurs, on whose testimony we can rely, state they have slept in canvas-tents, witho discomfort, yet without fire, at — 52°. " The marvel is," h s one of them, " how life sustains itself in such circumstances of cold." When, however, the cold is severe and long-continued, and when persons are not inured, there is often experienced a dall, heavy pain between the eyes, and extending a short dis- tance up the forehead. This begins near, possibly in, the frontal sinus, and extends upwards ; and may be compared to what is described in medical language as gravedo. The sudden o(x'urrence of cold is unlike the sudden 0(;currence of heat — the latter enervates and depresses — the former, thoug-h it pinches, invigorates and disposes to activity ; and this disposition to activity has a certain placed on a bank of snow near him, and he was upon his knees, with his arms folded across his breast in an attitude of prayer, his eyes open and looking upwards, and a smile on his rigidly frozen face. His features looked so pleasantly calm that both soldier and savages knelt resijectfully at a distance in silence, till the continued stillness and immobility con- vinceil them of his death. 10*7 relation to the dryness of the atmosphere and to its elec- trical condition. As the invitation to muscular energy is irresistible, feeding is necessarily heavy. It has been observed that when the temperature rises from -30" or -4C°, or lower, to zero or + 10" or -\- 20^ a close oppressive sensation is experienced — not, as might be supposed, from disturbance of the respiratory organs — but from some cardiac derangeme?it, the precise pathology and nature of which it would be needless to explain. The sensations of cold we experience in winter are but relative. When the body is inured to severe cold, a moderate degi'ee of elevation is easily felt. After several days of severe cold, if the thermometer rises considerably, a feeling of lassitude is experienelow zero, seem to enjoy good heaUh. At any rate they survive, and are very hardy ind serviceable animals. Some young animals are not housed during the whole winter ; and have neither hay nor oats giA'en them till they are of age to work. In no other country could animals, so ill furnished as is the horse, withstand so low a tempera- ture. But, as I have more than once said, the air is stimulating to capillary circulation ; and though the cold drives the blood from the surface and constriuges the capillaries, it quickly calls it back again through capil- laries dilated to receive it in greater abundance.=^ The relative MORTALITY of any given country may, to a certain extent, be gath- ered from its weekly or monthly returns. In Canada, were we to pin our faith to such documents, w^e should be led very far astray. There is here no uniform sys- tem of registration. The guardians of the different ceme- teries in or near the larger cities keep, 'tis true, the records of deaths ; but if a physician were to inspect them, he would be puzzled at the strange diseases which sometimes carry off the natives, and for the description of which he might search in his books in vain. As statis- tics are A^aluable only in proportion to their accuracy, I feel it necessary to ignore those ex-graveyard records of names and diseases furnished by surviving friends ; and I do so with regret, as I have little that is more reliable in their places. And here T may venture to express the hope that, ere many sessions shall have been brought to a close, there may be some uniform system of medical registration * It is marvellous that surgeons should, until lately, have perpetrated and i)erpotuated the mistake of using cold as a haemostatic in hiemorrh- age, when its application increases, not diminih-ses, the flow of blood to the part so treated through the dilated capillaries. Ill for all the provinces of the Dominion. I shall confine my- self, therefore, to returns furnished hy the surgeons and assistant-surffeons of the Ameri'-an and British aTmios at the different stations. There is, as may be supposed from Us extont, a differ- ence between the ratio of mortality at different places in this vast Dominion. For convenience of description, as well as for other purposes, Canada may be divided into three portions : Ist. That portion east of the great lakes ; 2nd. The lake region ; •'Jrd. The large tract of country north-west of the great lakes. At Fort Sullivan, Maine, on the Atlantic coast — which may be taken as an index for those parts of the Eastern province bordering on the coast, the ratio of deaths among the American troops is 2| in 100. In the 'ake region, it sinks to less than one per 100 ; and in the regions north of the lakes, it sinks again to n'',, or ,•„ less than one per 100. If we compare the northern division with the more southerly divisions of the United States, the comparison is most favorable to the former, and by ricochet to Canada. In the southern division, according to the same returns, the average deaths per 1,000 annually rise to 22 or 23 per mill. (The Adjutaut-Grenerars returns are still higher.) Fort Snelling, west of Lake Superior, lat. 44° 53 N. long.; 93^1 W., has generally been taken as typical of the western region, and the records show the annual ratio of mortal- ity, exclusive of accidents, to be less than h per mill, or one-half of one per cent. The following is a classification of the diseases : — Diseases of the digestive organs, 529 ; of the nervous system, 31 ; of the respiratory system, 985 ; and of those 985, only four are consumptive. "VYe may cast our eyes over the whole habitable world and they cannot rest upon any spot freer from that fell destroyer of the human race than is this region. 112 The relative healthinesK of the difFeront stations may be perceived from the following : — TABLE KXUIRITINa TUB ANNUAL RESULTS AND MORTALITY OP DISEASES. Ratio of cases per 1,000 of mean strength. Deaths. Northern Divi- Hion, Catarrh and influenza. 1 s d CD "3 .2 3 .2 g I C 9 1 a a 4) a s 9 »2 £9 .2 '3 a 8 a is Cause not specified. PostK on Lakes . . Atlantic Posts. . . Posts remote fr'm the ocean and Lak''S 5973 :il30 12604 300 233 552 19 22 17 30 26 28 9 9 5 358 290 602 1 4 1 3 • • 1 9 15 22 1 65 140 119 12 16 16 Total 21707 439 18 28 7 490 1 8 1 46 1 324 44 TABLE EXIIIBITINa THE RELATIVE MORTALITY, EXTENT OF SICKNESS, .4.ND COMPARATIVE PREVALENCE OP CERTAIN DISEASES. Ratio of cases per 1,000 of mean OB a u S *< a strength. Respiratory • a C3 S a.» 5 <2 u k oo climate. o 5 "§ -M > ^ "§ 1 fl ^1 9 u hn -TS a ■i^ > § <-> c8 Deatns pe medical i Deaths pe adjutant Batio per strength, annually. a o s a 1 00 S .a a o a 3 eing a: — TABLE EXIIIBITINd A GENERAL VIEW OF DISEASES rN THE NOUTIIERN AND SOUTHERN DIVISIONS. Specific diseaseB. Northern division. -s 1) u 5 o I 3 o Eh to M 1 - -Si ■■5^-2 O 4-t 4J Soutliera division. o 1 •o 3 o H o ° o *- 04 1 Feb. Intermittens.. " Remittens. . .. " Synoclius *' TypliiiH Ciitanli A Influenza Pnoumonia Pluiiritis Phthisit* pulmonaliH HanuoptyHis DyHcntoria 1 Diturlioea j Gastritis & Enteritis Cholic and Uliolera Epidemic Cliolera. . Hepatitis acuta et cliron Plircnitis & Menin- gitis , Apoplcxia , Epil'^psia , Mania a potu. .. .., Ebiietas Nyctalopia , RLeumatismus. ... Gonorrhoea Sypliilis , Hydroos , Atrophia and Chro- nic visceral lesions Casualties Suddenly All other diseases Total. 3.187 687 825 54 9.538 610 652 152 83 5.981 289 3.221 302 98 18 6 166 102 370 18 3.412 9''1 462 50 1 32.154 1 12 2 8 I 8 1 46 1 4 1 2 103 1 in. 3, I in. I in. I in. 187 49 412 7 1 in. 9.538 76 652 1 in. 1 in. 1 in. 33-10 I in. 83 1 in. 665 1 4 9 35 3 11 281 1 in. 289 1 ia. 1.610 1 in. 3 33 6 15-10 33 34 274 18 in. 3.412 1 in. 1 In. 1 in. • in. 1 in. 1 in. in. in. 1 in. 1 in. 971 462 12 1 in. 144 54.411 14.094 4.196 718 100 7.471 900 1.060 257 84 13.135 633 3.282 384 166 31 25 188 306 2.616 191 2.8,5 929 584 206 13 145 11 24 4 42 6 116 2 38 •» 53 J 26 7 88 1 9 39 58 19 16 50 7 28 833 in. 1.084 in. 29 in. 65 in. 5 in. 1.868 in. 21 in. 177 in. 2 in. 42 in. 141 in. 24 in. 496 in. 43-10 m. 41 in. 6 in. 25..10 in. 21 in. 8 in. 45 in, 191 in. 2.845 in. 929 in. 584 in. 11 1 in. 75 115 From this it will be soen that in the regions far removed from lariyo bodies of water ; where frreat extremes of temperatun; prevail — as in the Red River district ; where there is little or no spring ; where the transition from the cold of winter to the htnit of summer is sudden, and often aevere ; where the general range of the ther- nii "^icter is from *70' to 80' above, in summer, to 30' and 40° be '"/ zero in winter; and where the thermometer often logisters 90' in the shade, the annual ratio of mortality- is little more than one piM* cent. And were it not for l.he vi(!e of intemperance, which leads to the exposure of it's victims' limbs in winter, and to night air at all s ^asons, the ratio of mortality would be still very much less. I have now to adduce a table of the relative salubrity of the different head stations of the British army to (^omplete my neecessarily meagre statistical notices. The healthiest station of the British army is Malta and the least healthy Bengal ; but the British American stations occupy a high place in the scale. In sahibrity Nova Scotia, New Bruns- wick, Quebec, Ontario, are all healthier than G-reat Britain. The deaths at different stations are thus given : — Malta Nova Scotia Canada (Quebec and Ontario) Great Britain Cape of Good Hope Gibraltar Ionian Islands 1,'„ 2-rti Bermudas • . . Bombay Mauritius .... Newfoundland Ceylon Bengal 2A 3V>(T 3A 4A 5/o Theser figures exhibit Canada in a most favorable light ; and were it not for intemperance — that active cause of dis- ease and death amongst the troops — the bills of mortality would be much lower. Nor let it be supposed that intern- 116 perarce was as rife among the troops in G-reat Britain as in Canada ; for the price of whiskey is here so very low, and the fus3l it contains so very large, that a soldier requires to fmauce but little to obtain, for a few pence, a sufficient quantity to make him "o'er all the ills of life victorious." The authorities are e.yor straggling against this excess in the use of ardent spirits ; but the soldier's money is his own, and opportunities are not wanting to dispose of it to his gratification and injury. In the American army, affairs, as I have said, are infinitely worse, and of the total num- ber of deaths, nine out of every twenty-three are traced direct^/ to an excessive use of ardent spirits ; whilst others, doubtless, are owing to the same cause. Representations have been made to the Secretary of War as to the impor- tance of striking the whiskey altogether from the rations, and of substituting an equivalent in vegetables. I shall not fatigue you by enumerating all the diseases which are less or more frequently met with in Canada than elsewhere. Malarious fevers and consumption, however, cannot be omitted. Intermittent Fever. The disease called fever and ague, you all know, results from the exposure of the body to, or the inhalation of, the miasmata of marshy '^'.istricts. Some years ago, it was a disease common to all those who settled on that tract of land separating Lakes Huron and Erie, the St. Clair Flats and neighbourhood. Toronto, Kingston, and other west- ern cities were subject to it, but it is rarely met with so far north as Montreal, and unless imported from the west, is almost unknown in eastern Canada. Sometimes the dividing line between a malarial and a non-malarial district is well-defined, and the distances between, these districts are inconsiderable often.=^ * Dr. Gardner, of London, Ont., informs me that nortli of that city peo- ple have a liealtliy, vigorous appearance ; and that twenty miles south of it — that is, within the malarial belt — they are less healthy, and assume a malarial aspect 117 Travellers passing throui^h the infected parts of the pro- vince durinnr the day time run no risk whatever of being seized with the disease ; but to one not acclimatized, to sleep over night in the infected district, and especially on a low level, is to expose oneself to the risk of having the tertian with her chilling winds to overshadow him. These are facts which have been observed on a large scale in the United States and in western Canada. During the summer of 1864-65, the mule wards in the hospital to which I am attached, received many soldiers, returning invalided from intermittent fever from the scenes of carnage. Ii. every instance the disease was traced to sleeping at night on the ground, with a blanket or branches interposed — and sometimes without either. Headache ; heat of skin ; pain in the back and limbs ; cough and then a chill, followed by heat and sweating, were wont to follow each other in the order named. But the climate of western Canada has greatly improved in this respect within the past few years, and Limnorea, npmph of marshes, will soon find her occupation gone. Not more than twenty years ago, a drug house in one of the western cities of Canada sold 15,000 ounces of quinine annually. Now, I am informed, the same house, with a constantly increasing business, does not dispose of a tenth part of that quantity in the same period. As quinine is the remedy usually taken in intermittent fever, this fact alone shoTS how much the climate has improved in that respect. Theaxeauc ne brush-hook ; fire and the plough, and drainage have done the labour assigned to Hiawatha, who, as we are told — Has slain the Great Pearl Feather, Slain the mightiest of magicians : Him, who sent the fiery fever — Sent the white fog from the fenlanda. Apart altogether from intermittent fever, which is met with in many parts of western Canada, but not in so 118 severe a form as in the western United States — and is unknown, except by importation, in eastern Canada — both eastern and western Canada are really more salu- brious. Intermittent fever is now less common in Canada than it was in England a hundred years ago. Dr. Lind, writ- i./g, at the time, of the manner of treating the diseases peculiar to different countries, says: "I cannot dismiss the subject without offering a few thoughts on Agues, the endemical disease of marshy situations in England." Remittent Fever is frequently met with in different parts of Canada, but is of a very mild type. It increases in frequency as we travel southwards. In the Southern States one in every twenty-nine is affected with it — whereas only one in forty-nine becomes the subject of it in the North. The virulence of the disease, moreover, increases more rapidly than its frequency as we proceed southwards, as the following table will show : — Deaths from remittent fever in south, div. of U. S. 60 p. 10,000 " " " north. " " 5 p. 10,000 « " " Canada 3 p. 10,000 In many parts of the lower provinces of Canada the disease is unknown. " Bilious Remittent," the endemic of the paludal districts of all hot climates, which, according to Dr. Condie is, with the exception of the intermittent, the most common form of fever prevalent in the middle, southern, and south-western sections of the United States, is here almost unknown. There is a mild form of fever met with in Canada which some call " Gastric fever ;" others " Spring fever," and others, less informed, call "Bilious Remittent ;" but it has few of the characters which entitle it to so important an appellation. It is an exceedingly mild form of fever, having slight remissions, and may be called " Spring " or " Autumnal " fever, acct tding to the season at which it occurs. It is some- 119 times met with in isolated cases ; is neither epidemic nor endemic, but sometimes sporadic — that is, accidentally as it were, and independently of any epidemic influence. It is neither infectious nor contagious ; requires a period of from ten to eighteen days for its cure ; and it never leaves those formidable sequels we sometimes see to follow intermittent fever. Ephemera. Besides the above fevers, there is another form of fever of a still milder type : a "day" fever — Ephemera of the ancient Grreeks — which has nought to do with the <'Oun- y in which it occurs ; but which may arise anywhere, rom drunkenness, xposure, etc., and is characterized by an increased velocity in the circulation, without any local disturbance further than that caused by one or more organs accidentally participating in the general disturbance. There is a general indisposition, with vomiting, increased heat> thirst, quickened pulse, etc. Like the preceding, it more commonly makes its appearance in spring or autumn, and it also receives its designation from the season in which it occurs. Indeed the fevers of Canada, even those of local or zymotic origin, are so rare and so mild, that to allow a little for poetic license, we might say of them, with the brave Basil, they can be cured " By wearing a spider hung round one's neck in a nut-shell." Hitherto I have confined my remarks to old Canada proper, though they are, and in the sequel will be, appli- cable Lu the whole Dominion. Bouchette and McGregor say there is a full share of general salubrity and freedom from pestilential diseases in Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick enjoy a like immunity. Among the other diseases to which I wish specially to direct attention is Consumption — a disease prevalent and 120 fatal in almost every clime ; and in almost every nation ; and amongst every age, class and condition. And I do so for the purpose of correcting an erroneous impression rela- tive to the comparative effects of warm and cold (^limates upon the disease — an impression, acting on which, some members of my own profession not unfrequently consign many to premature death. We hear of consumptive pa- tients being sent southward every autumn to avoid the cold of our Canadian winter. Fatal mistake ! The cold, clear, dry, bracing, stimulating air of winter affords them the best — sometimes perhaps the only — chance of recovery. In this connection I cannot refrain from quoting at some length, and with entire approval, the remarks of the compiler of the report on the sickness and mortality in the army of the United States. First : That temperature, considered by itself, does not exert that marked con- trolling influence upon the development or progress of phthisis which has been attributed to it. Second : That the most important atmospherical condition for a consumptive is dryness. But the " total annual pre- cipitation in rain and snow may be equal in two or more places, and yet the average condition of the air, as respects moisture — the dew-point — may widely differ." Third : That next to dryness in importance is an equ- able temperature — a temperature uniform for long pe- riods, and not disturbed by sudden or frequent change. An uniformly loiv temperature is much to be preferred to an uniformly high temperature. The former exerts a tonic and stimulating effect upon the general system ; while the latter produces general debility and nervous exhaustion The worst possible climate for a consumptive is one with long continued high temperature, and a high dew-point." These remarks of the reporter on the " sickness and mor- tality in the army of the United States " are of especial value as they are based on a careful examination of the consolidated temperature, rain, and weather tables, in connexion with the statistics relative to consumption. 121 To persons laboring under Chronic Bronchitis, or Pleu- risy, a winter residence in a southern latitude may be advisable. But for other chest attections, and particularly consumption, the cold air of the north is to be preferred. Every physician now listening to me can recall to his mind l)hthisical cases which have been greatly benefitted by transplantation to this country to pass the winter season. Consumptives tell us their breathing is easier ; and it may be stated, with a great degree of certainty, that whatever contributes to the patient's comfort ; whatever enables him to breathe more freely, has a beneficial inlluence on the disease. Vital statistics, moreover, are favorable to northern climates in this respect. I have already introduced tables from army returns to show the relative healthiness of the hot and cold regions of the United States in this regard — and you will bear in mind that of the cases treated in the northern division, 1 in 3?,, died ; while in the south- ern division the cases were more numerous and more fatal, deaths, being 1 in 2. Bleeding from the lungs is twice as fatal in the southern division as it is in the northern : 1 in 83 in the latter — 1 in 42 in the former. Diarrhoea and dysentery, so distressing at all times, but particularly so to the consumptive, are nearly three times as prevalent in the southern division as in the northern ; and 4| times as fatal. The figures are : in the north, 5981-9 cases ; deaths, 1 in 665 ; in the south, 13,135 cases ; deaths, 1 in 141 ! Will not a contemplation of these facts deter the consumptive running amuck with the enervating south winds, where he is sure to be worsted ? From a civil source I obtain figures equally conclusive : Northern Southern Regions, U.S. Regions, U.S- Consumption 2-i\y 4i% Pneumonia, Pleuritis and Catarrh 0^^ 1-^ These statistics are all from reliable American sources, 122 and go far to supply information which our own country does not yet so well furnish. The statistics of the British army are equally satisfac- tory. The table compiled from the statistical reports on the sickness, mortality and invaliding, places Canada above Malta and Bermuda with reference to consump- tion. Malta has a ratio of (mses per 1,000 of mean strength 6.0, Bermuda has 8.9, and Canada 5.6. Those diseases which occur independently of all cogni- zable external influences are met with here, as elsewhere. The different forms of cancer run their fatal course in the same way ; at about the same rate ; and, if removed, with about the same chances of re(;urrcnce. Alfe(;tions of the skin are much less frequent ; cataract, judging from my former experience, is more common ; inflammation of the respiratory organs is ran; ; but inflammation of their in- vesting membranes — particularly of the pleura — is more common. Those diseases which are reproduced, as it were, in the bodies of the sick, and are, in tha^: way, propagated, are, during winter, — especially among the humbler classes, where fuel is saved at the expense of ventilation, — more common in Canada than in Europe. Measles, whooping- cough, and small-pox are common ; the latter, in its con- fluent form, carries off many a victim. Amongst the French-Canadian population, one or more members in almost every family exhibits traces of its former presence ; while the aborigines and half-breeds have, at different times, suffered severely from its ravages. Scrofulous diseases, generally so prevalent in couni:rie8 with a moist and damp atmosphere, such as that of Great Britain,^ parts of Germany and France, are less frequently • Tlie late Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, used to say that there was not a single family in Scotland free from scrofula. Dr. John Thompson says "that it is rare to meet with an individual who has not, at some jieriod of life, experienced disease in some shape or other belonging to one of the several forms of scrofula." 123 observed iu Canada. Scrofulous diseases of the joints — and especially of the wrists, ankles, knees and spine — which are seen in such numbers in all parts of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, are here comparatively rare. Inflammations of the eye, which, in consequence of rapid changes of temperature and im]irudent exposure, are frequent, are not generally of a scrofulous type — dif- ferent indeed from the state of matters in Europe.^ Here, on the other hand, these affections, except in the extremely ill-fed, ill-clothed and ill-housed, are infrequent. This portion of the continent, as compared with Europe, is remarkably free from blindness. In Great Britain there is 1 blind in 1,230 ; in France, 1 in 938 ; in Norway, 1 in 540 ; in Canada, 1 in 2,4*70. One of the most common causes of blindness among the people in Europe is scro- fulous inflammation; here it is rarely a cause. Blindness in Canada is most commonly caused by small-pox in the young ; cataract in the middle-aged and old ; and by mechanical injury at all ages. Sun blindness is not uncommon ; but is included in the figuref^ given. In the whole of Canada the proportion of insane is 1 to 720. In western Canada it is somewhat more than in eastern Canada, being 1 in 714. The number of insane males is considerably greater than fhat of females : 5,026 of the former being recorded to 4,397 of the latter. Is insanity on the increase here, as in the United States, where, according to Dr. Clarke, it undoubtedly is ? In the decade of 1870 to 1880 the population in the adjoin- ing union increased 30 per cent. ; while, according to the same authority, the insane increased at a ratio of 146 per cent ! How much of this large percentage is due to the *Beer states that 9-lOths of the opthalmic inflammations in children at Vienna are strumous, and that there are few families in Vienna in which some of the ch.ildren do not exhibit scrofulous disease. Benedict says in Breslau the proportion is 95 in 100. 124 continnod excit^imoiit of the people and the ceaseless race for wealtli whicu? has had, perhaps, no parallel since the Grolden Calf was worshipjied as a god. The number of deaf-mutes is 3,789 — not a large ratio to the num})er of inhabitants. Every climate has its peculiar diseases, says a writer ; but Canada is, in a most remarkable degree, exempt from those disorders which are indigenous to different parts of Europe. Tnose diseases which are peculiar to certain climates ; and to c-ertain localities ; and to certain grades of society are here almost unknown. Rickets, so com- . mon in England as to have obtained for it the name of ' Englische Krankheit ; ' G-oitre, so common in the valleys of the Rhone ; and Cretinism, indicative of the dogenera(3y of the human species ; exhibiting itself in deformed heads, short bodies, thick necks and imbecility, are not met with here as in like climates in the north of Europe. Pellagra, that terrible disease of the skin, pre- ceded by hypochondriasm, lassitude and melancholy ; and those numerous disorders which are met with in Oriental climes, are here unknown in our hot seasons. An exception would seem to present itself to an almos* insignilicant extent in the disease termed Leprosy, which bears mui^h resemblance to Elephantiasis of the Grecjks, met with, in sporadic form, and to a very limited extent, on the Miramichi river in New Brunswick- But that loathsome malady is not indigenous. It had not its ori- gin here, for tradition has it that more than a hundred years ago a French ship was wrecked on the coast, and those who escaped were sailors from Marseilles, who, in return for the hospitality they received from a poor woman who washed their clothing, sowed the seeds of a loathsome disease which is now confined to the Lazaretto at Tracadie, on the New Brunswick coast, and where the inmates are destined to a life of hopeless misery. Not hopeless misery now, however, as Governor Gordon hcd 125 it, when he wrote, for at the present time the Hotel-Dieu Sisters of Montreal havt; assumed chuig'e of the Lazaretto, and there, now, reign cleanliness, where once was filth ; comfort, where once was misery ; and cheerfulness, where once was hideous despair and melancholy. The disease will soon die out, for those lepers are cut off from all communication with th(^ healthy, by a perpetual quarun- tine, from which death alone can free them. The disesse is supposed by many to be of a syphili ic nature. I know not where else, and when, a writer in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales," 27th volume, would place Leprosy in the following', though he gives a wide field to choose from : " Parcourez Amerique et vous verrez que la lepre s'y raultiplie d'une maniere efFray ante ; parmi les maladies du Grreenland, elle tient un des premiers rangs ; le Canada, 1 . Nouvelle Ecosse, donnent nais- sance a I'elephantiasis des jambes." I know no part of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) and no part of Nova Scotia where Leprosy exists in that form termed Elephan- tiasis — even when limited to the legs — and certainly no place where the disease is " multiplying itself in a fright- ful manner." The disease must have occurred after the report to the Conseil Souverain was made in 1668 — where there is no miention of this disease — while others, less important, are noticed ; and before the advent of physi- cians of the present day, of the best informed of whom I have made enquiries concerning the actual or past pre- sence of this pitiable scourge, but with unifoimly nega- tive results. "With regard to those diseases which are met with in different parts of the world — inflammations and other diseases of the various organs of the body — there is little in the shape of difference to record. G-reat Britain and France, the countries whence, chiefly, Canadians are sprung, furnish analogies sufficiently close for our pur- pose. 126 Tt might be expected I should allude to that very rare cause of death, sun-stroke {coup de Ho/eiJ), — which some- times oc(5urs in the months of July and August — a disease, or rather accident, which takes place, under peculiar meteorological conditions when the sky becomes par- tially obscured by negatively elec^trified clouds ; and when the atmosphere is in that condition in which man's vital and mental energies are prostrated. The thermomet(»r may not be necessarily high ; yet a sense of oppression weighs him down ; and it is during this period, after excessive fatigue, or severe labour in the heat of the day, particularly after a debauch, that persons have fallen vic- tims to this terribly rapid and fatal malady. But many summers may pass without a single fatal case of sunstroke being recorded. The disease is less common here than in other countries where alike temperature obtains — in India for instance — where it is not only frequent but fatal — as the following statement in the Director General's returns would shew : — " Here are twenty-one admissions into the hospital in one season and twenty-one deaths. "=^ Physi- cians in extensive practice are sometimes several seasons without seeing a case. There is an affection to w^hich at least the French- Canadian portion of the population of Canada is a stranger : hysterical affections ; as M. de Graspe says : " N'etaient guere connues des ab .as Canadiens." I might also add : " des Canadiens de nos jours." Indeed, in considering the few diseases which here afflict humanity relatively to elsewhere, we have great reason to be thankful to the All-powerful Controller of the seasons as of our fate, that in separating us from the great branch of the European family ; and in . *Sunstroke was not unknown to the ancients. We read : " And Ma- nasses was her husband of her tribe and kindred, who died in the barley- harvest. For, as he stood overseeing tliem, and bound sheaves in tlie fiokl, the heat came upon his liead and he fell on hie bed, and died in the city of Bethulia." 12*7 placing us where there are indeed no ma-jestic ruins scattered around to prove past greatness or add to pre- sent interest, He has prepared for us a land where we may not only live in peace with all men, but in the assur- ance that no noxious exhalation will imprint its morbid impress on our countenances — that no pestilential eHluvia will enter our nostrils — that no serpent will instil its fatal poison into our veins — that with our breath we will draw no plague into our blood — and that, though He exposes us to much heat in summer and to a temperature in winter which pinches us till w(^ cry out with Jacques : " this is no llaitery," yet, through our intelligence. He keeps us in health, (Comfort and safety. More than once, during my professional career, I have endeavoured to map out one single disease, or form of disease, which we might claim as peculiarly our own ;=^ but so far I cannot boast of having made the discovery, unless one, which is certainly not met with in Grreat Britain — the " Mai de Ilaquette,"f be termed * While tliis is passiiii; through tho pross I como across, in tho oourso of roadiufi, a doscription of a rathor formidable disease, ttM-mod by jMons. Sourdaii, Mai de Chicot. He says this naim^ is tifivon, in many places in Canada, to a diseaeo which was developed here about 1778. His (k«crij)- tion is a lengthy one, and quite unsuitod to these pagca. It may bo found in volume xxx. of tho " Dictionaire des S(;ion(;es Medicales." It is spoken of as a disease which makes frightful progress — spares no one — but beginning in the mouth, lips or tongue, extends all over the body causing ulcers, attacking the bones, &c. It attacks everybody, but chiefly children; but is amenable to treatment, and the treatraant is given It is claimed : " Les habitans dn Canada protondant que ce sont les Anglais qui le lour ont apportt'." The Canada IMcMlical Association was in session at the time (August 18S4), and I put tho question to its members— medi- cal gentlemen from every part of the Dominion — whether they knew the disease or anything akin to it by that name or by the description. The answer was in tho negative. T may fairly concilude, therefore, that tho Avritor of the article in question had been made the victim of a traveller's canard. t iMal de Raquette is a painful aflection of the flexor muscles of the legs, and sometimes of the flexors of tho thighe, and arises from the violent use of particular muscles in those regions in snowshoeing. It is often accompanied by inflammation of the over-wrought muscle; and even suppuration may take place— but very rarely— along the painful track. 128 a disease. The early colonists had the same diflieulty evi- dently, when they thus sura up the following* short list of dis(!a8(^s mo.st fre(iuently met with in this country : — Ecrmi- elles ; vers, le mnl le plus ordinaire — un enfant en a ete mange lout en vie ! ! Cotirs de ventre ; rhuniatisnies ; i^ouftes froidcs ; Besoin de Chirurgiens speciaux, dans les Hospitaux ; descentes des Bot/a/i.c. This may be fcuud in the Registre du Conseil Souverain, 10 avril, 1058, and in a communication from Quebec to " L'Acadamie " (see de Bougainville) the diseases of the country are thus summed up : Vers ; Convulsions ; goutles-froides ; I'jcrouelles chez les Sauvages ; Manque de Chirurgiens pour remeltre les memhres disloques. This was the summing up of careful, painstaking observers, who seemed to note everything of moment and much of little interest, if anything relating to a strange country (^an be wanting in interest. tSo healthy is the climate to those who live simply, that Pere Charlevoix, a (.-entury and a half ago, sppke of it in his letters, in these words : " Nous ne connaissons point au monde de climat plus sain que celui-ci ; il n'y regne aucune maladie particuliere ; les campagnes et les bois sont remplis de simples merveilleux ; et les arbros y dis- tillent dos baumes d'uno grandu vertu." A century and a half later, notwithstanding the artificial state of society which rapidly-gained riches had induced, in a manu- script published in France, the writer is so enthusiastic over the liealthiness of this country that he energises in a very different style : — " Qu'ils vienuent a bonne heure comme il leur plaira gouter la belle eau de nos rapides, et apprendre par leur propre experience que la seine lui doit ceder son nom, puisque celle-ci est mille Ibis plus avan- tageuse pour la sanfe du corps." The ratio of mortality in places where physicians most do congregate, may, or may not be, influenced by their number : but their absence from certain localities may be a fair presumption of their not being required. Among 129 other placos in Canada so blossod, if blessed it bo, I may mention the Parish of Ste. Sophie de Halifax, County of Megantic, about ninettu^n leagues from Quebe'\ where there is not a physician in the whole parish of about three hundred families. I cannot say how many indi- viduals there are : but when I add, they are all Canadian families, it is safe, I think, to conjecture that, to establish the number of individuals forming those three hundred families, the multiplier must be a re8pe(;table liguro. The parish in question has not now, and never had, the luxury of a resident physician. Many places in Canada oi almost equal extent are similarly circumstanced in this respect. Mortality in Early Life. That the children in Canada are born healthy the color of their chubby cheeks sufficiently attest. And that those indications of health bear witne8.s to the good climatal con- ditions of the (tountry is also evident. But the mortality in early life, here, as in Europe, is very high ; and higher here than there. In 1854, there wen; born in England (334,405 children ; of these 99,209 or 16. G per ;;ent. died under one year ; and 218,185 or 28.8 per cent, under five years. Dr. Arch. Hall, at one time the accomplished editor of the British American Journal of Medicine, published in Mcntreal, stated that 62 per cent, of all the children born in Canada die under five years of age ! Such an announcement, and from so respectable an authority, is well calculated to arrest our attention. And why this great mortality among infants of apparently healthy parents, born with all the outward signs of vigorous health ? "Were we to seek, in the dynamics of climate alone, the cause of this mortality, Canada might well be associated with the less salubrious. But I should be sorry, indeed, to attribute to climatal influences, the deaths arising from the imprudent exposure of the hands and feet and bodies of the children of the poor ; from the excessive or improperly distributed cloth- 9 130 ing — equally injudicious — of the children of the rich ; from the food in excessive quantity and of a too- stimulatinj^' quality which infants are supposed tr require to " harden " their flesh ; and from many other causes to which I shall have occasion to allude, when treating of the habits of society. OLD AGE. It might be supposed that the constant infraction of hygienic laws, begun in early life, would leave few to attain hale old age. Be that as it may, there are not wanting many — whose habits of life are simple and fru- gal — in whom we do not witness the premature display of the contracting influences of old age on their mental and physical condition. Old age is here a green, an active, a vigorous old age ; and when the tree falls, as in time it must, it falls like the mature ash, which " With all its tender foliage meets the ground." The last scene of all which ends this strange, event- ful history, is a quickly passing one. Ther3 are at pre- sent, or the e was reputed to be, in Canada, at the taking of the census in 18*70, 28,101 males and 23,321 females, or 51,422 of both sexes, between Yl and 81 years of age; 6,416 males and 5,Y03 females, or 12,120 persons, between 81 and 91 years of age ; YOl males and 688 females, or 1,389 of both sexes, between 91 and 101 ; and 73 males and 68 females, or 141 per, ms, as living at upwards of 101 years of age ; and iltogether over 421^ ■* 'Ti:r true the Abb6 Tanguay has made sad havoc with this list of 421. I can hardly pardon the reverend gentleman his unsparing — but I grant mast conscientious — use of tlie pruning-knife. lie admits into the defini- tive list of centenarians " only individuals whose ages could be proved by authentic documo'its, examined with a rigorous scrutiny," and he excludes those whose ages could not bo so i)roved, and 421 have been reduced to 82 ! Tlieir names and residences are given, and are almost exclusively French, of the i)rovince of Quebec. When we reflect how 181 ^ «p reported as having reached to upwards of 100 years of age.t LIFE IN CANADA ESTIMATED COMMERCIALLY. But private interests and private enterprise often solve problems not otherwise easy of solution. "While travellers are reporting upon a country, merchants have opened trade. So also with what relates to climate and its effects on those exposed to its influence. While statisticians are struggling to furnish their meagre returns, Life Insurance companies decide questions of essentially vital interest. Life Assurance is based upon the science of the general doctrine of probabilities of human life. It is said to have originated in a study of the laws of chance as observed in the experience of the gambler. Much skill has been shown, and much is necessary, in preparing tables, and in deter- mining rates of premium. In it, cognizance must be taken of everything relating to climate, society, &c., and of every circumstance which could influence the tables of mortal- ity. While a too high premium would stifle business ; a too low premium would lead to financial disaster. Life Assurance Companies of the highest rank have as- signed to Canada a place among the healthiest; and have thought themselves warrantea in accepting rates of pre- mium as low as in Sweden and Finland — where the most robust and vigorous health obtains — and lower, up to a certain period of life, than in Crreat Britain ! The branch difficult it is, in a new country like Canada, to establish one's age, it is possible the pruning knife may have lopped off not a few who should have been included, among centenarians. t Longevity in Canada need not surprise those familiar with the influ- ence of its cold dry climate more than the longevity in Russia, which is so great as to have led the editor of the Medical Times and Gazette to remark : — " The population statistics of Russia supply so large a propor- tion of cases of great longevity, as to lead to the conclusion that that country is very exceptionally placed in this matter, or that the figures are not compiled with the accuracy deemed necessary in other i>arts of Europe." 182 * '.'■'■ offices in this country of the most respectable British Life Assurance companies make no additional charge for the expenses of sej tarate management, which they consider is amply compensated for by the good health of the people. In this connection, in 18(34, Mr. Moir, Chairman of the Colonial Life Assurance Company, said : " They had been urged from various quarters, to reduce their ra.es of insurance in certain places. Eighteen years before, the Colonial was considered rather a doubtful experiment from the rates charged in Canada. But they were founded on reliable dfa^a." Dr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Christison, of Edinburgh, — and I could quote no higher authority — after a careful study of Canadian lives with reference to life insurance, found the several causes of death in general, in Canada, to bear the same ratio to the general mortality as in home risks ; and that the main differences were, that inflam- matory diseases of the lungs, and violent deaths are nearly t /ice as frequently the causes of mortality in the British possessions of North America as at home ; and pulmon- ary consumption also somewhat more frequent ; but that dysentery was less so ; as also fevers, liver diseases and cholera. For many years the table of rates for assurance on life, established by the " Standard," was received as the nearest approximation to truth which the science of average could reach, and became the standard in all matters relating to life assurance. Whether designedly or not, there was noticeable in Canadian rates a singular departure from the standard tables — a departure which is pregnant with meaning. If reference is made to the adjoining table, it will be perceived that, in Canada, the youth of twenty- one is considered a better risk than the youth of the same age in G-reat Britain. The former continues to be con- sidered a better risk till the age of thirty-seven, when the premium is the same After that his chances of life are 133 made to appear to diminish, and the premium in- creases at about the same ratio. Not, perhaps, without reason, in our cities, where candidates for life assur- ance are largely found, and where a life of ceaseless activ- ity and of wear and tear tells even upon the sturdiest, who oftentimes suffei- from it when they get older. The following are TABLE OF RATES —STANDARD AND COLONIAL COMPARED — FOR THE WHOLE TERM OF LIFE FOR AN ASSURANCE OP £100 STG. Annual Payments Age. Annual Payments. Age. 1 British Lives. Canada Lives. British Lives. (Janada Lives. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ .9. d. £ s. d. 21 2 1 11 1 19 4 41 3 6 '9 3 7 8 22 2 2 9 2 3 42 3 8 7 3 9 10 23 2 3 7 2 1 2 43 3 10 7 3 12 1 24 2 4 6 2 2 3 44 3 12 7 3 14 7 25 2 5 4 2 3 3 45 3 14 19 3 17 3 26 2 6 5 2 4 5 46 3 17 1 3 19 11 27 2 7 4 2 5 7 47 3 19 7 4 3 28 2 8 5 2 6 10 48 4 2 5 4 6 29 2 9 5 2 8 49 4 5 4 4 9 5 30 2 10 7 2 9 4 50 4 8 6 4 13 31 11 9 2 10 7 51 4 11 7 4 16 11 32 2 12 11 2 12 52 4 15 1 5 11 33 2 14 2 2 13 6 53 4 18 10 5 5 7 34 2 15 6 2 15 54 5 2 8 5 10 7 35 2 16 11 2 16 7 55 5 6 11 5 16 36 2 18 4 2 18 3 56 5 11 5 6 18 37 2 19 10 2 19 11 57 5 16 1 6 7 5 38 3 1 6 3 1 8 ! 58 6 1 1 6 13 7 39 3 3 2 3 3 7 59 6 6 2 7 2 40 3 4 11 3 5 6 60 6 11 6 7 7 1 Dividing the foregoing table into decades it will be seen that at twenty-one the Canadian insurer paid, on a poli<;y of jeiOO sterling, =£1 19s. 4d. premium, while the youth in England paid £2 Is. lid. Ten years later when the Eng- lishman at thirty-one })aid £^ lis. 9d., the Canadian paid £2 10s. 2d. At forty-one the balance is the other way ; the Englishman now pays <£3 6s. 9d., while the Canadian 184 £Z Is. 8d. At lifty-oue the former pays £4 lis. td., the latter <£4 16s. 8d. Aud at sixty the former pays £6 lis. 6d., and the latter =£7 Is. Id. It might be gathered from this, that superior staying power is recognized in the former as time wears on ; but as I happen to know the reason for this decision, I am in a position to state that the ii 'ease at middle life has no reference to diminished health duo to climatal influence, but solely to the recognized fact that Canadians of British origin draw more largely, more con- stantly, and more severely, and not alone by labour, on their strength, than do the residents of Great Britain ; and the result is perceptible in the tables of mortality With the French-Canadian element it is not so. It is more conservative of its health and strength, and pre- serves them longer. In Canada, and especially in Fren ^h Canada, as, on the one hand, there has been no precocious maturity, there has been, on the other, no untimely decre- pitude. Whatever of good has been attained, has been attained by no spasmodic effort at wealth or greatness ; but by a steady labour which brought pleasure in its performance, and contentment in its results. This has been alluded to at a former page, where it has been shown from official returns that the octogenarians are largely ; the nonagenarians chiefly ; and the centenarians are tlmost ex(;lusively of that nationality. THE NATURAL INCREASE of a people varies in different countries ; in different com- munities ; and in different states of society in every coun- try, and in every community. I shall not enter into those ■\ arious circumstances further than by noti('ing them. i«or shall I attempt to deal with the theory advanced by Mr. Sadler, that the prolificness of human beings varies inversely with their numbers. Mr. Sadler asserts that the fecundity of the human species varies in differ- ent communities and countries ; and the principle which 135 effects this variation constitutes his Law of Population that " the prolificness of human beings, otherwise simi- larly circumstanced, varies inversely as their numbers ;" or, in other words, " that the prolificness of a given num- ber of marriages will, all other circumstances being the bame, vary in proportion to the condensation of the popu- lation, so that prolificness shall be greatest where the numbers on an equal space are the fewest ; and, on the contrary, the smallest, where those numbers are the largest." This theory has not been sustained in Canada, where the birth rate has steadily increased with increas- ing numbers, till, in quite recent years, when it has been somewhat disturbed in certain quarters by the demon of prudential desire of limitation, which, like the Colorado bug, must cross the border and produce its work of mis- chief here. Nor shall I, viewing their short occupation of the soil, attempt to deduce conclusions, as to the fecun- dity of the British people settled in Canada. The forces which operated upon them, while in their native homes, still, to a great extent, continue their operations here. But in the French-Canadians, long since resident in Canada, and receiving but rarely, and to an insignificant extent, accessions from the land which their forefathers left between two and three centuries ago, we have the most cheering proof that the climate of Canada favours, in an eminent degree, the production, the growth, and the maintenance, of a hardy, long lived, and most pro- lific people. The early history of Canada shows us that two and three-quarter centuries ago (1610) there came to this country, as many have done since, a small handful of courenrs, to obtain, if not an easier, at any rate a better subsistence than their native land afforded them. The early pioneers were, for the most part, young men, and after a time, families of young men and women ; and it will be readily admitted, as a general rule, that only 186 young persons and families of superior health, strength and vigour came to this country. Those of delicate con- stitution, who were already diseased, or who dreaded or 8uspeations, where the wants of each household are supplied in great measure by the labour of each house- hold. But the near neighbourhood, here and in the ad- joining union, of populous towns and cities, permits an easy change of place, and permits, at the same time, what *I do not know whorotlie descendants, in North America, of tho Anglo- Saxon got their apparent discountenance of oarly marriages. Cortainlj' not in the country whence their forefathers came, wliore, until the middle of the last century, the marriages of girls of thirteen and fourttHjn, whe- ther rich or poor, were common ; and where girls were married at a much earlier jjeriod. The age ot twelve was placed as a limit under which suit might he taken to annul a marriage on tho ground of undue influence of parent or guardian. Above that age it was irrevocable. Below that age it was often considered binding in conscience, though not in law. 141 the prudential Norwegian does not avail himself of — those early marriages, whi(;h, in Canada, are doing so mu(^h more than in Norway to people the country. ''• There are at present in Canada 2,217 married men under 21 years of age ; and under the same age, 19,540 married women. Of these young married men, Quebec has a portion much greater than the average for the other Provinces of the Dominion generally. In the other Pro- vtnces, men, as a general rule, marry later in life. Whatever exception may be taken to Mr. Sadler's theory of population, it may safely be admittted as a fact, so far as Canada is (concerned, that in the larger towns and cities the number of births to a marriage is smaller than in lesser towns and in the country. But the explanation, it appears to me, is not what is given, nor is it in accordance with a law he would wish to have recognized as regulating increase.! It may be attributed to other circumstanc>es than that pro- lificness is in inverse ratio to numbers. Rather may it be attributed to diminished health and want of tone depend- ent on confinement, insufficient light, and pure air ; and more than all, to habits of a nature to abridge life, which are often engendered by clustering together. • " On se narie jeune en Am^riqiie," says La Rochefoucanld Lianeourt, " surtout aans les cainpajj;nes, lo be.snin (jn'ont les jonnes {^ens, qui g4n6- ralemeit .s'otablissent de bonne heure, soit dans de noiivollcs terros, soit dans unt orofession (jnolconque, d'une femmo ponr les aider dans leiir travaux, y ..jouto, pour cos nuiriages prompt, un motif puissant A celui de la purot^ dcs mcxjurs. . . . Dans It's campagnes la femme est, comnie en Euroix), tmo amie ndcessairi! aux travaux ; die est rAme du m<''nage. Elle est, pour I'homme ocrcupe dans les aliaires, et tout le monde Test en Am^riipie, une ressource indisiKMisable iwur les soins domesticpies ; elle est une compagne assidue, une soci^t^ qui se retrouve tnujours dans un pays oii il n'y en a pas d'autres que oelle de la famille, et oil les enfants quittent promptement la maison paternelle." t In Russia, where the winter is as ours, there is one born in every 21 to 23 souls ; while the deaths are 1 to 30-3.'] souls. Tlie average increase, therefore, according to ^Ir. Christmas, would be about GM~. The cold of that region does not hinder fructification; and that is often taken as the measure of a people's healthy as well as, I may add, of a i^eople's virtue. 142 In our country districts the men are t«'mperate ; the women are mild, modest and agreeable, and with an intel- ligence generally superior to the men, whom they advise and influence by reason of those qualities. They live in a state of concord ; the security and the equality which arise from the possession of property, engender and foster it. Comfort (again, Crabb must pardon me) is met with everywhere. There is no luxuriousness with misery in its train. There is not that attlicting contrast of indivi- dual wealth and squalid misery. There are none so rich but others may become as wealthy ; and none so poor as to make their lot pitiable. The hahilatd woman, on her part, so soon as she fore- sees that she is to assume the functions of maternity, clearly recognizes its duties and responsibilities, and pre- pares herf.elf for them. She becomes indifferent to every- thing but the preparation for the new arrival : her figure is neglected, and throughout her marriei life, she per- mits it to depart widely froF what is commonly consid- ered the line of beauty ; though in reality of false art, and not the line of nature as we see it in the new-born. No corsets constrict her waist, which soon becomes as wide as, if not wider than, her haunches; and these form the base of a double cone, the apices of which being at the feet and shoulders. This ' m from restraint fits her admirably for her full^ . ized functions ; and ensures safety to the n . state and character. INFLUENCE OP HOT AND COLD WEATFER. The climate of Canada affords us an opportunity of witnessing the influence of hot, cold and mild weather on the tables of mortality. The result differs much from what is found to obtain in Europe. In Grreat Britain the hottest months are unhealthy, but, after a certain degree of temperature is reached, the ratio of mortality increases 143 with tho diminution of heat, oHpecially when accompanied by moisture. In Canada, mortality commonly diminishes with tho temperature, and the coldest weather is often h(uilthier than the warmest. Even the milder w«nith('r of autumn and spring is not more healthy than winter. Extreme cold is not that trying* s(nison which, it j/riori, one might suppose. The dingram I shall presently show most fully refutes that supposition. The colder parts of Canada are in reality th<' healthier. In 1871 the population of the Dominion was considered to be 8,485,761 ; and the number of deaths 47,314. The considerable birth rate in the Province of Quebec gives H a correspondingly large death rate at all seasons, and . isturbs most markedly the gent^ral average. During the months of June, July and August, mortality in some places reaches almost one per cent, of the inhabit- ants of the large cities ; in winter it sinks nearly one-third ; the ratio is a fraction higher in autumn than in spring ; and the latter is much more healthy than summer. The largest mortality in any month of the year in the whole Dominion, or in any section of it, is in March, when the tonic influence of the cold is withdrawn. At other seasons, localities are infln : aced to a great degree by the preponderance of their maritime or continental fea- tures. The cold and damp winter weather of Nova Scotio. and New Brunswick affects health differently from the cold and dry weather of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec ; while the summer temperature of moderate heat with moisture, confers upon the Maritime Provinces excep- tional advantages in this regard — advantages which should be availed of by those who desire immunity from excessive heat in summer. These circumstances, and others still more potent, to be alluded to later, must be borne in mind in considering the following figures, which otherwise would be misleading. 144 The mortality for the whole Dominion, divided into months and seasons, is as follows : — December 3,818 January 4,039 February "*,_ i8 12,0Q5- -Winter. Marcb 5,288 April 3,342 May 3,3(58 11,998— Spring. Juiie 3,407 July 4,413 August 4,733 12,553— Summer. September 3,888 October 3,482 November 3,166 10,536— Autumn. Winter climate in Canada must be regarded in connec- tion with the constant efforts to elevate the indoor tem- perature to, and sometimes above, summer heat ; and with the disturbances of the respiratory and digestive systems which are thereby engendered. In Montreal the ratio of mortality is as follows : — Spring? 0.685 Simimer >. 0.993 Autumn 0.618 Winter 0.613 This is an emphatic refutation of the assertion that the Canadian winter is a trying season. Were we to dedn»5t the number of deaths arising *rom imprudent exposure ; from frost-bites and resul ing surgical operations ; from fractures and other injurios incidental to the season and to our different modes of progression, the ratio would be still further decreased. Yet even as it is, winter compares most favourably with the most salubrious seasons of the most 145 salubrious climes. Autumn here comes next in ordor. Liver affections arising from the previous heat are then more trou- blesome ; and disturbed digesti'^n, from the use of larg-e quantities of fruit, is more co. aon. Spring, the season most dreaded, and wi+h reason, by the consumptive, comes next ; and, lastly, summer with its train of gastric disor- ders. The high ratio of mortality in summer in some of our larger cities, and especially in Montreal, =^ has been to some extent thus accounted for : A certain degree of heat evolves a (M^rtain quantity of deleterious gases, and every additional degree evolves an additional quantity, and perhaps a new kind and quality. Thus 70' will cause the evolution of more than 65"; ^5" more than *70\ and so on. Whatt^ver may be the explanation, the fact is undoubted, that in our cities, mor- tality usually bears a direct ratio to the amount of heat. It is during July and August that diarrhcetic complaints arc so common. But these must not be attributed to the prevailing heat. Dr. Larocque, Health Officer in Montreal, is not unfrequontly accustomed, when speaking of those summer complaints, to add : '! Result of improper alimen- tation." He is right. This is the season which is considered to be so severe on young children, especially on those who are being spoon- fed. But inattention to those changes which a high tem- perature quickly effects in milk and other di«^t has more to do with those distur})ances, which are so common, in the digt^stive tube than has the direct influence of a high temperature on their infant bodies. It is not the body which most suflers ; it is the food which enters it which *It is diflioult tc avoid a running ,172.S person.s jx^r square mile; in Toronto, 0,025.(> per square mile; Kingston, -I, S2!».5, and so on ; while Montreal luis apopulation of 20,8(10.2 to tiie s(juare mile, or 32.5 i)or acre. 10 146 . has undergone fermentation or other chano^e. In cities this is particularly the case. Obtaining fresh milk more than once or twice a day is dilhcult even for the rich ; whil(^ for the poor it is impossible. This is now the harvest for those commonly indifferent, and frequently pernicious substitutes for milk which fill the columns of the press, and which are placarded so extensively. I shall allude to this question at another place. AS A RESIDENCE FOR INVALIDS. It requires not the sanction of ancient or of modern authority to confirm our belief in what is not only rea- sonable, but apparent to every one concerning change of climate. We all know that a change of residence from the city to the country commonly produces a sensible change in the economy ; colour heightens, and health generally is improved. Sir James Clarke says : — " The influence of climate has been long established as a matter of fact, and physicians have, from a very early period, (ionsidered change of climate and change of air as remedial agents of great efficacy. Diseases are often benefited, and not unfrequently cured by simi)le change of situation." For the prevention and cure of a numerous class of chro- nic diseases we possess, in change of climate, and even in the more limited measure of change of air in the same climate, one of our most efficient remedial agents ; and one, too, for which, in many cases, we have no adequate substitute. Cases are now and then met with of diseases having been eradicated by a removal from one part of the country to another. This is the experience of those who live in G-reat Britain, which is encircled by the sea, and at no j)oint is far distant from it. How much more should it be the case in Canada where every variety of tempera- ture ; every degree of moisture ; every kind, quality and condition of wind may be met and wooed; and where, 14'7 within our vast Dominion, a limit is put to a change only by the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Arctic oceans. A change of climate produces most sensible effects on the digestive and the respiratory organs. Although the stomach and lungs sympathize extensively with each other, and the changes which would benefit the one might also be sup- posed to benefit the other ; yet it may be asserted, with more approach to truth, that a change which would bene- iit the one would not be prejudicial to the other. Canada presents, in many repects, important advan- tages to the dyspeptic and the consumptive. " When the invalid," says a high American authority, " in quest of purer summer air in connection with exercise and recreation, arrives on the southern shore of Lake Erie, let him turn either to the north-west or north-east. In the former case he will make the voyage upon the upper lakes ; and in the latter he will descend Ontario and the St. Lawrence, viewing objects which will much interest him, and returning with renewed health, which will much gratify him. If any testimony of mine be of value, I cheerfully add it to that of Dr. Drake. Many thousands of the American people annually profit by this advice, and the upper lakes and the St. Lawrence are favorite resorts with the dyspeptic and the consumptive, as well as with the pleasure-seeking tourist. Great as is the territory of our American neighbours, there are wanting in it certain features which, on the western side of the Atlantic, are obtainable only in Canada. " Nearly all the settled portions of the southern or Mexican basins are comparatively flat and uniform," says Di*ake, " without lakes or mountains, and deficient in running streams and waterfalls. The basin of the St. Lawrence is its North, and opens to its invalids in hot weather a retreat which they cannot have in any other direction; for the northern portion of the Appall achian Mountains are too inaccessible, and the Rocky Mountains 148 too remote.* It is not sufficiont for the physician to advise his patient, labouring under a chronic infirmity, to leave off medicine and depend on travel. When he prescribes the former he directs where it could be ob- tained ; and, in like manner, when he recommends the latter, he should be able to lay down the appropriate and practical route ; in doing which he should draw his information from the books of his profession, and convince his patient that he is familiar with what he recommends, or but little confidence will be reposed in his advice." It is of still greater moment, I may add, to advise whether the patient should or should not ex- change, for travel, his comfortable home and the cheer- ing society of friends. Latterly it has become somewhat less common, I am glad to say, for the invalid to while away the few remaining sands of life in the cold apart- ments of a distant or cheerless hotel, where persons in health surround the invalid and have no sympathy for him ; or to pass a few suicidal weeks in the comfortless cabin of a fisherman, trying — because the hardy seaman thrives upon it — to eat food against which the appetite revolts, and dying, perhaps, away from home and the members of his family. I shall first allude, briefly, to disturbances of the diges- tive apparatus, believing, as I do, that a vast number of cases, whose end is consumption, have their origin in disorders of the digestive: and assimilative systems. Di/spepsia is co-eval and co-existent with civilized life. One of the, if not the primary, at least permanent and pronounced indications of disturbance in the digestiA^e functions is a peculiar depression of spirits. Invalids so afflicted have commonly noticed in themselves an early return to cheerfulness under the exhilirating influence of a Canadian winter atmosphere. They recognize that the *Drake wrote this before railroads broujjjht the Rockies within com- paratively easy access; but the land journey, though quicker and shorter, must continue to be fatiguing. 149 cold air of Canada is especially usv ful in disturbances of the stomach. In dyspepsia, when the organ has been overworked, the cold air relieves it, if overwork of the organ be not continued. Many experience entire relief from its more distressing accompaniments. The blood formed is better oxygenized, richer and purer ; and the nervous i'unctions are better performed. But it may be claimed, and with fairness, that our sum- mers are as the summers in many parts of Europe. So they are in some respects — not all ; but our winters are sui generis. A single winter in Canada, and with plain food, temperance, and much active exercise in the open air, the bile tint of the jaundiced — unless caused by meihanical obstruction or malignancy — usually disappears, and skin and eye regain their native colour ; the stomach is again fitted for its functions ; digestion is more easily performed ; and the enlarged liver often loses its preternatural bulk, tenderness and hardness, till, like wounded Sarpedon, the patient revives " By breathing airs refresh'd that fanned him from tlie Nortli." The bright, cold, clear light, reflected at every possible angle from the coiTutless snow crystals which cover the earth's surface, renders the light intense, and though often borne by the eyes with difficulty, the stimulus to the mental and physical is marked ; and, if accompanied with, and aided by temperance and active exercise, it produces a most exhilirating effect. " The constant exposure to the clear, bracing air of Siberia, with all its ice and snow," says Mr. Michaeli, " cannot but be beneficial ;" and as our climate equals it in clearness and coldness, and surpasses it in dry, stimulating and exhilirating qualities, — quali- ties which render the low temperature less sensible — it surpasses it also in salubriousness. "When the air is pure and subtle, as in winter, there is greater freedom of respiration ; greater elasticity in the mo- 150 tions of the body ; the spiual luuctious, and diastaltic ac- tivity are stimulated ; and there is a newer, a greater clear- ness in the morale. On driving over a vast expanse of pun; white snow, with the thermometer near zero, and with a dry, clear atmosphere, our horses feel the influence. They are impelled to more than usual activity ; while, with us, the thoughts are elevated beyond the dwellings of men and their smokiness, and the mind partakes of tl:e serenity which surrounds it. Almost every one has experienced those emotions on those beautifully clear days of L^ecem- ber, January or February. There is a disposition to serious but cheerful thought and reflection, unti jged with melancholy. Pleasant grounds and verdani, mea- dows have their suggestions which poets may shape into verse ; but our beautiful winters minister much to man's happiness, and without alloy of tormenting passions. Should dyspeptics ; or should those sulferiug from im- poverished blood ; or with nervous systems, shattered or unstrung by mental fatigue or dissipation, doubt this, let them place themselves where the cold, dry, and highly electrical condition of the atmosphere might produce their unchecked, unhindered influence, and it would, methinks, be conceded, that those conditions of atmosphere are. not to be undervalued. Many and many a time I have urged the dyspeptic — him especially of the thick, pallid, or sallow skin and over-tasked stomach, to shoulder his gun and to betake himsi^lf to the woods — grands remcdes de la medecine et de la morale — and the result has been : improved appetite ; easier digestion ; greater freedom l)f expansion of the chest ; and a nervous buoyancy to which he had long been a stranger. Some years ago a patient, after a too close application to study, and a too little use of his teeth, hud so impaired digestion as to render himself unequal to mental labour. I suggested to him to take his fowling-piece, to trust to it for support, and to start for the forest — his only additional \ 161 food to be hard-baked oateu-oake. He was to look to his fowling-piece lor seasoning as well. But, like Hiawatha, he " Sought for bird and boast, and found none. Saw no track of doer or rabbit. In the snow bolield no foot-prints." The oaten-cake became a luxury ! but oh ! what luxury of the season could equal it, when a backwoodsman whom he met furnished him with some fat pork, which he ate raw, with avidity. " I can now," ne says, " recall, after many years, the deliciousness of that repast. I have since travelled much in Europe, but no French or Italian cidsiiiier has ever furnished to my palate, since then, so exquisite a morsel." He returned after a few days with dyspepsia gone ; with an abundant flow of spirits ; and with a vigor of body, equal to any labour ; and these have not since deserted him. Consumj)tion. Consumption is still more extensive than the preceding disturbance, ramifying and extending its wan features where civilization never reached, though usually more common where depraved digestion has prepared the way. To the weak-chested ; and to persons of a scrofulous habit in whom tubercles are not yet developed, but in whom, from general appearance and family history, their deposi- tion may be anticipated, Canada presents great advantages, and even " Italy— fair Italy, The land where the lemon tree blows, And in darker leaves bowered the gold orange glows," with " its feet resting against the snow-capped Alps, and stretching towards the burning shores of Africa," must yield to it. For that favorite resort is alternately exposed to the suffocation of the sirocc^o from the arid sands of Lybia ; and to the icy chill of the tramontane from the, Alps or the Appenines. There the changes of temperature are not only frequent but extensive.^ * The month of August in Italy is " that which brings fever with it ; makes parents tremble for the Uves of their children ; opens wills, and 152 Hir James Clarke, speaking of difFereut parts of Italy, says : — Naples, another favourite resort for the invalid, is altogether an unsuitable residence for pulmonary invalids. Malaria, that lingering consuming disease, so generally seen and so little understood, which induces the pale yel- low cheek, hollow sunken eye and slouching gait, annu- ally carries olf 50,000 victims. f I need say no more of the relative salubrity of the two countries. The vicissi- tudes in temperature here are not so frequent nor so great ; and the houses, even of the poorest, are much more com- fortable. In Canada, scrofula, consumption, bronchitis, asthma and rheumatism, are, on the whole, more frequent in the more humid western districts, and in the more humid Maritime I'rovinces ; while pneumonia, and pleurisy and the inllammations of serous membranes generally, are more common in drier, colder, eastern Canada. The former localities may be compared, quo ad those diseases, to the lower levels in Alpine regions ; and the latter to the higher levels. It may be here o])served that " tuber- cular disease is unknown among the irhabitants of the high Alps, notwithstanding their hard life, and, some- times, insuflicient food." In the early stages of consump- tion, even high Alpine air, but in sheltered A'^alleys, has been found very useful. A knowledge of these circum- stances will sometimes facilitate a choice of climate with- in the Dominion, Persons in whom tubercles are being deposited, or are already deposited, would be benefited by a residence in (;alls the undertakers into activity." So, at least, wrote Horace long ago, in liiw epistle to INIactenas. t As a set olf again.st the iwrnicious intiuence of malaria, it is claimed that it prevents phtliisis. This claim is untonahlo. The malaria arising from tlie marHh lands of Italy, and the intermittent arising from the marsh lands in western Canada, in no wise prevent, cause, modify or intiuonce the development of pnthisis ; nor, so far as I can learn, does either of itself bring remedy. rfi 168 Canada. But for those in whose lungs tuber(;ular- softening exists, and cavities, large or small, have formed, this is not the country. The air is too stimulating, and death, in most cases, would un([uestional)ly be hastened. There are two periods ol' the year, however, during which persons possess peculiar immunity from <-hest atl'ections of a consumptive character: mid-winter and summer. Spring and autumn are dreaded by the invalid ; and it is during those seasons, particularly during the former — when the tonic influence of cold is passing away — that consumption more generally advances or terminates fatally. When a consumptive patient presents himself, and, upon examination, his lungs are found to be riddled with tuber- culous cavities, it is useless to speculate on the climate most suited to his sad case. He should stay at home where he will have the cheering and sympathetic society of friends and relatives ; who will care for him in his last moments ; and who will smooth for him the pillow of death. Any part of Canada will do as well as any part of Europe to die in, under such circumstances. But if tuber- culous matter is being deposited, or about to be deposited, there can be much done for him ; particularly if attention is directed, as it always should be, to the cause and origin of the disease. . That tubercles should thus be removed from the lungs is quite conceivable, when we remember how much they are caused by imperfect digestion and assimilation, and the inadequate formation of rich blood. There are two conditions of the lungs which are much benefited by a Canadian climate — namely : that condition commonly termed imperfect expansion ; and consolidation. For some time before the deposition of tuberculous matter ; or rather some time before the stethescope can clearly detect its presence, the natural respiratory murmur (vesicular, in medical language) becomes less distinct, or 164 interrupted and halting ; and not continuous as in health. The lung thus showing- signs of weakness, or of nothing more, may remain in this (condition for a longer or shorter period — sometimes returning to the condition of health, which it has barely left — sometimes proceeding onwards to unmistakeable disease. It is now, before such progress has been made, that a dry stimulating climate would ellect much. In that other condition — the stage of deposition and induration — the first stage of recognizable disease (though in reality a stage subsequent to that other condition just described), where no cavities as yet exist ; and where there is no undue bronchial irritation, the winter (;liraate ol Canada is of great value, and acts, as acted pure air and abundant light on the lungs of Cruveilhier's rabbits, in which tubercles, which had been created lor experi- mental purposes, w^ere removed. Many of the more eminent physicians of Europe, and chiefly of G-reat Britain, send patients threatened with pulmonary consumption on whaling expeditions off the coast of Greenland ; and many lives are saved in this way. Some, however, are sacrificed, for whaling expedi- tiouh are not always easily arranged for, and are attended with risks and discomforts of a nature to counter-balance, in great measure, the advantages of change of air. Be- sides, they cannot be availed of by the very young ; or by the old ; or by females. More recently, attention has been directed, in Europe, by those who believe in a cold, dry climate, to Canada ; and persons threatened with phthisis have been sen thither in considerable numbers. The advantages of a winter resi- dence in (!)anada are found to be quite equal to those attending a whaling expedition ; and discomforts do not obtrude. Writers on the diseases of hot climates are in the habit of recommending those of consumptive habits acquired in hot regions, to pass a winter in the south of Europe .-.■<>--:;.J. -.'..f^^Lll-k ~L:.'-.,>:-.r^th remain, to say more of tho»6 thousand ills that ll(»sh is heir to everywhere, and in Canada as elsewhere ; but shall confine myself to a brief consideration of some of the more marked habits of the people of Canada, and the influence of those habits upon their life and health. But it may be asked : have the habits of a people much to do with thei" state of health ? And it may be replied : Nations, like indivi- duals, remarkable for their vigour, strength and longe- vity, have been equally remarkable for their observance of a certain standard of living ; and especially remarkable for their temperance in eating and in drinjving : their fondness of exercise ; their avoidance of excessive stimu- lation. The old Ciceroniaii adage : " Vitio depravat;e con- suetudines degenerant," is ever new and ever true. The ancient Romans, while conquering the world, were 158 distinguish \ for their frugaluess ; and the best Roman sol- dier was he who was trained to march the farthest ; carry the greatest weight ; endure the most fatigue ; and sustain the longest fasts upon the road. Such were the ancient Romans when subduing the powera of Europe. But what was the physical condition of the Romans when the Goths and Vandals overran them ? They had sunk into elfeminacy, and had given themselves up to wine and sexual excesses. And what of the nation which conquered them ? The Allemanni could live on any thing ; could run witli horses ; abstain from drink like camels ; and subsist on roots and herbs. They were pow- erfully made, brc'ad-shouldered, heavy-browed men, with coarse shaggy beards, indicating strengt'i ; and broad fore- heads indicating intelligence. It was not climate alone which exerted on them its influence ; for the descendants of the sam(^ Allemanni, continuing to be exposed to the same climatic inlluence, for many generations in recent times, seemingly paralysed with lager, would pass hours watch- ing the curling of the smoke from their meerschau'ns, and dreaming of that l<]inigkeit=^ their ancestors would have quickly realized. Hardy and vigorous as were the Alle- manni and the early Romans, we equal them. Effemi- nate as were the Romans when they were overrun, and the Allemanni who overran thtm., we ha^e their counter- parts too — not produced by (^liiaatc alone, lut by the habits and traits of character with which that climate has been ultimately associated. I shall attempt to sketch them only when, by their singularity they arrest attention. In a country like Canada this is a matter of difficulty, for moral and so(^ial phenomena have a tendency, in a heterogeneous population such as ours, mutually to annul and destroy each other. Still the heterogeneousness of that population may aid somewhat in apportioning to climate *Tho reassortion of their aiKuent spirit has at length, by force of arms, realized tlie nation's dream of unity. 169 what is its share ; and to social habits what are, to some extent, theirs, - There is, so far, no dearly defined sfcandara or model in the habits of any people to which we may appeal with certainty ; and least of all in the people of Canada, where some take the general outline of indigenous customs for their guide — thirking, that if they err, it will be on the safe sidi> ; while others bring with them the customs and habits of the countries whence they came. The first may be a good rule when sanctioned by reason But residence alone confers immunities in which the stringer must not expect at first to participate. The second is good or evil, as the customs and habits may be suited to the newer circumstances in which they are followed. Far, then, from slavishly imitating the customs of Europeans, it would be safer to do so than to violate the laws of health as we are accustomed to do. The altered appearance, fre- quently noticeable, of persons residing in this climate are less due to a slavish adherenct^ to, than to a reckless dei)ar- ture from, the customs of our airopean cousins. Nay, more, after a close observation of the habits of the people here and abroad, candour compels me to admit that the laws of health are more frequently violated here. In- deed, were I asked to point out, on the map, those parts of the earth's surface where many of the people paid least regard to the pre(?epts of health, and schemed most to ignore the principles which should guide thcnn in the selection of food, clothing, exercise, ventilation, etc., etc., my finger should rest, most unwillingly rest, on Canada and the northern United States. Immigrants to warm countries are advised by medical writers to observe strictly two fundamental rules : tem- perance and coolness. The latter we endeavour to observe during the warm months of summer. A third rule, appli- cable to th.-i, iimate, is to preserve the lutural heat of the body ; not by increasing the temperature, of the air which ply usually is : " Oh ! sir, there's nothing wrong with the feet ; the trouble is all there," pointing to the chest : and before the mother faces the cold again with the little one, the articles will have been restored to their original places. A single covering is left to the feet : and the remainder to the parts which required it less — to swell the bills of mortality. Many thousands are annually sacrificed in this way ; and in point of treatment, the best selected remedies are valueless in such cases. We know with what disregard of consequences old country persons of the humbler classes expose their nude feet. How many cases of intractable bronchitis, pbmrisy and pneu- monia are the result ! and how many thousands will yet fall victims ere persons learn to appreciate the difference between a Canadian and an European climate I It requires time for the immigrant to become a<;climat- ized ; but immigi-ants, without the immunity conferred by acclimatization, are slow in learning that they are no longer in a country where children an be exposed with nude feet and legs to a temperature to whii^h they, in their infancy, were unaccustomed ; and slow to recognize that a lengthened residence confers a certain adapta- bility to the qualities of a climate which can neither be modified nor changed. But if exception be taken to the often insufficient pro- tection of the feet in cold weather, exception must be taken to the excessive warmth of head-gear worn at that season. Again, the habitants' covering is light and p(jrouN, and the head is suffi(;iently covered and warm and, at the same time, dry. The British Canadian covers his head 164 with fur, rendered imperviouK in its preparation by the tanner. And this is lined with cotton batting ; and that again with farmers' silk, and his head is kept hot and moist ! Should the wearer get what is erroneously con- sidered " a cold in the head," and he can hardly escape it, he adds to the thickness of his covering. While insen- sil)le transudation is taking place from every other part of the ))ody through its pervious covering, it is only wh(»n the cap is removed that cutaneous (exhalation, now clustered perhaps into drops, can escajie. And in the ]>rocess of (Evaporation the temperature of the surface is quickly reduced, forcing the proi)rietor of the fur cap to replace upon that part of the l)ody, which is already ])ro- tected by nature, a covering whi(^li it did not require. A lighter head covering may look un(>omfortable, but it does not feel not so. A most comfortable, and most sen- sible head covering even for very cold weather was that worn by Dr. Kane : a tiara of i'ur which left the entire poll bare to the elements. This protected the face, ears and foreln'ad against the severe cold of the arctic regions ; and when he reached his cabin there were no dewdrojis, as with his companions, to evaporate, or to quickly freeze, according to the temperature. Heated air within our houses in winter — where a tem- perature sometimes reigns as high as in summer — is a constant cause of debility and sickness. In some of the smaller houses — stocked with living beings— one won- ders less at the degree of cold they can endure without, than at the heat they can absorb within their dw (filings. I have not unfrequently noticed a difference of 80 degrees of Fahr(Enheit separated by a two-inch door-frame ! The breathing of air so heated, and necessarily so impure, within doors, does away in great measure with the tonic inlluent^c of the cold air breathed without. How the body can withstand those great and sudden changes can only be explained on the hypothesis that the contact of cold air blunts the sensibility of its surface in the first 166 instance ; and a high temperature is less sensibly felt in consequence. The mucous membranes of the air passai^es. however, — of the nostrils, windpipe raid bronchial tubes, — are not so blunted in their sensil)ility, and abundant mucous and muco-purulent discharj^cs are evidences of their irritation. This is a matter of great practical moment. I believe that the coldest weather which may occur in any part of Canada, when undisturb h1 in iis inlluence by heated air on the one hand, or much wind on the other, is incapable of producing' the slightest catarrhal or chest aH'ection, of an irritiitive or inflammatory character, in persons pro- perly prepared to meet it. In this assertion I am fully sustained by Dr. Rae, who had many years experiences in the north, when in search of Hir John Franklin. Dr. Rae states that during his continued sojourn in regions deemed inhospitable — where (as with the Esquimaux) the thermometer wa^ often, for many weeks at a time, 40° to 45" below zero — where no fire was used — where the only water they had to drink was snow dissolved by the heat of their own bodies — he never heard a person cough. Old Norwesters residing amongst us tell us much the same thing The Esquimaux, it may be observed, notwithstanding the intense cold of the extreme northern portion of this continent, " never think of fire as a means of imparting warmth." And it has been observed by tra- vellers that they do not approach fire made for cooking purposes, the heat from which, the whites, and, still more, the Indians, absorb with relish. At Melville Island, where, according to Parry, mercury freezes during five months of the year, the sailors had good health ; and in the bay of Winter H.nbour, the crew of the Hecla and Friga, when properly protected, could expose themselves with impunity, provided the atmosphere was still. The cold at the time was so great that hot water, allowed to fall from the top-mast, reached the deck as hail- 166 Morcury could be tirod as bullets from tbwling-pieres ; and balls of tro/jeii almond oil, when lired against planks, pierced them and fell to the ground unbroken. That severe cold is not prejudical to health, I may instance the fact, that four-fifths of the Honourable Hud- son Bay Company's servants, being Scotchmen, are gene- rally reckoned, as among the hardier, more active and more entia-prising of the Company's servants. They often endure hardships which, to many, would seem almost incredible — spending months without seeing the inside of a house — going to sleep at night in the most sheltered spot they can find, wrapt in their cloaks and a blanket. " Parties of them," says Murray, " have spent whole win- ters on the banks of rivers, or lakes, where their only sus- tenance was the fish drawn from the waters, without bread, vegetables, or any other article." Yet their hardships are borne with cheerfulness, milivem^d, no doubt, (they are nearly all Abe: Jonians) by the prospects of " siller" — a com- modity said to have attractions even for those more south- ward. When these factors or vot/ageurs come to reside amongst us in cities, they overllow with a health of which a change in their habits too often soon deprives them. It may be gathtjred from the recitals of Kane, Hayes, llichardson and others that cold — far more intense than anything we experience in the more settled portions of Canada — is quite consistent yviih, nay is even productive of, the best health. We must look, therefore, for the causes of the inilainmatory aff"ections of the chest, not to the dynamics oi' our climate, but to the incautious and inju- dicious manner in which the non-acclimatized meet it. It is difficult to furnish from amongst ourselves evi- dences of the immunities which acclimatization confers upon the human species ; but in the Animal Kingdom they are abundant. As instances, I may mention that in the epidemic of pleuro-pneumonia which, some years ago, carried off so many fine cattle on the Island of Montreal, it was observed that the newly imported animals were chielly the sulierers. Mr. Fallon, oi" Lower Laehine, lost many newly imported ones — whiles ol" those thoroughly acclimatized, not one was allected with the disease. The same gentleman having inlroduced a num- ber ol" Leicestershir(> sheep, he took the best care of them ; led them well ; and the Canadian sheep shared but par- tially in the good treatment. The latter did well; but large numbers of the former perished at the yeaning season. Mr. Masterman, an unusually intt'llig«'nt meat- dealer, had already observed that adhesions are compara- tively rare among acclimatixed or native animals, but fre- quent among the recently imported, lie informs me that on one occasion he killed thirty or forty imported sheep which had been mangled by dogs, and found pleuritic adhesions in most of them. Is it then to be wondered at, that thi^ non-acclimatized among ourselves require a care and a forethought which might be deemed unneces- sary to the children of the children of the soil ? No hospital physician ; no observant practitioner, would find dilficulty in answering in the negative a question already disposed of by the vital statistics of the country. Variations of heat and cold, whiui within certain limits, strengthen the inhabitants, and render them more active than those of uniformly cold or of uniformly warm cli- mates. But the ell'ects of cold on an unprepared body, even when those etfects bear not in a sensible manner on the exterior, may act with violence on the interior of the animal machine ; upon the animal spirits ; and upon the vital lluid pent up within its frame. It is necessary, there- fore, to preserve thost; variations within certain limits ; and, while moderate changes of external temperature are desirable, v^ariations of heat and cold produced by change of clothing are not to be sanctioned. It is not infrequently noticed that in the spring many lay aside their winter clothing too early ; and for their iujprud- 168 oiico havt! often to resume it ugaiu till several weeks later, Vv hen tht^y are less prepared for the temperature which succeeds A question .suggests itself: How should i)ersous clothe themselves in winter? and the answer simply is: not always too warmly, unless constantly exposed to a low tempiiraturc. But as we habituate ourselves to much — too much — artificial heat ; warm sitting — and worse than all — warm sleeping apartments — both of which diminish that proper irritability of the surface, so indicative of, and so conducive to health — our garments should correspond somewhat with the temperature : light and pervious within doors ; thicker and less pervious without. The Russians are circumstanced, as to cold, much as we are,, and dress lightly within doors, not even wearing flannel next the skin. But with linen shirt and drawers ; with wide trousers and wide boots ; and with the nati- onal sheepskin body-coat or tooloop outside, they are com- fortable. They go without the latter indoors ; with it, when exposed to cold. The Esquimaux cannot clothe themselves too warmly when on their journeys ; nor too lightly when in their huts : the warmest fur is worn when facing the cold ; but within their ice- huts they are in a state of nudity. We, in this latitude, cannot look for a like indulgence ; but we might, to a limited extent, imi- tate both the aborigines and the Russians, in dressing less warmly than we do within doors ; more warmly without. The early British colonists much amused, by their cos- tume, the earlier French Canadians ; and Mr. Phillipc A. de-G-aspe, in his " Memoires" alludes to them in his usual laconic manner when he puts the following into the mouth of a French-Canadian : " Ces Anglais sont si eccen- Iriques que rien ne me surprend de leur part. Nous mettons en hiver nos bas de laine dans nos souliers, et lis les portent par dessus. Nous mettons nos gilets sous nos habits, et eux les mettent par dessus." 169 Jjove of dross and tho deHin^ to appear to advaiilagf were iiotiat part of their lives enforce the most painful abstinence upon themseb^es for the purpose of preparing their bodies and their limbs for these extravagant exertions." His lordship. Bishop Lafleche, of Three Rivers, for many years a mis- sionary amongst ^.hem • and Mr. Greo. Barnston, for the greater part of h;s life in the Hudson Bay Company's ser- vice — both the highest authorities I could quote in this connectic'i -agree in that opinion. My own pergonal knowledge is in accoi dance with theirs. I quote their letters in full elsewhere. =^ When the expedition under Mr. Patterson set oif from Dr. Kane's imprisoned brig, it took one barrel of parboiled pork ; half a barrel of raw ; fi fty pounds of boiled beans ; Jive barrels of bread ; fifty pounds of coffee ; and five of tea. This was supposed to be the smallest quantity that would suffice line men for a mouth, leduced by necessity, and the means of transport (an open whale boat, 24 feet in length, 2| in depth, and width; 5^ feet beam) to the smallest quantity ; besides trusting to chance for game to supplement it. Even this necessarily limited quantity wo aid appear large ; but it is moderate in comparison with wha. ]•- consumed whei' the appetite is unrestricted. But I am h-av^ilijig vi ry far north, as the broad extent of our cor. itry enables me to do. To return, however, to the milder and more settled portion of Canada, of which Queoec, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa ar^; .entres • those * See Ap^ondi-: H. 173 who li» J much within doors, and where there is much,- - too much — artificial heat, necessarily assume regular habits in, and regular hours ot eating, drinking and sleep- ing. They are without one of the stimulants to the use of much fat moats — external cold. Among the rtisidents of towns and villages, therefore, where every variety of food can be easily procured by purchase, we do not notice those wide departures from European customs which are met with in the back woods, and on the borders of the lakes and bays. There we see the gastronomic powers of the shanty men and voyageurs. — and are astonished at them. But not often have we seen the severe labour they perform ; nor experienced the inclemencies to which they are exposed. It is not easy to state what quantity of food is consumed or wasted by each person in Canada ; but the quantity is quite equal to what is disposed of by any equal number of civilized people anywhere else. Following certain occu- pations, however, there are men, strong and hardy, who are cat off from all supplies of food, except such as are furnished as a daily allowance, and the quantity they dispose of may be easily arrived at. The shantymen — raftsmen, axemen and teamsters — are of this class ; and to them I shall come shortly. All through the northern portions of Canada, T am assured by Mr. E. M. Hopkins, the companion for many years of Sir Greorge Simpson, and his successor in the service of the Honorable the Hudson's liay Compan;,', the foe " consumed is verv largo indeed. In the Artha- baska and Mackenzii; River countries, and also in several detached pavts, the staple food is iish. In th(^. Saskat- chewan country, the food is chiefly buiialo meat, a mon and hi*< hiliren eating eight to ten pounds a day— • equalling about two pounds a head — the man's share two t( three pounds. In the southern part of Hudson's liay, it is usr 'lb salted geese (Wavey, Outard). The voi/aixeiira from Quebec and Ontario are rationed eLclusively with 1V4 pork and biscuit : about 1^ lbs of each, or 3 lbs a day ; besides sugar, ad Ubiliim. In the interior the vot/a^eurs are fed on pemmican,* one to one and a half pounds. Where fish can be had, a favorite dish is the " tiaude," made of alternate layers of fresh codfish and lard. On Fridays, butter is substituted for the latter. Crepes are another favorite dish, and the quantity of those indigestible things one man can eat is truly astonishing. In long journej'o, it is necessary to ration the men as above, and wheuM^ild fowl and other game are met with, they are indulged in as extra fare, and do not count in the daily allowance. The French Canadians, Mr. Hopkins tells me, eat decidedly more i>ork than the British — the latter like a variety, and get sooner tired of pork and l)iscuit. On the steamers on the St. Lawrence, Ottawa and upjier lakes, and in the service of the liichelieu Company, the quantity consumed is thus averaged.f Mr. Duncan Mac- donald, builder of the Montreal, Ottawa & Occidental Hail way, gives like evidence. J Lieut.-Col. Harwood, who is very familiar with the question, furnishes Ij^^e testi- mony. § Mr. W. L. Fgar, Pork Inspector, be-irs eviden to the same.ll Mons. de Gaspe, the brilliant and pleasing- writer of "Les Anciens Canadiens " and other v. I Apjiendix C, II Appendix D. \ Appendix E. '^ Apixiudix F. 175 I should not havp dwelt so fully upon this part of my subject had it not pleased a writer — not over particular as to his choice of language — to call in question my state- ment before the International Medical Conference in Paris as to food. Mr. Greorge Barnston, in November, 1 86*7, when asked by the then editor of th(> Canada Medical Jonrnal what amount of pork the iHy/agetirs consumed, replied : " /ibout 3 lbs. a day." Dr. Rowand, of Quebec, who was born in the North-West, who accompanied Sir George Simpson in his famous voyage, who knew the habits of the people intimately, and +o whom I mentioned this opinion, says : — ' T know no one in the country more competent to give you correct information on the subject than Mr. G-eo. Barnston ; and the quantity he has named appears to me to be very reasonable. In my voyages with Sir Geo. Simpson T have often seen this quantity greatly exceeded — not in pork, for we could not get it, but in other kinds of meat." Another statement, and I have done with this part of my subject : — Capt. Monarque, in the service (18t»Y) of Siucennes, McNaughton & Co., states that he passed the winter of 184*7 in one of the shanties of the Hon. K. IT. Harwood, and that twenty-nine men, himself (Monarque) being one, ate, on an average, a barrel of pork, weighing 200 pounds, in three days. This v/ould give, in round numbers, 2J lbs. a day. In very cold weather, he says, they could with difficulty forbear breaking the second barrel before the end of the third day ; " mais on pensait," he adds, "que la quantite ci-mentionnee etait assez raisonnablc." Mr. Charles L. Belanger, a mime now angli- cised into Baker, an intelligent French-Canadian packer at Lindsay, Ontario, tells me that but one and a-half pounds suffice for a lumberman in that neighborhood per day when the pork is fat ; but, when lean, a half pound more is used — but the lean is not always eaten. Dease and Simpson, in their descent from Athabasca to the Polar Sea, found that the union of flour with the ^.. ■ .I..-,!, i 1*76 pemmican produced a siiving of one-third in the con- sumption. " Three pounds of pcmmicau alone," says Simpson (p. 96) " form a man's daily ration ; but, though the food is highly nourishing, it soon becomes distasteful and cloying. With the flour it makes an excellent soup, or rather ' burgoo.' '" It was found, at the end of the jour- ney to which I refer, where this food was used without restriction, that " the average daily consumption had been exactly two pounds per man," supplemented occasionally by game. In Canada, as in the northern United States, food is taken by all classes in larger quantities than the wants of the system require. It is an error to suppose that because Englishmen often speak more about the table and its pleas- ures that they eat more. That is not so. He does not eat more ; he eats better, though he may swallow less. The Englishman may, and does, talk more at, and of, the tabl(> ; the American [and, to a certain extent, the Canadian] is too hurried to talk, and in silence pours down food in greater quantity than is needed, and usually unprepared by ensalivatiou, before the sensation of hunger has had time to be appeased. As food is taken altogether too hurriedly, and in larger quantities than the power of the stomach can dispose of, irritation of its lining membrane results, and other systematic; disorders follow. Hunger is, in h(Vilth, the general criterion of the power to digest ; but With us, too commonly, the uneasy feelings of the dyspeptic usurp the place of this normal regulator ; and the patient, mistaking those uneasy feelings for hunger, iiitroduces more food, instead of allowing the needful rest. Those who are acquainted with the intimate relations which exist between the nervous and digestive systems can best appreciate the importance of not disturbing the harmony. It would seem to be natural that a people emigrating 111 from a country where laws and customs are well estab- lished ; where the habits and usages of socii^ty are well matured by time, would retain what is good, and endeavour to improve upon it. Bui changes in circumstances are often so rapid with us, that with food, as with other comforts, extravagance would seem to be indulged in to the serious injury of health. =^ Dyspepsia, formerly so rare amongst us, is now most common : not yet so common, iiub^ed, as in the adjoining " Union " — where whole populations of some cities look as if disturbances of the digestive organs were universal — but still common enough to mak(^ us enquire : Whence this trouble ^ Should these pages be read by those who have been accustomed, while in Europe, to a sparingly animal diet, they are strongly advised not to discontinue, on their arri- val here, their good old country custom in that respect. Let not too much meat be taken, nor lluid of any kind, while eating, otherwise these, and not the climate, will rob them of their color, diminish the cL^arness of the eye, and give sallowness to the cheek. But it is not the (Quantity alone that is objected to, but the quality also. The quality of the food <-oi;isumed is too rich, too stimulating, as if every variety were introduced to " spur beyond its wiser will the jaded appetite." Most of the people of (^anada fare not only well, l)ut sumptu- ously and extravagantly. Their circumstances would *Forin(»rly in t\w Hudson Bay servioo (and I aliiulo to tliis service fro.(inoiitly from the oircumwtanco that any informtion from that sourci^ , is always roliubloV toa and sugar wero used only by a few of the more favored higher oHicers. These were calloil " luxuries," and wore the only ones. Tea, however, soonis to have bet'Miue an indispensable eondiment; and tea kettles are necassary aiJiwuidages to o\ery roiia(jcur\ fit out. I>ut as hunger, witii tiie roijaijrur. is keener than thirst, tea is used by those, who are in health and high spirits, as a pleasant beverage, and not, as with us, to create an appetite. Tiiqnors of all kinds are excluded when practicable. 12 Ljii.^.^ ITS seem to warrant it ; but nothing could warrant the con- sumption of saleratus colored pastry, pudding, pies, pickles, hot cake, and th(» hotter tea and coffee, which are swallowed with the food. In a mor(^ primitive state, quan- tity and quality would he regulated l)y desire and oppor- tunity. But we have passed that (;ondition of jn-imitiv*'- ness here, and the (Experience of giMierations would seem to he wanting to guide and direct ; while th(! experience gained from our near neighbours would seem to be insufii- cient to guard and deter. But it may be thought, and it is often stated, that this climate forbids all attempts at an approach to an imitation of the frugality of some liluropean countries. As evidence of the contrary, the food oi* the Russian, similarly cir- cumstanced as to climate as we are, is extremely simple in comparison with ours : rye bread, slightly sour; soup ; curds ; and milk whey, with farinaceous dishes form his dietary. Meat is used but seldom, and in (juantities at a time which would be considered hard usage here. I may also mention — not for the purpose of imitation, however — that the members of the order of C\irmelite nuns, estab- lished in Montreal in 18*75, abstain from meat the whole year, except in cases of sickness. During the lenten sea- son, which takes in the whole winter, (beginning on 14th September, and continuing without interruption till Eas- ter), eggs, butter and milk are also forbiden; and food is taken sparingly, with oil, or salt; and water. The first meal is at eleven ; and the second, which is a light repast — sufficient to tantaliiie the palate — is at six. This mode of living — which has long been in practice in France — is continued here, with no additional discomfort thus far, as stated in the narrative from which I glean : — " Elles les pratiquent aussi facilement en Canada qu'en France, sans que la rigueur du climat les oblige a rien re- lacherou omettre." And this severe regimen is borne, not alone by french stomachs, for the narrative continues : — 1^9 " Les jeuiies Cauadieuues, admises parmi elles, s'habituent sans difficulte a cc regime severe. Elles sont etoniiees du bien etre physique qii'elles eprouveiit au Carmel." The time is yet too short to enable us to say if this severe regi- men can be continued. The same experience was gained some years ago near Quebec, by a body of Trappists ; and one of thest; gentle- men, now a clergyman on the Island of Montreal, in answer to certain questions, writes me : " Les Trappistes du Township Langevin (Quebec) ne se uourrissaient que de legumes, tels que choux, feves, patates, etc. Et malgr«'' la rigueur du climat, ils pouvaient soutenir a ce regime ; faire leurs travaux, parfois durs et penibles ; et suivre toutes les observances de leurs Regies. Cependant, en fait de nourriture, ils n'avaient pas toujours meme ce que la regie leur permettait d'avoir : c'est ainsi que leur pain etait ordinairement tres mauvais et tres mal fait. Ici, a cause de la rigueur du froid, ils se servent de feu, muis trop moderement pour ne pas soulFrir ra6me parfois beau- coup. P. S. — Aux legumes, apres leur long car^me, les Trap- pistes ajoutaient de I'huile, mais jamais le beurre." The frequency of eating is of considerable importance ; and the meal hour has more to do with our health than may at first sight appear. Perhaps some practiijal expe- dient might suggest itself by what is observed in two very different climates, each, however, having its exact counterpart at certain seasons in certain parts of the Dominion. In the extreme north of this (;ontinent, the only meals are breakfast and supper, — for dinner, as Simp- son observes, that word of power in other climes, is un- known at Fort Confidence. So much for th(^ cold weather. Per contra. Lord Elcho, in the discussion, in the House of Commons, of Army Estimates, refers to a question atlecting the health of the troops in India ; and from a correspon- dence between a general officer, who had seen much ser- 180 vice there, and the Commaiider-in-chiof, he coik luded that the hour at which the troops in India should have their dinner had considera])lc ])earing' on thinr health. The General Oihcer found that, when at a most unhealthy station, the troops had their usual mid-day dinner hour ]>ostponed to three or four o'clock — a cooler part of the day than their previous dinner hour — the men did not sutt'erto anything like* the extent they did in other circumstances. If I take exception to the large quantities of food used, I must equally protest against the habit of rapid eating now becoming so common. A volume could be written on this subject. To this habit, more than to any other, is to be ascribed the changed appearance of certain Euro- peans after a resideni^e in America. Disorders without end of the digestive organs are the result of this habit. It is, moreover, a most frequent cause of death, although not appearing in our statistical tables. Disorders of the diges- tive organs give rise to disease in other and remote organs ; and death is attributed to the proximate cause and regist- ered accordingly ; while the remote disturbances of the digestive functions pass unheeded. How frequently do children die of head affections ; and adults of hepatic and intestinal alfections, which had their origin in disordered stomachs. It is scarcely necessary to allude to Intemperance. as a source of disease. Less temperate, as we are, than the Fi iich or Italians ; more temperate than the English, Irish and Scotch, we, living in this climate, have a greater neces- sity for the observance of temperance than have persons of those nationalities. Every traveller who has con- sidered the subject, agrees in the necessity of avoiding stimu.lati}ig beverages. The climate itself is stimulating, as I have already observed, and stimulants, which, in Great Britain, xnight be taken with impunity, and some- times with advantage, are here productive of mischief 181 But thorc aro othiu" circumstanccvs besides climate which hero render driiikiii"- habits so pernicious to health. As this is a new country ; and as preparations containing alcohol are rrenerally new, when used, they are, in conse- quen(^e, mori' mischievous. The baneful effects of new products of distillation are greater than are those of older products. The softening (changes of age are required to develop the ethers and to destroy the fusel. It is observed in Canada that hard drinkers soon pass away. In hot weather, the use of stimulants increases the exhalation from the skin, and should, in conseqiT'ii. i.. lower the temperature of iln^ '>ody, at a time when i ing its temperature would be really agreeable. But tlm. exhalation leads to debility by carrying olF more than is necessary ; thirst is again induced, and allayed again for the moment ; but the forced exhalation imjreases it again. Dr. Moseley, speaking of a climate much warmer than our summer climate, says : — Those who drink nothing but water are but little affected by the climate, and can undergo thc^ greatest fatigue without inconvenience.''*' To the same circumstances the observant Combe drew atten- tion when visiting this country. The Hon. Arthur Gordon,! in writing of New Bruns- wick and of his experieiK-e in the forest there, says ; '" A total abstinence from all spirituous liquors makes the whole ditl'erence as to comfort on such excursions. The slightest use of them makes the assaults of the black llies and other noxious insects a serious torture instead of a matter of comparative indifference ; and the great parties * " Notwithstaiuliii^ the overwhelming evidence in favor of tenuierance in liot climates, tlio niilitary autlioritics of our Indian Empire," says the London Medical. Tirtus cO Gazeth for Febniarv, 1878, " still, we l)elicve 3erv(^ out a daily ration (jf rum (four ounces) to the Euroix3an troops under their control. Roporta against the practice have from time to time been made by many members of tiie Indian medical stall", but apparently without ofiect." t Notes of Travel iu 1862-:i. 182 of wood-(utt«'rK or lumbfrers almost invariably coiiliiie themselves wholl/ to tea whilst in the woods." " I am alruid," ]u' adds, '' on their return to the setth^mcMits they too often indemnify themselves for their enforced temper- ance." But if stimulants do not keep out the heat, they must surely keep out the cold ; " and a strong frost," the Ettrick Shepherd says, " brings out the llavor o' the speorit in a maist surprising manner, and gies't a mair precious o'er the haill room." ^ These are among the claims set up by those who seek an excuse for their use. It is scarcely necessary to reiterate before an intelligent audience, that however little excuse the denizen of a summer climate may have for favouring an indulgence in stimulating beverages, the residents in cold climates have no better. Every traveller recognizes, not alone the desirability, but the necessity for the strictest temperance in those who would bear exposure to a low temperature with impunity. " Abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, except when dispensed by special order " is an accepted rule with the commanders of expeditions, and the valued testimony of Doctors Kane, Rae, Hayes and others is fully coulirma- tory. Dr. Rae, when laying in provisions for his expedi- tion to the Arctic Sea, took pemmican, grease and flour, and alcohol for fuel, with tea and chocolate ; but only four gallons of brandy and two gallons of port wine for medicinal purposes : — for his experience in the North had taught him to be " v/ell aware ol' the bad effects of spirits in a cold climate."! All observant travellers agree that the use of wine and spirits renders the body less able to resist external cold. *Nocte8, Ambros,p. 148. t Dr. Kane in his second GrinnoU Expedition, with the experience gained in tlie first, imposed but throe laws on his officers and crew: (1) Abfiohito subordination to the oflicer in command or his delegate ; (2) abstinence from all intoxicating liquors except when dispensed by spe- cial order ; and (3) the habitual dist s ofprofane language. 183 It has more than on(*e beon noticed that to the use of brandy might be imputed the appearance of scurvy in its malioiijiut form. Ellis noticed this in the voyage to Hud- son Bay ; and Chambers says : " thc! spirits are not now S(!rved out, it b(»ing- supposed that the use of thi^m is con- ducive to scurvy." If, in the qualities of our climate, I can find no ex^'use for the free use of stimulants, — but much against it, — I cannot be far astray, in saying to every resident in Canada, as Hector did to his mother when ahe pressed him to drink and be refreshed : Cheering wine I IJring none to me, lest I forget my miglit. The words of the besieged and fatigued Trojan should be the motto of every dw(41(n' in this dry and stimulating atmosphere who desiri^s to preserve his health. An evil scarcely less pernicious than drinking is that of immoderat(! Smoki7i and, by practice, the power of using the strongest tobacco is soon acquired. Th(» smoker here smokes before busi- ness, during business, after business ; not furtively, but openly. Anything under twenty is, in Great Britain, considered young, — too young to begin the habit which, as Punch says, gives the ' pimply cheeks and tallowy complexions of the young short-pipe sucking fools " who meet us everywhere, and who "put out of time their organs of digestion be<.ause they think it ' manly ' to be seen able to smoke." The mode of smoking in this coun- try is far more injurious than is that followed in Europe. The appendage to the smoker's armamentaria — or rather, to the cleanly housekeeper's means of protection — is not commonly required in Europe, where expectoration is not considered a necessary accompaniment, and where IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // y. ^ i/.A ^ 1.0 I.I 11.25 If 1^ IIIIIM I If E Hr 1^ 12.0 1.8 14 IIIIII.6 ^ & /a % ^/. <^ ^m, •' i,.;r .V ^M ^M Ji' J^^^ ^^^ y w Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 &^ ^^ fS h. ^^v :\ \ % V 't^'^ "* ' 1H4 the equally hurtful and disgusting habit is not usually indulged in. It might not be inapprjpriate to allude lO the habits of the people with reference to Physic, though the inlluence in that respect might be deemed limited in extent, and hiconsiderable ii. importance. It may be stated, in general terms, that as the chief com- plaints of British Canadians are of the chest ; and those of the French-Canadians are of the stomach and abdomen, the former frequently use expectorants, and the latter are much given to the use of drastic cathartics. The la,tter prescribe for themselves periodically, unless their physi- cians vdll do it satisfa'-torily. Large numbers of persons in cities lloi-k to hospitals and dispensaries ; diagnose their own Complaints as arising from constipation or bile ; and ask to be well purged. Physicians in country districts tell me that a brisk purgative is a necessary preliminary other to treatment. Without the prefatory cathartic, con- fidence cannot be retained. In some diseases — fevers, for instance, — the practice of purging cannot be otherwise than pernicious. It is astonishing the large doses a per- son will take before admitting he is " bien purge." The dryness of the tissues has much to do with this tolerance of (.athartics ; and many physicians are of opinion that the doses recommended in the pharmacopoeias of Grreat Britain and France are too weak for persons inured to this climate and its more abundant food. Tht lative Indian, howeviu-, is an exception ; and to him, living on the simplest food, and having diseases of the simplest inflammatory character, medicines do not require to be administered in such large doses. Bleeding is said to be well borne by him. The African settlers in Canada, as everywhere else, l)ear neither venesection nor large doses of medicine. Whether diseases are modified by introduction into their 186 system, or whether the climate diminishes the vis medi- calrix nut mc in a people destined for a more sunny liind, it is diilifult to say ; but medicines of all kinds are badly borne ; and the mortality among- them is greater than among the Caucasian variety of the population. Narcotics are not, it would appear, equally well borne here in winter and in summer. They seem to possess more energetic properties in warm seasons ; and in winter are less active here than in Europe. This modiiication of the action of narcotics in certain seasons is not solely due, as one might suppose, to the active powers of the remedy being directly influenced by climate (for the drugs used are chielly from Grreat Britain, and it is barely possible that a short sea voyage could affect them) ; but is no doubt, in great measure, due to climate, which, as Dr. Paris wisely observes, " not only modifies the powers of a remedy by inlluencing its structure and composition, but renders it more or less active by increasing or diminishing the sus- ceptibility of the body to its impressions. "=^ As I have more than once hinted at- during this paper, diseases are modified by the < ircumstances which sur- round the patient. But here in Canada, while the social condition undoubtedly possesses a certain inliuence, it has a less inliuence than has nationality upon the effects of remedies. This I have particularly noticed with refer- ence to narcotics, which seem to act upon the American Canadians — the chief suiterers from nervous disorders — with greatest potency. Ventilation. — The imperfect ventilation of the houses is a prolific; source of discomfort as well as of disease. Those chiefly of the poorer classes, and in too many instances also of the richer, are constructed with an eye solely to warmth ; and when the outer windows are put ■"■ In coiilirmiition of this hyiwthesis he adduces the Avell-kuown eflects of perfumes : many of tho Roman people being " unable to sustain the atroug scent of flowers without experiencing a sensation highly oppressive, and which in some cases is even succeeded by syncope." .H' 186 up in winter, and the seams and chinks are closed, no other channel is offered for the ingress of pure, or the egress of foul air than the door, when opened. The air within is sometimes unbearable. When disease appears in such houses it is severe : small-pox is nearly always confluent ; scarlatina assumes the more malignant type ; and measles commonly manifes. some bronchial compli- cation. It is only within comparatively few years that attention is being directed in Canada to hygienic laws i.n this regard. Exercise. — I shall have time to say but little under this head. When persons are in the process of acquiring wealth, they generally take too much exercise ; when wealth has been accumulated, they usually take too little. The wealthier classes, and especially those who have become quickly rich, would seem to have acquired a contempt for exercise. The men — yes ! and the women, too — who, when engaged in business, found no fatigue too great, now lind the easy motion of an easy carriage sufficient. The result is visible in their faces — they soon " Grow sick and damn the climate." Yet no climate, perhaps, in the world, permits a greater amount of exercise than our cold northern region. If the climate of Canada is favourable to health, it is chiefly by reason of its being liivourable to enterprise and exertion. The labourer and the artizan have here suffi- cient incentives to labour to promote their health ; and at the same time somewhat too much to enable them to (Cushion their muscles with unnecessary fat. The cli- mate, when the thermometer is at its lowest, incites to laborious exertions of industry — making comfortable clothing and lodging indispensable. As the warm season is short, though severe ; and as the changes in vegetation are rapid, efforts are proportionately great for the supply of the former, and for the preservation of the latter. And 187 . , ^ 'r'i' , ajs th(^ vicisKitndes in temperature are sudden, and even extreme, intjessant eare and attention on the part oi" the husbandman make him vigilant and active, as well as laborious ; and the qualities that are thus naturally impressed on this great class, the farming class, are, as McCulloch says of the people of GTreat Britain, through their example, universally diffused. It may be interesting to state that, tifty years ago, the people of Upper Canada owned one horse to every seven of the population ; but now they own a horse to every three of the population. This fact is a significant one. With horses so numerous and so ready at hand there is little inducement to take exercise in walking which does so much for the inhabitants of G-reat Britain, where horses a:^e a luxury for the few. Were horseback exercise to be indulged in here, there would be less objection ; but driving has taken the place of that healthful exercise, an»l that carriage-maker is most soiight after who makes the strongest, lightest and easiest riding vehicle in which motion will be less felt. In the Red liiver Settlement, says Simpson, "not a man, however mean or idle, but possesses a horse, and they vie in gay carioles, harness, saddles and fine clothes." But great w^ealth is not required to enable persons in Canada to avoid exercise ; and to those who have resided in, or visited Europe, it is unnecessary to jioint out the difference between the healthful occupations of the wealthier classes there and here. Bodily strength was so honoured by the ancients that it was hedged round as a divinity. We run to an oppo- site extreme, and a pallid countenance, delicate tint, and a delicate frame have come to be regarded as the off- spring of mental labour, instead of, as it is, the legitimate offspring of mental dyspepsia. There is no doubt that manly sports and exercises receive the highest encouragement among the Anglo- 188 Saxons, who, themselves, till the time of Henry II, when the elevation of a Becket removed their disabilities in this regard, were forbidden by their Norman conquerors the indulgence in racing, hunting, hawking, and other like amusements. I have a word to the ladies on this subject, but shall leave to one of the gentler sex to say it. Fanny Hall, an agreeable American writer, says : — " The Eng- lish ladies when goinr;' out to walk put on substantial, thick-soled shoes ; and if the streets are wet. pattens ; V hile they wrap their persons in shawls. That the care which they take of their health is not unavailing, their plump, round figures and ruddy complexions abundantly testify. They retain their beauty to a much later period, also, than our American iair ones. An Englishwoman is hardly reckoned past the prime of her beauty at thirty- five ; while an American lady of the same age is con- sidered quite passee. Probably the humidity and equable temperature of the climate have some influence in pre- serving their bloom and beauty ; and something, too, I imagine, is attributable to their habit of taking much actiA^e exercise in the open air. The English ladies are great walkers, nothing being more common than for them to walk ten or twelve miles per day. I believe some of them really suspect us of affectation when they hear us complain of being fatigued by a walk of five or six miles." The8(» remarks are Fanny Hall's. I dared not have written them, but I endorse them. Horace Greely, when in Europe, observed the same thing : that the physical development of the English woman is unsurpassed, and for good reasons : " They take more exercise than our women do." " Until quite recently," writes Greely, " the young men of our cities, while nourishing the mind, forgot the treat- ment the body requires. Athletic exercises a few years ago were unusual, and literary young men, actively 189 engaged in commereial pursuits and professional studies, seemed to ignore the necessity of a solid earing for the mental powers. Talent and genius fostered in this way ripen too early before the time, and are lost to us before the time." The too early ripening, and consequent too early exhaustion, of the mental powers are due, in large measure, to inattention to bodily exercise. Within the past few years, however, attention is being given to this matter; and the importance of exercise is being recog- nized. Gymnasiums are now being established in most of our cities and towns ; and skating, lacrosse, football, snow-shoeing, golf are not now considered, as they were formerly, out of character with the more serious duties of life, but rather as a preparation for, and an adjunct la them. If I have one satisfaction greater than another it is at having, during my whole professional life, — and at a time, too, when serious people frowned disapprovingly, and shook their very wise heads — advocated and encour- aged in ovir young men, by example as well as by precept, a love of out-door manly exercises Education. — The training which youth receives in this country has an important bearing on the life and health and well-being of the community. I believe it will not be denied there is a greater precocity of intelligence among the children of this country, than of Europe. And perhaps the children of native American parents more generally exhibit that marked premature development. There is among the children of this country, perhaps, in consequence, a greater tendency to those disturbances of the functions of the brain, which so often terminate in ill-health. Nature gives birth in a capricious mood to this premature development ; but the teachings and school- ings of the fond parent, or of the ambitious instructor, — who, as if " to curdle a long life into an hour," loads the child's memory, and excites its already too vivid fancy — 190 do unfathomable mischief; and if that mischief is not always at once apparent, those schooling's will certainly be attended with an earlier failure of the mental powers. . " Sunt corti denique finos, Qnos ultra citraque noquoat consistero roctum." The severe mental labour to which children are sub- jected, atfects them physically. Its operations, when severe and long-(-ontinued, are visible in the hurried respirations and in the rapid glow which colours the face. Metastasio, speaking of himself, says : " The nerves of my sensorium are put into a violent tumult, and I grow red in th<; face as a drunkard." If this was his experience, and the experience of many professional men can corrobo- rate it, how much more powerful must be that influence on the delicate nerve-tissue of childhood. The conservative and restraining influence which parents exert over their children is here too soon laid aside by the parent, or disregarded by the child — who is earlier taught to act, if not to think for himself. " Think wrongly, if you please, but think for yourself," seems to be early taught, early believed, and early acted upon ; and children look back for experience on their early minutes " through the long vista of a summer's day." Whether the blame rests chielly with the child; chiefly with the parent; chiefly with the climate; or chiefly with the altered circumstances of parent and child, may be a matter of opinion ; but I apprehend that climate, while not inoperative, has the smaller share in forcing children to overstep the 1)0unds of youth, and to leap at once into unripe manhood and womanhood more quickly than do their transatlantic cousins. Tiie transition is sudden — unfortunately, in certain states of society, too sudden ; and the beautiful spring-time of youth and girlhood too quickly passes into an early and immature summer. The soft and pliant material is far loo quickly moulded into men and women, 191 . ^v■'^^" ere that material could obtain a character of firmuoss or durability, whatever it may have attained of self-reliance or self-assertion. The period of growth, of mind and of body in all ani- mated beings, is proportioned to the period of duration assigned to them. "Men," says Lamartine, " who are to live a hundred years, continue growing till the age of twenty-iive, and upwards." Many of our youths, thanks to a pernicious system of home education, — or an absence of it — are already exhibiting signs of decay long before that period ; and many of our maidens, with a less early drain upon their nerve tissu.e by excitement, would not have to deplore a premature departure of freshness and beauty. A pernicious custom is now, I regret to say, becoming general : that of entertaining children at private parties, which begin after an hour at whi(^h their forefathers and ours would have thought of retiring; when cakes and cotFee, ice cream, etc., are served out to miniature moi and women to regale them after a dance, and before they are transferred from heated rooms to feverish and dis- turbed repose. It is a custom which has a greater influence on their young constitutions than is generally imagined. " Nature will not be cozened with impunity. Whatever we detract from the period of natural sleep will surely be deducted in the end from the natural range of our exist- tence, independently of the predisposition to disease which is thus perpetually generated." It was otherwise in the reign of Francis I., when they were accustomed to say, not of children, but of full-grown men and women, — " Ivever & cinq, diner, si neuf. SouiMjr il cinq, covcher d neuf. Fait-vivre d'ans nonanto ot nonf." The constant tension and excitement to which youth is exposed are here often succeeded, in the developed man I 192 and woman, by a continual wear and tear of mind and body. It would seem as if there is now going on among all classes in our largo cities, and chieily among the mercan- tile, a consumption and a dissipation of energy gi-eater than th{! supply received from the aliment consumed ; and an apparent exhaustion at an earlier period than formerly. It may be said that the same inlluences are in operation in transatlantic citierj ; but this is an error. May not the rapidly acquired wealth which builds our mansions; fur- nishes them with so much luxury, if not with taste ; pro- caires equipages the most costly ; supplies the table with sorou'--h luxury ; may not all these; be dearly purchased by the wear and toor of mind and body, which renders their possessors unequal to an enjoyment of them ? The answer must be in the affirmative, even with the corollary that the judicious expenditure of accustomed, or steadily acquired wealth, " inlluences the physical not less than the meni:'l qualities of mankind in a marked manner, for which it procures healthful re(;reation and (nijoyment." I am anxious to take from climate what does not belong to it, and to give to pernicious custom — in eating, drink- ing, late hours and excitement a due share in the early mutilations we so frequently witness. That it is not the climate, the experience of the most casual observer will testify. Who amongst us cannot recall, among those who take more sensible customs for their guide, instances of the most durable freshness, and every other sign of con- tinued health and vigour. The ha})itual state of oui near neighbours is one of much greater mental excitement than is that of the inha- bitants of Canada. Our condition in this respect is inter- mediate between the inhabitants of Grreat Britain and those of the United States. The excessive wear and tear to which I have just alluded, though chieily, is not exclusively confined to the mercan- 193 tile class. The artizan works harder ; while with every class of our community the hours of labour are loni^or aild severer than in Europe. Even t'lat class to which, in Europe, " all Governments are alike acceptable, pro- vided they are left in tranquility," is here a ' party ' class, with its newspaper as a pabulum for its leisure hours. Watching events in Europe and other parts of the world, it estimates their influence, not on the growth, but on the selling price, of their products. The inordinate race for wealth in every class of the community is not without its influence, even upon the physiognomy of our people. It certainly does ai)pear as if, while breathlessly pursuing wealth, sometimes clutching, sometimes missing it, that men acquire at the same time "the power of inoculating themselves with age before the time. While writing, T am carried back, in imagination, to the home of my childhood and my early youth. 1 recollect the fathers and mothers of my schoolmates. They were plain, honest-looking people. I saw them again when they were old, and their children, like myself, had grown to manhood. The latter were loftier in stature, and more thoughtful-looking ; sharper, keener, smarter, than their parents ; but a pang of regret has more than once shot across me when I notici^d that the simplicity and gentleness of expression of the parent, untutored perhaps, had not des- cended to the ofl'spring. How much of this was the ^-esult of climate ; how much was caused by altered circum- stances ; how much was caused by education — that educa- tion which is ('onveyed in figures, and which is often valued not for its own sake, but for what it produces ? I have dwelt longer upon the habits of society in this regard than to many of you may appear net^essary in con- sidering a subject of the nature of this paper. But the habits of a people have much to do with shortening or lengthening life ; favouring or hindering disease. It is the 13 194 habits of society which interfere with, influenci!, and inva- lidate so much, all vital statistical returns ; and must be duly considered in any estimate that we may endeavour to form of a climate. Perhaps the most marked result of the habits of the Canadian people are visible in The Teeth. As this is a question which interests those who have, and wish to retain, those useful adjuncts to good health and good digestion, I shall devote a few paragraphs to its consideration. The early age at which a considerable percentage of the people of Canada, and a s'till larger percentage of the people of the UbHod State, lose their teeth, has induced the belief that the climate of North America exercises a pernicious influence on them, softening or fracturing the enamel, — eating into the cemeutum — corroding i_.e den- tine. But that belief is erroneous. If the climate is inju- rious to teeth, is it its summer or its winter climate ? If the former, how is it that still further south, where the heat is extreme, the negro preserves his teeth till extreme old age? If the latter, how is it that in the extreme north of this continent, where the thermometer is rarely more than -40° F. for nine months of the year, the teeth are strong and sound ? Were the influence of this climate huitful, its hurtful influence would be most visible in those who have inha- bited the (Country for untold generations. But the Indians have remarkably strong and healthy teeth. As we travel northward, tribe after tribe possesses the most powerful masticators. The Iroquois at Caughnawaga, St. Regis and Oka have good teeth ; and farther northwards, north- westward and northeastwards the teeth seem to become stronger The teeth of the most northern aborigines — the Esquimaux — are most beautifully regular, and equally X. 19S , strong. Toothache is unknowi) among thfiin. In the more northern parts, a kind oi' (^halky degeneration — which is painless — occurs sometimes in old age, and is considered to be of a rheumatic (character. The condition of firmness and durability of the teeth is as sure a guide to the age of an individual among the aborigines, as are the softer parts in the hands of an anatomist. When skulls are found, not alone is the condition of the sutures an index to the age of tlie indivi- dual, but the much or little worn teeth are equall y unvary- ing indices. What would be the conclusion srrived at by an anatomist on an examination of the skulls of the white usurpers of the O jib ways, Crees or Hurons, on finding many of the n, not with teeth much or partially worn, but sometimes without them, or with such as the dentist had placed therein ? Doubtless that they were the skulls of persons who had reached very advanced age indeed, and not, as it might be, of spinsters who had not yet woven the linen which conferred upon them their title. As it cannot be denied the teeth of many of the people of Canada — nay, even of the white population of the whole continent — decay at an early age, the question comes : Why do they decay earlier than the bones of the fingers and of the toes — which last till the end of one's existence? To me it is net surprising the teeth decay ; but tL?.t, treated as they are, they last so long. In general terms it may be said : teeth decay because there is " an iiapairment of function either in the indivi- dual or his ancestors." In this country the impairment of function is usually in the individual; the European parent commonly having better teeth than his progeny. But functional disturbance is here the common cause of decay, for the child of the immigrant subjei^ts his diges- tive apparatus, teeth included, to an ordeal to which it is not equal, and for which it was not prepared. I have frequently observed that pw.*sons who go to the adjoining ,v 196 republic for a certain portion of every season, have, as a general rule, worse teeth than have they who remain at home. The foo.1 which those consume, or rather swal- low, is too stimulating, and unsuited to the economy. Apart, altogether, from inherited predisposition — which, I am inclined to think, is not so fertile a cause as is cor*.- monly supposed — there are several causes of early caries of the teeth : 1. Taking too much food. — As it is only the food which is digested, and not that which is swallowed, which sus- tains us, persons finding themselves lean and meagre on a large, but hurriedly swallowed quantity, increase the amount, instead of masticating more thoroughly a more moderate quantity. Disturbed digestion occurs, arising from the decomposition of the imperfectly masticated food, and the disengagement of certain acids in the mouth (chielly acetic and lactic) which act injuriously on sound teeth, but with more i3otency on fissured teeth. 2. Taking' too hot articles of food into the mouth, causing thenl to crack and fissure. It must not be forgotten that the teeth are composed, in large part, of earthy matter ; and throwing into the mouth, as is often done by child- ren, what is too hot for the fingers, fissures and cleaves their enamel, and through these, food enters and decom: poses, giving off the peccant acids which destroy the den- tine in the neighborhood. 3. Taking cold articles, as ice-water, into the mouth, has a result analogous to the preceding. The sudden and unequal shrinking at the point of contact at the surface fissures and cracks the teeth. 4. Taldng — in pickles, sauces and other condiments — acids imagined to be acetic, malic, citric or other harm- less acid, but in reality containing sometimes a large quantity of sulphuric acid, which dissolves the earthy matter of the teeth, and leaves them soft and pulpy. 19*7 5. Insu//icient mastication. — \Tiih the teeth, as with other organs of the body, exercise of their function is necessary to their continued integrity. An organ is, within cer- tain limits, healthy in proportion to its exercise. In this country, and still more in the adjoining republic,* it would appear to be the prevalent belief that to take time to chew one's food properly is a waste — a killing of time ; — and as time, in this new world, is immortal, he who kills but a moment of it in this seemingly unproductive way, kills so much of himself. Dyspepsia is the result of such philosophy ; and bad teeth commonly wait upon bad digestion. When the teeth are not used, disuse leads to decay, from two causes : (1) Permitting food to lodge between and ferment around the teeth ; and (2) by virtue of an invariable physiological law, that when a function is not performed, the organ created to perform it soon becomes defective from imperfect nutrition. All things being equal, strong and healthy teeth are met with in those who use them. Tlie teeth of the Esquimaux women of Anoatok, chewing the skin of the usuk to make the strong, pliant, durable lines — Atlunak — are evidence that use gives to their organs a strength and firmness which forbid decay. They use their teeth. No mills grind their food ; no fires cook it ; no salt seasons it ; no cutlery carves it ; but as the seal or walrus is harpooned and drawn from the water, it is eaten ere it is frozen. The women chew blubber to liberate the oil, breaking ui) the connective tissue which separates the globules. They are constantly chewing and preparing leather with their strong teeth. They soften the sealskin for their moccasins or boots in this way. They are seldom without some resisting substance to gnaw at when they have no better * Professor McQuillan, of Philadelphia, attril)ute8 the contracted jaws of Americans, as compared with the broad jaws of the English and Ger- mans, to the difference in the character of food, and to the difference in time devoted to it« mastication. 193 occupation. And so it is with the aborigines near all the Hudson's Bay posts and throughout Canada.=^ They use their teeth, and hence their firmness and durability. 6. Drinking while eating. — Mechanically washing food out of the mouth, by fluids of various kinds, before ensali- vation is completed, and before sufficient alkaline fluid has been poured out to neutralize the acid secretion of the stomach and diluting those invaluable secretions from both sources. •7. Spitting. — Disgusting and stupid habit — robbing the food of its first and chief chemical solvent — and leaving it unfitted for absorption.! 8. Mistaking the purposes of food. — These are, as already stated, but two — (a) to nourish the body ; (6) to sustain its heat. Uut tiie modern system of hotel and boarding-house living gives to gluttony a license unrestrained by aA'^arice — the only instance where one does not pay for what he commands ; nor make return for what he destroys. The digestive tube, presided over by a sense of taste which is stimulated by the tricks aj.d refinements of the gastron- omic art, commonly shows signs of disturbance ; and the pearl-like organs at its si;iperior extremity, which by nature are harder, firmer, stronger than any other tissue of the body, and destined to last a lifetime, too early and too often give evidence of decay. Speculative. A clever but unfortunate writer has hazarded a specu- lation — it could hardly be called more — that were this * Dr. 0. C. Edwards, formerly of Montreal, hut now at Qu' A.ppelle, while having much to do with tho Indians, says he has never had occasion to draw a tootii. Other physicians, and among others Ohlatus, says he never knew an Esquimaux — man or woman — to suffer from toothache. t The enormous ([uantity of salivary section wasted in tliis way may be conjectured by any one passing, after a fall of snow, along a street through whicli men have just gone to their workshops. The once fair white Snow is imbrowned with the expectorated fluid, charged with juice of tobaeca 199 North American coutinent not constantly receiving large accessions to the population from abroad, it would ulti- mately again revert to the red man as its sole possessor. Dr. Knox's words are these (p. 4) : — "Were the supplies from Europe not incessant, he (the European) could not stand his ground in those new countries — America and Australia. A real, native, permanent American or Aus- tralian race of pure Saxon blood is a dream which can never be realized." And, again : " Man cannot ever exist permanently on any continent to which he is not indi- genous ; cannot ever become native, true-born Americans ; cannot hold in permanency any portion of any continent but the one on which he first originated." These point clearly to the author's belief that there are many cradles of the human race. To me, as to every inhabitant of this country, the first part of this speculation was entitled to some attention, for, like them, I have no desire to see the white man tomahawked by the Iroquois on his return to the possession of his hunting-ground, from which, for a season, he had been displaced ; and I proceeded to test some of the effects which this climate had produced upon the peojile who had been longest exposed to its influence. I entered upon the work without misgivings, for I was encouraged by an observance of the influence which this climate had exerted upon the aborigines — who are large, robust, well-made, tall, straight as their own pine, hardy as the oak, indefatigable upon long marches, light of foot, courageous, grave and sober : exceeding, in all manly sports, and powers of physical endurance, the aborigines of any country, or of any clime. And perhaps I may be par- doned if I dwell at some length on that interesting but fast-receding people who, for a period too great for us to estimate, have been exposed to the constant and unalloyed influences of the climate we are considering. It is unnecessary to discuss the question : did the abori- gine come in with the quaternary period of the earth's 200 history or anterior to it ? The man of the tertiary period is yet a problem, and will probably remain so till belief in his existence is at an end ; but the man of the quater- nary period is no longer conjectural. Dr. Robertson asserts that America was first peopled from Asia by IJehring's Straits. That the Esquimaux ori- ginally spread from the West there is no doubt ; while a tradition exists among their neighbors, the Loucheux, that their ancestors migrated from the eastward across an arm of the sea. Should, as has been by many conceded, the aborigines of this continent have been descended from the Egyptians.^ it must be admitted that the long operation of climate ha^ not stunted them nor hindered them in their growth, but has developed a race vastly superior to their progenitors. But, for th(^ 111 'ment, it is unnecessary to go further than to state i i at they are here and to be dealt with ; and that they have •mi here for untold centuries, receiving in all its unresisted, lorce, the etiects of our climate. How are they affected by it ? The stature of the native red man is generally much above * As an argumout in favor of the N. xV. Indians liaving an origin other tluin Egyptian, it may hero l)e observed, wliat periui{)s is not generally known, — tiiat the canoe, now used by the Aborigines, cut out of a huge ohn the aborigines of any other country, the natives of our forests speak in poetic strains, which are simpler than those of warmer climes — yet which give evidence of that thought and reflection which were supposed to be indigenous to a milder clime. The legends of the aborigines have many traces of the grotesque and the terrible. Their indolence; or inactivity, even, would seem to nourish t^at wild romance which the ceaseless activity of the white usurper effectually destroys. Although the Indian speaks but seldom, and records his assent merely with a " hoogh," or his dissent with a " kaween ;" in his rhetorical efforts he displays a quickness of perception ; a delicacy of taste ; and a fluency of expres- sion which one of the greatest of modern orators (Erskine) has studied to imitate. The Indian clothes his sense and meaning in expressions that are simple, but forcible, and natural. His imagery is picturesque, and drawn from objects around him ; the trees of the forest — the wild animals that inhabit it — the desecrated grave of his forefathers — the ruined hunting ground — or the white man's perfidy. The expressions which come naturally to his lips are poetical ; and the poetry, like that of masters in the art, derive all authority from nature, without being- subjected to rules which destro y vraisemblance. Their poetry, if it can properly be called poetry, is not unlike that of the ancient Dane, which had an air of flowing exaggeration and wildness of imagery, though everything like metrical beauty may have been wanting ; and with a ruggedness which is ever its best ornament. 206 De Quincey, in one of his day-dreams, when in Clifton, is led into a speculation on the essential differences of savage and civilized life : " How much of the virtue and moral elevation found amongst the Northern Indians is due to the influences of beautiful scenery ? " and in doing so, he admits, that for their virtue and moral elevation among civilized men " seclusion from such scpr.ery must he compensated by the visional representations of it in pictures, and the intellectual suggestions of it (or pictures in vision) in poems, romances," etc. The languages of the Algonquins, -Sioux and Hurons are of an energy and a precibioii of which it is difiicult to form an idea. The metaphors are of the boldest ; and their familiar conversation is as easy, and even as grace- ful, as if in the epics of the languages of Europe. Their imagery is wild, and sometimes fuatastic. It may be often bright but unequal, and sometimes evanescent, and wanting in that quality of cohesion — that Zusam- menhang — which binds together the language of their white brethren ; yet withal, there is variety. The dia- lects of the various tribes of aborigines do not exhibit the same degree of tenacity : while some are plastic and easily moulded ; others exhibit as great tenacity of life as the Welshman's Cymry. The language of the extreme northern aborigines — as the Esquimaux — is singularly like Hebrew in construc- tion, the subject always following the verb. The language of some Indian tribes — the Iroquois for instance — of the 18th and 19th centuries, is more pliant than was that of Chaucer, first true English poet of the 14th century, where " rhythmical (^adence once charmed the ear of the Court at the time of John of Gaunt." If a great poet, as Chaucer undoubtedly was, " may not be the less homeric because he has never read Homer," or even heard of him, so may a people — nurtured in solitude, and struggling for existence with the untamed savage beasts 20*7 of tho forost, and in a constant stato of warfaro with other tribes more terrible and more implai that time, its Speaker. His remarks are so germane to the subject that I quote them in extenso : " I cannot say much concerning the comparative phy- sical development of the Irish of the second or third gen- eration in Canada, as I have never made this the subject of critical observation. I have had opportunities, how- ever, of seeing large numbers of the Irish in New Bruns- wick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario. Some left Ireland at an early age ; some after they had reached the full age of manhood or womanhood ; some were the children and some the grandchildren of Irish immigrants. My decided impression is that those who hav^e been brought up in this country in healthful em- ployment, calculated to develop the frame and muscles, are physically superior — take them all in all — to their immigrant fathers and grandfathers. They are taller, the frame is larger, and the muscular development more striking. The sous and daughters of Irish farmers settled in any of our provinces are usually tall, strapping fel- lows, broad-shouldered and full-chested, with muscles of shoulders, arms, chest and legs bulging through coat and trousers. The young women of that class are as healthy, 220 blooming and robust. The samo may bo said of tho me- chauics aud labourers in our cities and to\vns who are not overworked, or underfed, or forest ; to seize a strip of land along the border of our streams ; to clear and to till it ; to build a cabin, and to rear children in the midst of dangers from an enemy that menaced him at every step. It was 22') the ceaseless vigilance which developed that individual- ity which is ever cropping out, not less — though in a dif- ferent form — in our rural population, than in Mr. Samuel Slick, the clockmaker. If " les privations, la pauvrete, la misere sont I'ecole du bon soldat," then were the earlier settlers trained in a school which fitted them for the severe duties they were soon to undergo. When danger from the aborigines had passed away ; when the earth had responded to th(^ husbandman's toil ; and when food had become abundant, the mode of living continued — and in many parts still continues — to be simple ; and this has produced the most solid happiness compatible with the frugality of the human race — happiness which fatigues not ; which brings no vapours of melan<;holy, and no unsatisfied longings which parental, conjugal, and filial love <;annot and do not supply : — a mode of living in the highest degree favorable to health and popu- lation. The war of race — for such a war there must be where two races live side by side — is no longer between them and the red man The former have already carried that war of races int'^ the adjoining Union ; and thought- ful writers, as Nathan Allan and others, have noticed with alarm that while the native woman produces but few children, the Canadian woman produces many. Two hundred years later, and what do we obser^ e ? Receiving no accretion from without, t' ey have progressed Ml a manner which defies all parallel, stamping them with a character which does not now belong to the llluropean family of which they are the off-shoot. If prolificness be commensurate with health (and there is a physiological standard associated with fruitfulness, as there is a patho- logical one confederate with barrenness) the descendants of the early settlers from Brittany and Normandy have abund- ant health. The most superficial observer must have noticed ffreat dissimilitude between the children of the earlier set- tiers and the European descendants of their progenitors. 16 226 The first settlers in a country are rarely of that class which moulds and fashions, or which tries to mould and fashion aught save its own fortune. They are usually usurpers of a stern typo — rough, vigorous, uncompro- mising, self-asserting and predatory ; indifferent as to means, but watchful as to results. They usually flow down from higher, colder and more sterile, to lower, w^armor and more fertile regions — as the Lena, the Amoor and the Granges How from the mountainous countries of Asia to the shores of many seas; or as the mountaineer, from the barren high, to the fatter low lands. In the older and French-peopled portions of old Canada the first settlers were intelligent, civilized, and even refined — vigorous, 'tis true, but neither rough, self- asserting nor predatory. They carried with them, to the land of their adoption, the politeness and refinement of the country they had left ; and at a i)eriod, too, when French manners and courtoide were perhaps at their height. Canadians have had no privileged classes to trample on them. The seigneurs among them possessed iuUuence ; but it was unlike the influence wielded by the more favoured classes in Europe. The former possessed no pow^er not enjoyed by the humblest ; and no influence saA^e that which superior culture, refinement and wealth commonly confer upon their possessors. Although their struggles for life with the Huron, and afterwards with the Iroquois, were incessant and severe, yet we read nowhere of accounts of shooting Indians like game as an appetizer bclore breakfast, which subsequently disgraced the more western settler, with less excuse than had he of the first arriA'^al, to minister to destructiveness. The diflerent manner in which the French and English formed their settlennMits was characteristic of their res- pective national dispositions. Alison, quoting Malte TJrun, says the English, when they first set foot in America, settled on the sea coast, in a comparatively 22*7 sterile soil ; gradually cleared it by efforts of porseA^'ring industry ; and, after the lapse of a century and a half, sur- mounted the ridge of the AUeghanies, and spread them- selv(»s over the alluvial plains of the Ohio and the Missis- sippi, the gardf^n of North America. The Frenc^h, with far superior peni^tration, followed, from the first, the course of the great rivers, and established stations which, if adequately supported and sustained, would, beyond all question, have given them the empire of the New World! Ascending the course of the Ht. Lawrence, they placed extensive colonies at Montreal, Toronto and Quebec ; descending the Ohio and Mississipi^i, their flag was to be seen at Louis1)urg aud New Orleans. But, though amply endowed with the genius which conceives, they had not the perseverance which makes colonies ; they sought at once to snatch greatness as by the vehemence of military conquest — they could not submit to win it by the toil of pacific exertion. They did not spread into the woods and subdue Nature by the enduring labor of freemen. Hence the different destinies of the two colonial empires in America : the English, inconsiderately formed at lirst, was slowly raised by persevering industry to unparalleled greatness ; the French, magnificently conceived in the outset, and aiming at inclosing the New World in its arms, sunk in the first rudci shock before the strokes of its less aspiring rival." It may be that circumstances other than climate have here moulded thii character of the former ; but of this there (3an be no doubt : that to climate, in its widest sense — I mean to ttll the circumstances in which they live — are to be referred a remarkable change in physique, to vhich 1 shall again allude. Living in the plenitude of life, constantly in the optMi aii, and in the pursuit of labour which developes that physique to the farthest — in childhood permitt(>d to grow and to strengthen by resisting the heat of summer and tiie winter's cold, till both become 228 indifForont to them, or aro mado to minister to their com- fort. That they have grown up strong and now form the healthiest white people on this continent, it were usehsss to deny. In the women the lympha and sanguineous temperaments are well developed, together with vigorous and healthy digestive organs, and with their whole organ- ism well and harmoniously l^alanced — qualities necessary, as Dr. Nathan Allen observes, in women who wish to rear healthy children with the substance of their own bodies. They have no demand for wet nurses to help them, how much soever they may help others in that capacity. Nor is there wanting, at the same time, in those deep-bosomed matrons the more lively c[ualities of m iid which make the hum])lest French-Canadian woman equal in conversa- tion and repartee to her more wealthy sister. The strength of some of the men may — to those who look only at the lesser bulk of the French-Canadian as com- pared with that of the English-speaking — appear to be somewhat exaggerated ; but those who are at all familiar with the exploits of some of the descendants of the early Norman and Breton settlers in Canada, will bear me out when I state that that nationality has produced some of the strongest men who have ever inhabited this coimtry. The De Salaberrys, Duchesnays, Lacasses ; the Grenons, Mdntferants, Monarques ; the Dumouchels, Tranchemon- tagnes, and others, whose names do not now occur to me, have, for generations, been possessed of tremendous mus- cular strength. A De Salaberry has struggled against six ordinary men ; two brothers, Duchesnay, have, on the Tiichelieu river, stood, back to back, and levelled a whole crowd ; Montferant's strength appeari?d to be almost fabul- ous, and in the North- West he more than once saved his life by tri^mendous marches to escape the Indians, who much envied him the possession of his strength. The late Sir Creorge Simpson once spoke to me of his terrible strength — strength associated, as it should ever be, with 229 the tenderness of a littlo child. On one occasion he carried, at the porta^^e of Grand Calumet, loads weig-liing 505 pounds each, half a league at a time, without deposit- ing them ; continuing the labour from 4 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. Joseph Montferant di , Fabre was then 2t years of age, was 6 feet 4| inches, and weighed 182 lbs.=^ On one occasion he started with nine men for Fort McKenzie. John Knight, a iSciotchman (interpreter), Gril- lespie and McLeod were of the party ; the rest were picked Indians. The journey was performed in January. Neither rest nor halt was indulged in till the end ; no food, no drink, was taken ; but, without halting, a bud or twig would be nipped off with the teeth in passing, and chewed to keep the mouth moistened. f Of these, six made the journey, the rest having fallen by the wayside. But of those six, one only (an Indian) with Montferant sur- vived, the remaining four died within two months. The Indians ever after called him "Mandji" (man-eater). It is remarkable that all those nine w^ere between twenty- four and twenty-six years of age. J * I saw him when, at 64 years of age, he was living at the comer of Mignonne and Sanguinet streets, in this city, suffering from opthalmia. His splendid frame still attested his enormous strength. t Tills hint was (juietly given to Montferant by an Indian woman ere he started : " Don't touch w uter, don't touch snow, don't stoj), don't sleei)." t Of the strength of the others I jould cite many instances ; but one, from the pim of M. de Gasp6, concerning Grenon will suthce. Grenon» one Sunday, when walking in the woods, c;amo acnjss a full-grown bear. The animal attempted to escajie, but his jmrsuer was at his heels, brougi it him to bay, and at length succeeded in «arents. liufortunately, the experiments were delayed till a late period of the session (middle of March), Avhen this stu- dents were engaged in preparation for the approaching examinations — examinations which, in fact, took place before the completion of the experiments. It will be con- ceded, I think, that the severe mental labour and anxiety undergone by medical students in preparing for their examinations, are not a good preparation for a trial of muscular strength. Ilad the trials taken place in autumn, when the students were fresh from their homes in the country, the record — splendid as it really is — would, I am sure, have been still more remarkable On a former occasion it occurred to me that, in lift- ing weights from the ground, men of short stature had an advantage over taller men, depending, as Mr. W. E. 238 Doraii puts it, on the lesser deviation they are obliged to make from their respective centres of gravity in stooping to the object to be lifted, as the farther removed a man becomes from his own centre of gravity, the greater exer- tion wall he require to lift a weight, and at the same time regain his eqviilibrium. That objection might, pv rhaps, be brought against the former experiments ; but on this occasion the position of the body was the same, whether the person were tall or short ; and the sudden or spas- modic force of lifting was not registered, but the force of sustaining or carrijing power. Under Mr. Barnjum's direc- tions the chest was thrown forwards ; the stoma(>h back- wards ; and the knees were strongly flexed. It was +he straightening of the latter, in short and tall men alike, and to a like extent, which lifted and sustained the weight. Taijile showing Hekiiit, Wkigiit and Li'MuAK Strength. Nationai.itv. British Cnnadian. . rrciich Ciinadiiui. . Age. 22 1 22-5 A ''n rage No. of generations born in Canada. Father. Afother. 3 .'^ ]() 10 Original birtlii>!ai'eof Parents. Height i '" inches. I Weight Lumbar in -strength, pound?.: i.li Fatiier. Mother, (ireat Britain. France. 70 09 07 !) loo 155 47.3 -li 409-3 In recording this splendid average, I record, at the same time, my sense of the kindness and alacrity of the young gentlemen who enabled me to obtain it, in giving, in their own persons, such convincing proofs of the healthi- ness of our climate. This table differs in no material respect from that of twenty-five years ago. The increased height and weig'it of the British Canadian are accounted for by the increased age — a difference of over one year. The increased weight of the French-Canadian is due to the same cause ; while the considerable increase in strength, in both nationalities is due, I think, to Mr. Barnjum's attention to the position of body of the young athletes. These figures show an advance in height, weight and strength of three generations of British Canadians 239 born in Canada ; and in at least an equal ratio, an advance in height, weig' and strength of ten generations of Canadian-born French. =^ At the ii^oment, I have lot at hand any figures relating to the height of the French people, but I have the autho° rity of Dr. Bell for stating that out of l,0eS3,442 young men drafted in France recently to serve in the army, 380,213, or more than one-third, were sent back because they fell short even of the diminutive stature of 4 feet 10 inches French measure, or about 5 feet 1 inch, English, or 6.9 inches less than the average height of their Cana- dian cousins, as represented by the student class. In fine, \^hat can be safely entertained regarding the cli- mate may be summed up thus : After a longer or shorter residence in Canada the constitution of Europeans be- comes acclimatized, it suffering, in ilm meantime, no in- convenience, unless bad habits have attended a change of residence; and the offsprings of those Europeans, after a few generations attain a size and strength superior to those of their sires, when peace, comfort and plenty attend. Weight at Birth. ■ I have to direct attention to an interesting circum- stanco mentioned in the report just issued of the Univer- sity Lying-in Hospital of Montreal— and which I first noticed in the Medical Times and Gazette for Saturday, 23rd February, 18Y9 — a circumstance which has also i40 to tlie present; witli others tlicre liave been liurteen or more. Ten generations, therefore may be regarded as a fair average. 240 of the (^hildreu born in the hospital in Montreal is, at birth : males, seuen pounds thirteen ounces ; females, seven pounds eleven ounces. Dr. Godson, in commenting on this report, stated that he had recently weighed a num- ber of children delivered at the City of London Lying-in Hospital, and had found the weight of the males averaged six pounds thirteen ounces, and the females six pounds ten ounces." If the figures furnished by those two lying-in hospitals are to be t.iken as correct, the children born in Montreal average a pound more than thos(> born in Lon- don ! ^ If, then (always supposing the record to be cor- riH't), the children here are, when born, so much larger and heavier than the children born in England, why should they not continue to keep in advance through life, when so favourably handicapped at the outset ? f Has the stimulating air of Canada aught to do with this ; or is it the exterior comforts of parents '? The stimulating influences of a Canadian climate in de- veloping muscular strength at an earlier period than in any ])art of Europe is noticeable among many tribes of th(^ aborigines. It is remarkable, for instance, that children of a vt^ry tender age among the Chippewyas, and other tribes, join in the long and fatiguing marches of older people. Simpson relates that among the Indians who came to the Copper-mine station to meet him was a family, the youngest member of which, a boy, scarcely two years old, and still unweaned, walked on snow- * I was anxious to verify tlio statistics of tho Montreal Lying-in Hospital by those of Toronto; but a medical friend in the latter city to whom I wrote for infornuition, replied : " I visited tlie Lying-in Hospital and oxiiniined tiie records, and tliey contain notliing about weights or nieas- Huromonts. Tlie matron had sold all the old books and records." My frit^nd ailds : " I am asliamed to send this information, but you have it as I received it." tThe I'hildron born in some parts of the United States do not weigh as mucli as tliose born in Canada. The average weight, for instance, of children born in tlio IMiiladolpliia Hospital is 7 lbs. 4'88 oz. : the average of the boys is 7 lbs. 7-954 oz. and of the girls 7 lbs. 1*725 oz. 241 shoes! "I had the curiosity to metisure them," says the narrator, " and found their dimensions exactly two feet in length, including the curved point, by six inches at the broadest point. The little urchin was so fond of those painful appendages that he hugged them as a pUiy- thing, and bawled lustily when his mother attempted to take them from him." The Voice. Strong voices are not always associated with strong bodies ; but the possession of powerful voices by a whole people may not unfairly be taken to indicate their health and strength. Every Canadian woman can sing, or does sing; but her voice is not always good, being too loud and shrill. =^ She sings when working, and her song is energetic and ani- mated ; she sings of her cavalier, and it is more plaintive and uncertain. But he having become " mon homme," her song is now softer and more endearing when coaxing her littl(> one — and she has always a little one — to sleep. She sings, too, when her mind is idle, though her hands may be busy, for " ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'etre dit, elle chante." Some of the songs are a continuous screech, without melody or rhythm ; while others are very pretty, and remind one of the chansons of Normandy, whence they are in measure derived, and do not always suit Rousseau's false and ill-naturiHl definition of French song : " Ennuy- eux et lamentable chant francais, qui ressemble aux cris de la colique mieux qu'aux transports des passions." But this loud screeching is the result of f[iulty training. Child- ren joining in chorus-singing at school are allowed free scope to the vibrations of their vocal chords; and she who can screech loudest, and clearest, and shrillest, is she who is often considered to sing best. The voices of the men, on the other hand, are, with occa- * Oliver Wendell Holmes linda that the women here are mora like .sijnaws in .spoooh ; that French women sin? hadlv, but the men wi-ll. 16 242 sioual exceptions, sonorous and powerful. The baritone usually predominates ; and the basso is more frequently heard than the tenor. When educated, — as in the case of a Mme. Taschereau, Mme. Robert, Mme. Christin or an Albani, or a Mile. Villeneuve, among- the women ; or a Harwood, Lavoie, Lamothe, Ducharrae, Lefebvre or Maillet, among the men ; — they give evidence of sweetness, but also of great power. This can be met with only in the deep-chested, and in those of good digestion. This powerful voice of male and female — needing for its production a healthy condition of the respiratory muscles, of the lungs, trachea (wind-pipe), and of its cartilaginous cavity, " of the pharyngeal, oral and nasal cavities, and of the nerves and nervous centres on which these parts depend" for their movements, — is additional evidence of tone and of power in the system, resulting, in some measure at least, from climate. JVasal Speech. Although somewhat foreign to my subject, I cannot refrain from alluding to that quality of voice which has come to be regarded as a national characteristic with our near neighbours ; and also with ourselves in certain districts. Squaws generally speak with a nasal twang and sing through their noses ; and the men have not the sonorous voices of the negroes. But the structure of the nose in some measure accounts for the difference. "With the negro the nostrils are wide and roomy ; the Indian's nose, though classicallv formed, is narrow. But the vi'^hite man has not copied the Indian. He brought with him to this country that but little agree- able peculiarity of speech ; and immigrants, who wished to be considered American at once assumed it on their arrival. So the nasal twang was as the nasal twang of the Puritans, which, with their " ostentatious simplicity 243 of dress, thoir sour aspect, their stilf posture, their loug graces, their Hebrew names, the scriptural phrases which they introduced on every occasion, their contempt of human learning," as Macaulay says of them, were as exter- nal badges to distinguish the most remarkable body of men, perhaps, whi.'h the world has ever produced. If so, the nasal tone has exhibited more tenacity of life than have many of the other characteristics. But the nasal twang is not of so recent date as may, by some, be imagined : for in England, in the reign of Edward III., when English was not generally taught in schools, children, to learn their own language, were com- pelled to be sent into France, to " polish their nasal. Nor- man," as a writer of the period complainingly remarks. "Was the nasal twang a characteristic of refinement at that period, as, 400 years later, it was regarded as an out- ward sign of inward spiritual grace ? It would appear not ; for, even in France, it was but a dialect ; and the river Loire limited it, and limited, at the same time, the vowelly softness where it " gave way to a harsher idiom and a sharp nasal accent." The nasal twang is, with many, merely a trick which may be performed at pleasure by the voluntary action of the muscles of the palate which close the nose from behind, and has no relationship whatever to climate. In many families it has been observed that some members speak in this manner, and others in the usual way. INTELLECT. And what can we say of the mind ? Is the Canadian people, in its fullest homogeneity, to advance or to recede in intellect V There are many who believe, or profess to believe, that the human family long since reached its highest degree of mental excellence, and point to the works of the ancients in illustration. Whert^ is the poet like Homer ; the orator like Demosthenes ; the physician like Graleu ; the law-giver like Solon ? I have the most ■ 244 profound respect for those names which have so long outlived the lives of those who bore them. But the belief that humanity is on the decline — that the energy of man is decaying- — that the heart is becoming harder, and that imagination and intellect are dwindling away — " lays an icy finger on the sovJ. confirms the most de- basing selfishness, and tends to returd the good which it denies." It does, indeed, appear to n.e, as if the mind of the Canadian people has become more fertile in improve- ment than in invention, and altered circumstances, bring- ing with them a new set of influoivjes, are sufficient to account for the change. But many believe that the cold winters (which are sufficient to sharpen the intellect — as they do the appetite — without dwarfing or shriv'elling the thinking faculties of our nature,) and the warm summers (which are not sufficiently long to depress and enervate) have contributed to this end, for "... not alone tho sonthern wit sublimes, But ripens spirits in cold northern climes." Malte Brun, from whom Alison loves to quote, draws a horoscope thus : — " Canada, and tho other British posses- sions in North America, though apparently blessed with fewer physical advantages, contain a noble race, and are evidently reserved for a lofty destination. Everything there is in proper keeping for the development of the combined physical and mental encn-gies of man. There, are to be found, at once the hardihood of character which conquers dilliculty ; the severity of climate which stimu- lates exertion ; the natural advantages which reward enterprise. Nature has marked out this country for exalted destinies." And yet the Canadian mind has not, till recently, been exposed to circumstances requiring the highest attributes of mind — for, till recently, the struggle — the attrition — has not been of mind against mind ; but of mind and body, and even of life itself, against the natural principle in its 246 aggreg-ato plu'iiomcnon, as observed in nature iu this new world. Pothier truly observes : — '' II on est de I'esprit eomme du corps, faute de I'exercise qui lui est propre, il perd I'usage de ces i'ac'ultes qui s'eugourdissent dans I'in- activit6." It may be admitted, as a giuieral principle, that old established societies are alone prolific in philoso- phy and criticism (" les vielles so(Uetes seulcs sont lecondes en philosophie ot en criti([ue") ; though solitude in their midst is indispensible ibr literary pursuits, and without it no considerable work has yc't been composed. But solitude in the midst ol" refinement is reserved in Canada ibr future generations, when weatlh shall have secured leisure, and relinement opportunity. There is dan- ger, however, that as the civil life becomes reiined, and the political life developes and assumes shape, and man builds cities and calls the places after his name, " the moral life," as Alison believes, " may become weaker, ancestral virtues decay, and even the sanction of rcjligiou be less regarded," — changes, undesirable as they may l>e, are already to be noticed in the chrysalid form of Cana- dian society scarcely developed from the stage which preceded it. It is impossible, as yet, to treat of the Canadian mind otherwise than as we observe it in the French-Canadian people. The less imaginative and more serious Teutonic Canadian is yet so recent — and still partakes so com- I)letely of his European progenitor, from whom he is continually receiving new ac(?essions — that the shades of difference are not sufficiently marked to enable us to delineate them clearly. Here and there, however, among the descendants of the earlier settlers, we notice a depar- ture from the original standard — not in the voice alone^ nor in the general physique ; and not alone in that preter- naturally developed individuality and self-reliance which are so marked ; but even in the subtler qualities of mind. So far, it would here seem, the stern realities of life are not favourable to the development of poetic qr.alities. 24 Nor arc they more fiivourable in the adjoining- ^^iiiou. In the Aminican mind, as exemplified in the best writers, we may admire a happy facility of expression — a mature, ripe, solid, and saj^acious reasoning ; — a fresh- ness and originality in representation ; but there is, at the same time, an almost entire absence of poetie imagination. The earliest writers display a style which is characterized by ('xtreme simplicity, but, at the sami^ time, an almost total absence of imagination idealized. Franklin's writings exhibit as little power of imagination as do those of "Washington, Jeiferson or Quii\cy Adams. Prescott and Washingtoi) Irving, in our day, have exhibited a few bril- liant flashes of imagination ; but they are not racy of the soil, and might have been struck with equal vraisemblance in London, Paris, Dublin, Moscow or Madrid ; and but for Longfellow and Cooper, imagination in the American mind might be said to have rested mute in the presence of forests of magnificent grandeur, and peopled with an infinite va- riety of animals ; lakes and rivers of surpassing size and interest ; cataracts of indescribable beauty and magnitude ; and an indigenous people, coeval with the forests, and now rapidly disappearing with the trees that gave them shelter, and the wilde that gave them food. Nor is language want- ing to give expression to that sentiment, unless, indeed, a more perfect language, and a higher order of poetry are required to its embodiment. =^ The poets of Canada, unlike those of other countries, often dwell less on the climatic features and the beauties of a physical organization than on trifling incidents of political or social life. * Dr. Faust, writer of a sketcl; of John Howard Payne, author of " Houie, Sweet Hume," .says ; — " Of all the songs endeared to us by early and funiiliar asso(;iation, there i.s not one that Americans can claim exclusively except this. Tender old ballads Ijy the score we borrow from the Irish, Scotch, English and German, but of our own tiiere is but one." Of Canada, in tiiis re.spect, thanks to Cremazie, Ijemay, Frechette, etc., much more could be said. 24Y It may be questioned if the present stale of Canadian soeiety is iavourable to the (creation or the fostering of genius.^ Poetical genius derives no advantage from the sur- rounding civilization or from acquired learning. Macau- lay thought that, as " civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines"; and that a " great poem produced in a civilized age is the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius." French writers are always ingenious in theory, and W. Philaiste Chasles is not an exception. " semblerait," says he, " que le climat de TAmerique Septentrionale eut deja exerce sur les fills des puritains une action qui les approcherait des anciens habitants des forets Americaines. La predilection pour les grandes images et les vastes metaphores I'annonce de la vie errante ; la froideur dans les relations entre les deux sexes, froideur melee de dig- nite, semblent des caracteres empruntes aux aborigenes, soit que la temperature ait modilie la race Anglo-8axonne, ou, que I'example des peaux rouges ait ete contagieux. Dans les romans les plus remarquables de Cooper, le sauvage rouge et le squatter se touchent, ou plutot se con- fondent." He who can live, eat, drink, sleep anywhere, becomes attached rather to the sky — his canopy at all times. Here, however, the fireside and its attractions and accompani- ments are, as it were, the altar of the Canadian's devo- tions ; and by a deprivation of these he loses the incentive * Sir Cusack P. Rooney published in Saunders^ News Letter (July 16th, 1883,) a very pretty appeal to his countrymen to take up tlieir abode in Canada — and iicld out, among other inducements, tlie following : — "I am assured," he 8ay.s, "that Irishmen niaive better lumbermen than tlie natives of any otlier country ; for it ap^jears that the good and abuu' lant food they begin eating from the moment they arrive, expands not only the muscular frame, hut also tum iNiELLiX'r." As lumbermen live chiefly on pork, with peas and bread, it would be interesting to know to wliich Sir Cusack attri- butes this poiver of " expanding the intellect." The theory is a novel one, truly. 248 to much that is good. The titles to somti of the most iiito- resting p(!riodiciils of the {'ouiitry are illustrations: " Le Foyer Canadien," " Los Soirees Canadieuues," " La Revue Cauadieune," and others, recording many home scenes which linger in the memories of the i)eople. It is this lircside inlluence which has created in the French-Canadian woman, esi)ecially, those qualities of mind as well as of heart, which eminiMitly lit her for the manag-emcnit of her numerous household duties, including, sometimes without his knowledge ; sometimes perhaps with his entire assent ; hut commonly to his advantage, him who is nominally the head of the household. I ])elieve I am not wrong in stating, what has been noticed by many observers, that Canadian women, of the humbler classes, are, as a general ruh*, more intelligent than the men. It is so likewise among the aborigine 's. In the extreme north, Kae f(nind that women alone could draw a chart that was at all intelligible to him ; and that circumstance induced him to state : '' The women, as is usual (at least among the Esquimaux), was much the more intelligent of the two." The information obtained from the Esquimaux was usually correct, but most correct was that furnished by the women. It was from the women Dease and Simpson procured sketches of a country through which they intended to pass. The women could draw bays and inlets ; mark the position of rivers ; and place, with great accuracy, the projections and indentations on the coast. Among the habitants, I have often noticed her supe- riority to th(^ men in intelligence. The latter do the work ; the former the menage — which means all that per- tains to the management of the house, and its occupants, and its surroundings, including its nominal head. It is only when educated that the husband attains his rightful supremacy. This remark applies in a more especial manner to the habitant. 249 In buying and solliii<:^. a habUanl would not think him- solf sal'o to outer a notary's office unaccompanied by his wife; and those j^entlemon of the pen tell me the woman, especially the Norman woman, is readiest in detecting a clause or sentence which might be made to bear a con- struction at variance with her interests. 8he sees it at once ; he, after it is pointed out to him. But her whole unmarried life — usually, indeed, short — is probationary of her moral trial of after married life. While the Canadian maiden seems not to guide, nor to think of, or for herself when her parent is near to counsel her (for of the French-Canadian girl it may generally be said: her voice is seldom raised in her mother's presence), to the same maiden, when a wife, there is, at once, on the part of the husband, an " absolute yielding of obedient devotion." He is cont(!nt, and wise is he, if content, to receive from her, however young, and to continue to her, however old, not only the encouragement, the praise, and the reward of all toil ; but so far as any choice is open, or any question diffimilt of decision, the direc^tion of all toil. Her gentle counsel he can ever trust. This is a stat«^ of society which finds no need, no room for woman's rights — a state, as Ruskin remarks, " observable in Christian ages which have been remarkable for their purity or pro- gress." The Canadian woman rules without seeming to rule. She orders, arranges, decides, without vain pedantry or awkward ostentation. She good-humouredly permits man mart to talk, and even to boast, if he chooses, while she is silently knitting or sewing, for she is never idle ; but a prompt, quick, ready and opportune remark, kindly given, kindly received, shows an intellect for " sweet ordering, arrangement, and decision." Surely Ruskin must have had her in his mind when he wrote : " The stars only may be over her head, the glow-worm in the night-rold grass may be the only fire at her feet, but home is yet wherever she is ; it stretches far round her, better than ceiled with o 260 cedar, or paiiitod with vormilioi), shedding its groat light far, lor tho9(^ who elso won; homi^-lcss." But it mUvM. bo admittod this soemiugly happy rolatiou- ship of husband and wifo has often a tendency to make the men loss generous, less public-spirited, less interested in thii v/elfare of those beyond the little home circle : for as the wife is, in the last instance, the; chanct'llor of the joint exchequer, — the dispenser of what is ncicessary for the wants of the family, — many an act of spontaneous hiM-oism, of self-negation, of g(!nerosity, or of self-sacrifice on the part of the husband, when it is to assume the form of expenditure, is shorn of its proportions by her whose thoughts go not beyond the children and their actual or possible requirements. Art. — It would not be saying too much to observe that, in art, ('anada, at the present moment, is in advance of Grreat Britain at the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds, v^rheu national incapacity for painting, as Beechey observed, seemed " peculiar to the artists of the soil ;" and where cli- matic and social conditions were then invoked to explain the cirsi'umstances, mentioned by his biographer, that Great Britain was deeply indebted to foreigners for what it had witnessed of genuine art. A national at ademy of painting, su(^h as we have now in Canada, w^ould, at the period referred to, have been impossible, before the example of a Flaxman or a Reynolds showed a national want, and raised native artists to action. Yet little more than a hundred years have gone by since then, when, on the one hand, England was already Old England ; and, on the other, the present chief seat of our Canadian Academy, with its magnificent structures, scarcely contained a habi- tation save that constructed by the beaver for its winter home. We have already, in Canada, a well-marked taste for art, which gives evidence of the advantage of being- recruited from the land of those " foreigners " to which Great Britain was formerly, and still is, so largely, in- 261 debt 0(1 ; and Irom Great IJritaiii itsell' which shows snch snbHtuiitial aud intolligont appreciation ol" art. It is yet too soon to speak of a Canadian school oi' art, as we are accustonu'd to speak of a Flemish or a Spanish school ; but with a taste for art lary-ely perinejitin^- the masses of the (Canadian people, and with surroundings in nature so grand and so majestic, art will doubtless be adv^anced, and the votaries to it well countenanced. KDUOATION OF YOUTH. I have elsewhere recorded the superior physique of the new-born infant in Canada ; and the subsequent more rapid development of his muscailar system. It is un- dovibted th«' brain and nervous system here participate iu that early and rapid growth. It has often been a ([uestion if the course of study in youth, and the severe mental labour to which young' persons are here subjected in certain states of society, do not too hurriedly develop mental activity, ere the nour- ishment from within would warrant any considerable drain upon the growing brain tissue.. Of young America thus nourished, and to a (certain extent of young Canada, it may not always be said that the maturity of intelligence is as the; sun, more brilliant, more majestic at his decline than at hi," rise. Dull heavy children are rare amongst us, and still rarer among our American neighbours. But while American children are mu<;h, very much brighter and smarter than children of the same age in any part of Europt% how is it at sixty ? Medi<.'al writers, or such among thom as recog- nize the fact " that mental phenomena are manifestations of life," — and their laws are derivatives of the laws of life, — have lately been dt^iouncing the forcing process to which children are subjected in our public schools — a system vicious beyond expression, aud carried on in seemingly entire ignorance of the fact that the growing mind, the nascent intelligence, are connected with a nervous 262 mechanism, and must be considered " in conn^-ction with the organisLi by which it is conditioned ;" for all impres- sions made upon the brain, and all actions occurring within it, are accompanied by physical changes. Thought usually goes on so quietly, and seems so far removed from bodily activity, that we are betrayed into the notion that it is carried on in a region of pure spirit ; but this is far from being the truth. The changes of states of consciousness, the course of thought, and all processes of the understanding, are carried on by a constant succession of nerve excitements and nerve discharges The brain is not a chaos of parts thrown, together at random ; it consists of hundreds of millions of cells and iibres, organized into symmetrical order, so as to produ(!e innumerable connections, crossings, and junctures of exquisite delicacy. In general terms it may be said that the mind of the child is connec^ted with a nervous mechanism, indescrib- ably delicate in structure, which controls and gov?i'us all ti^e other functions of the material body as well. Mind, therefore, cannot be separated from the organism by which it is conditioned ; and every emanation or action of the mind, or operation of the understanding, is caused, or accompanied, or followed by certain physical changes, — call them what wo may — a succession of nerve excitement, of nerve discharge, of nerve waste. For many years, but more particularly during my occu- pation of the mayoralty of the city, present, as I often was, at school examinations, I was amazed at the extravagant expectations formed by parents, and assented to, grudg- ingly, I have no doubt, by teachers ; and to satisfy which the mental powers — memory, intellect, even — were often in a state of undue tension. Physicians can tell what often follows that condition. The carefully hMturing process is neglected ; and a smartness, — a quickness in answering is encouraged. The examinations on these 253 occasions are necessarily short, and the answers to ques- tions must be rapid. But what can be more absurd than to expect that all the children in a form shall give precisely the same answers, and in "the same terms at precisely the same instant of time." "No system of edu- cation," says Dr. Whewell. " which is governed entirely or even mainly by examinations, occupying- short times with long intervening intervals, can ever be otherwise than rudimental discipline. Intellectual education re- quires that the mind should bo habitually employed in the acquisition of knowledge, with a certain considerable degree of clear insight and independent activity." Is it not the experience of every grown person who has been subjected to the cramminii; process, as this must be called, that at the end there is disappointment. And who does not recognize with Bain that the " system of cram- ming is a scheme for making temporary acquisitions, regardless of the endm'ance of them. Excitable brains, that can command a very great ( oncentration of force upon a subject, will be proportionately improved for the time being. By drawing upon the strength of the future, we are able to fix temporarily a great variety of impres- sions during the exaltation of cerebral power that the excitement gives. TLe occasion past, the brain must lie idle for a corresponding length of time, while a large portion of the excited impressions will gradually perish away." This system is exceedingly unfavourable to permanent atYjuisitions. For these the brain should ])e carefully hus- banded, and temporarily drawn upon. Every period of undvic excitement and feverish susceptibility is a time of great waste for the plastic energy of the mind." Accord- ii to much of our school system there is little mental eccnomy observa])le, and brain power is wasted as if the supply were not limited. As, therefore, the child has but a limited amount of brain power, it should be apparent 254 that the useless waste of it should be guarded against with every possible care. As a certain amount of power is requisite for the crea- tion or manifestation of all phenomena, to economize, direct, govern and husband that power is a necessity of a healthy existence. It is stated by Lord Brougham, and I believe it lirmly, that a child acquires more real know- ledge in the iirst two years of his observant life than in the whole subsi!quiuit period of his existence. It follows that the brain power utilized for the purpose must be far in excess of what youth, or adult, consumes in any effort he may make when the i)henomena taking place around him have already begun to be understood ; and not when thought is being aroused, and the inind is being led out, as it were, into a due appreciation of those phenomena. How unfair, therefore, to draw still more largely upon that already rapidly disintegrating brain tissue, and relieve it unnecessarily of its t-onstituents when " the whole plastic power of the brain is devoted to the storing up of perceptions .... when curiosity is freshest, and the perceptions keenest, and memory most impressi- ble, before the reflective powers have attained maturity." " How the mind is teased and pleased, bewildered and weakened, fatigued and tormented, while the heart is unconsciously experiencing a process by which its honest sensibilities are blunted, and its aflections disordered, if not al)solutely vitiated, thousands and tens of thousands of the loveliest and most pitiable of our fair countrywo- men can tell." And with special referen(^e to the gentler sex, — in the education of which all the hopes of the future depend, — let me cite to you the words of an observant writer in the United ^States (Prof Hodge, of the University of Pennsyl- vania,) on this subject: — "The nervous temperament of women of the present age has been greatly developed by the wonderful increase of the indulgences and luxuries of 266 modern life. The physical edncation of the girl has been most carelessly and thoughtlessly disregarded; while every stimulus has been applied to procure a precocious development of the mind, the heart, and the passions. The organi<' life has been neglected, while the animal has been unduly and too rapidly excited." Ikit this question is of so extensive a nature that I can do no more than barely allude to it here. Dr. II. Howard and Dr. Clark, the medical superintendents of Longuo Pointe and Toronto asylums, and Dr. G-rant, of Ottawa, have written on this subject, and I direct over-ambitious parents to the papers of these gentlemen. I shall, however, state that the conservative influence which parents, and particularly mothers, throw around their children, is, in certain classes of society, too early laid aside ; and the child is too early permitted to select its own pabulum, to draw from what soil it pleases, the aliment for its jj-oung mind. In this climate, where intel- lect seems to outstrip the body in the quick race to matu- rity, jealousy, pride, ambition and passion are too often aroused to make the child superior to its years and, at the same time, superior to other children of like years- And in this way attention is directed to the intelligence more than to tho heart. When this sel(i.shness is awak- ened too early, and therefore too suddenly , and when it becomes, as it too often does, the chief incentive to study, nervous impressibility is unduly stimulated There is little danger that parental, and more particularly mater- nal, tenderness will continue long enough to interpose itself between the child and the stern realities of life to enervate the character or to rob it of its manliness, its shrewdness, its smartness, its self-assertion — angularities ill-befitting the little child in which we should more willingly look lor mildness, gentleness, reserve and trust. It is asserted, and not without reason, that the rela- tively restricted mental action of youth in Europe is 256 favourable to a tardy, and, therefore, to a more lasting development of mind in manhood. In Canada the youth- ful mind occupies an intermediate position between the wisely slow of Europe and the preternaturally forced intelligence of the United States, with every year, how- ever, on our part, a steadily increasing tendency to the latter. Is it desirable ? I cannot now answer in the aifirmative. It may seem somewhat out of place to do more than to allude to this faulty system of school, home and society education ; but the question must be considered in any essay on our climate, and on its influence on our minds and bodies. CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS. v. To return, however, to the white occupier of the soil — a word as to some of their characteristics : While the French-Canadian resembles au fond the European progenitor, the character has been moulded here by circumstances not alone climatal. It is asserted that the French-Canadian is less iiilluen(;ed by sentiment and more by reason than his European i^ousin. Even the proverbial levity which is supposed to be the national characteristic of the French, yields somewhat to a sobering influence which this climate exerts. He is here less vola- tile ; less variable ill his tastes; less subject to his pas- sions ; less easily roused ; less easily subdued ; and for those reasons less open to error, and even to a truth with which he was not already somewhat familiar. While a Frenchman listens with mouth and eyes as well as ears ; the Canadian shrugs his shoulders at what he has diffi- culty in believing or understanding — a most expressive pantomime which politely implies distrust, or disbelief, or indifference. It might, rive him of that colour which is now the negro's chief characteristic. But this may appear speculative, and the fewness of numbers may render any extended allusion to what may possess only scientific interest unnecessary, as well as to that other problem so often discussed, yet so far from solution — whether or not he will ever be able to take a leading position when edu- cated. As in all tropical countries the whites must natu- rally be in the minority, and can exist only in the capacity of masters, in colder regions he must ever continue to be supreme in numbers and in influence. The absorption and final assimilation of nationalities "268 is a slow and dillicult process at all times — here, oA'eu, when effected by a more civilized a.:d numerically supe- rior race ; but it is much slower and more dillicult when cfFe(!ted by that brute ascendancy which numbers will alone give. It may ])e safely asserted, however, that nationalities which in l^lurope are distinct, here lose their national angularities, and dovetail mor(; readily into eai^h other, like the different colours and shades and gradations of colour blend on the artist's palette and foim a new tint, unlike any of the constituents. To return, however, to the question proposed a moment ago, and partially answered in the foregoing quotation : which element in the heterogene people now levelling our forests or building our cities^ will be the preponderating one, or will stamp most indelibly the issue of the present stock ? I shall answer : It will no doubt be much after the fashion des(^ribed by Darwinf in the struggle for existence : — " If several varieties of wheat be sown together, and the mixed seeds be resown, some of the varieties which best suit the soil and climate, or are naturally the most fertile, will beat the others, and so yield more seed, and will consequently, in 'a few years, quite supplant the other varieties." * It has been observed with what a swelling tide the f'oltic raoe.s are pouring into the northern cities of the United States, while the residents of the larger cities— as New York and Boston— are moving westward. Tiio latter city is growing every year more Celtic — more Irish — until now of every four births in Boston only one is American. This has induced a distinguished English writer to observe that all great American towns will soon bo Celtic, while the country will continue more Saxon. But this is a problem requiring time for a solution. It is imagined by the believers in the .listinction of classes, with money as the great leveller, that the distinction extends, but not so markedly, to nationalities— and who assert that the Scotch, Irish, German and (Init to a less extent) the French are adding to the Americanized Anglo-Saxon mass. t From ray allusion to this ingenious writer, it is not to be supix)sed that I favour that theory of development which again in lato years has received 80 much attention in the scientific world. 264 Whoro a{lmixtur(3 takos placo botweon the aborioin(\s and European stock, tho qualities whioh arc most marked in either parent, and whieh are most generally transmit- ted, seem to be those which are most likely to be service- able. In eastern Canada, as already observed, union has taken place chielly between the Iroqiiois women and tho French-Canadian, and tht^ taciturnity of the rod man has been warmt'd up and softened by the admixture. The half-brccMl here displays a levity and lightheartedness characteristic of th(! children of Old France — with, it must be added, tin; sometime uncontrollable passions of the Indian. In the North-West, on the other hand, the European servants of the Hudson's Bay service, who are chiefly North Britons, have united with Cree and Saul- teaux women, who have transmitted many of the more marked qualities of their sires, and chiefly the " plod- ding-, careful disposition of the Scot " — a quality in no way derived from the red man, whoso passion for des- troying every living thing that he meets is so dcoply implanted within him, that it " costs him a pang to pass bird, beast or fish without an effort to destroy it, whether he stands in need of it or not."=^ We have seen the same influence controlling the size, shape, qualities and permanence of distribution of the Canadian horse. A couple of centuries ago the Norman horse was brought to these shores. Since then the Suffolk Punch, Cob, English and American racer, Ara- bian pony, Clydesdale draught horse, etc., have been introduced ; but, like the weaker kinds of wheat which Darwin mentions, they merge into, are absorbed and are ultimately lost in the thick-necked, rugged-maned, pow- erful and enduring Norman, constituting a distinct type which we now term " Canadian," aud which still exem- * How frequently, amontr the North American Indians, are d&ath.s from starvation due to u wholesalo shiuglitor of animals, destroyed in mere wantonness. \ 266 plifies the moro marked (ihuracteristics of its sires. On considering these and analagous phenomena we can hardly avoid concluding, with Dr. Ri