Comparative view of the Climate with the Atlantic States. Diseases.—Means of preserving health.

Climate, &c. In a country of such vast extent, through 15° of latitude, the climate must necessarily be various. Louisiana, Mississippi and the lower half of Arkansas, lie between the latitudes of 30° and 35°, and correspond with Georgia and South Carolina. Their difference of climate is not material. The northern half of Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, lie west from North Carolina and the southern portion of Virginia. The climate varies from those states only as they are less elevated than the mountainous parts of Virginia and Carolina. Hence, the emigrant from the southern Atlantic states, unless he comes from a mountainous region, will experience no great change of climate, by emigrating to the Lower Mississippi Valley. Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, lie parallel with the northern half of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and so much of New York and New England as lies south of the 42° of north latitude. But several circumstances combine to produce variations in the climate.

1. Much of those Atlantic states are hilly, and in many parts mountainous, some of which are 2 and 3000 feet above the level of the ocean. The parallel western states have no mountains, and are not proportionably hilly.

2. The Atlantic states border on the ocean on the east, and feel the influence of the cold, damp winds from the northeast and east. Their rains are more copious and their snows deeper. The northern portions of the West, equally with New York and Vermont, are affected with the influence of the lakes, though not to the same extent.

5. "The courses of rivers, by changing in some degree the direction of the winds, exert an influence on the climate. In the Atlantic states, from New England to North Carolina, the rivers run more or less to the southeast, and increase the winds which blow from the northwest, while the great bed of the Mississippi exerts an equal influence in augmenting the number and steadiness of the winds which blow over it from the southwest; and there is another cause of difference in climate, chiefly perceptible, first, in the temperature, which, if no counteracting cause existed, they would raise in the west considerably above that of corresponding latitudes in the east; and, secondly, in the moisture of the two regions, which is generally greater west than east of the mountains, when the southwest wind prevails; as, much of the water with which it comes charged from the Gulf of Mexico, is deposited before it reaches the country east of the Alleghanies."—Dr. Drake.

It is an error that our climate is more variable, or the summers materially hotter, than in a correspondent latitude in the Atlantic states. "The New Englander and New Yorker north of the mountains of West Point, should bear in mind that his migration is not to the West but South West; and as necessarily brings him into a warmer climate, as when he seeks the shores of the Delaware, Potomac, or James' River."

The settlers from Virginia to Kentucky, or those from Maryland and Pennsylvania to Ohio, or further west, have never complained of hotter summers than they had found in the land from whence they came.

To institute a comparative estimate of temperature between the east and the west, we must observe: first, the thermometer; and, secondly, the flowering of trees, the putting forth of vegetation, and the ripening of fruits and grain in correspondent latitudes. This has not usually been done. Philadelphia and Cincinnati approach nearer to the same parallel, than any other places where such observations have been made. Cincinnati, however, is about 50' south of Philadelphia. The following remarks are from Dr. Daniel Drake of Cincinnati, to whose pen the west is much indebted.

"From a series of daily observations in Cincinnati or its vicinity, for eight consecutive years, the mean annual temperature has been ascertained to be 54 degrees and a quarter. Dr. Rush states the mean temperature of Philadelphia at 52 degrees and a half; Dr. Coxe, from six years' observations, at 54° and a sixth; and Mr. Legaux, from seventeen years' observations, at Spring Mill, a few miles out of the city, at 53° and a third; the mean term of which results, 53° and a third, is but the fraction of a degree lower than the mean heat of Cincinnati, and actually less than should be afforded by the difference of latitude.

"A reference to the temperatures of summer and winter, will give nearly the same results. From nine years' observations, (three at Spring Mill, by Mr. Legaux, and six in Philadelphia, by Dr. Coxe,) the mean summer heat of that part of Pennsylvania, appears to be 76 degrees and six-tenths. The mean summer heat at Cincinnati, for an equal number of years, was 74 degrees and four-tenths. The average number of days in which the thermometer rose to 90 degrees or upwards, during the same period, was fourteen each summer; and the greatest elevation observed was 98 degrees: all of which would bear an almost exact comparison with similar observations in Pennsylvania. Mr. Legaux states the most intense cold, at Spring Mill, from 1787 to 1806, to have been 17 and five-tenths degrees below cipher,—while within the same period it was 18° at Cincinnati. The average of extreme cold for several years, as observed by Mr. Legaux, was one and eight-tenths of a degree below cipher:—the same average at Cincinnati, was two degrees below. From all which we may conclude, that the banks of the Delaware and Ohio, in the same latitudes, have nearly the same temperature."

The state of Illinois, extending as it does through five and a half degrees of latitude, has considerable variation in its climate. It has no mountains, and though undulating, it cannot be called hilly. Its extensive prairies, and level surface, give greater scope to the winds, especially in winter. In the southern part of the State, during the three winter months, snow frequently falls, but seldom lies long. In the northern part, the winters are as cold, but not so much snow falls, as in the same latitudes in the Atlantic States.

The Mississippi at St. Louis is frequently frozen over, and is crossed on the ice, and occasionally for several weeks. The hot season is longer, though not more intense, than occasionally for a day or two in New England.

During the years 1817-18-19, the Rev. Mr. Giddings, at St. Louis, made a series of observations upon Fahrenheit's thermometer.

The mean of these results is about fifty-six degrees and a quarter.

The mean temperature of each month during the above years, is as follows:

The mean temperature of the different seasons is as follows:

Winter, 34.53—Spring, 54.74—Summer, 74.34—Autumn, 60.77.

The greatest extremes of heat and cold during my residence of eighteen years, in the vicinity of St. Louis, is as follows:

Greatest heat in July 1820, and July 1833, 100 degrees. Greatest cold January 3d, 1834, 18 degrees below zero,—February 8th, 1835, 22 degrees below zero.

The foregoing facts will doubtless apply to about one half of Illinois. This climate also is subject to sudden changes from heat to cold; from wet to dry, especially from November to May. The heat of the summer below the 40° of latitude is more enervating, and the system becomes more easily debilitated than in the bracing atmosphere of a more northerly region.

At Marietta, Ohio, in lat. 39° 25' N. and at the junction of the Muskingum river with the Ohio, the mean temperature for 1834, was 52 degrees, four-tenths; highest in August, 95 degrees,—lowest, January, at zero. Fair days 225,—cloudy days 110.

At Nashville, Tenn. 1834, the mean temperature was 59 degrees and seventy-six-hundredths; maximum 97, minimum 4 above zero. The summer temperature of this place never reaches 100°. On January 26th, 1832, 18 degrees below zero. February 8th, 1835, 10° below zero.

The putting forth of vegetation in the spring furnishes some evidence of the character of the climate of any country, though by no means entirely accurate. Other causes combine to advance or retard vegetation. A wet or dry season, or a few days of heat or cold at a particular crisis, will produce material changes.

The following table is constructed from memoranda made at the various dates given, near the latitude of St. Louis, which is computed at 38° 30'. The observations of 1819 were made at St. Charles and vicinity, in the state of Missouri. Those of 1820, in St. Louis county, 17 miles N. W. from the city of St. Louis. The remainder at Rock Spring, Illinois, 18 miles east from St. Louis. It will be perceived, the years are not consecutive. In 1826, the writer was absent to the eastern states, and for 1828, his notes were too imperfect to answer the purpose.

In the columns showing the times of the first snows, and the first and last frosts in the season, a little explanation may be necessary. A "light" snow means merely enough to whiten the earth, and which usually disappears in a few hours.

Many of the frosts recorded "light" were not severe enough to kill ordinary vegetation.

table continued

These observations, upon a comparison with the same parallels of latitude in the eastern states, show that there is no material difference of climate between the two sections of our country, except that produced by local causes, as mountainous districts, contiguity to the ocean, &c.

A similar error has existed in relation to sudden and extreme changes of weather in the West. People who emigrate to a new country have their curiosity awakened, and perhaps for the first time in their lives become quite observing of such changes. From habitually observing the weather the impression is produced on their minds that there is a marked difference in this climate. Dr. Rush declares that there is but one steady trait in the character of the climate of Pennsylvania—and that is, it is uniformly variable, and he asserts that he has known the thermometer fall 20° in one hour and a half. March 26-27, 1818, the thermometer in St. Louis, fell 41° in 30 hours—from 83° to 42°. I have no record or recollection of a more sudden change in 18 years. Mr. Legaux saw it fall in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 47° in 24 hours, and Dr. Drake states that this is five degrees more than any impression ever observed in Cincinnati, in the same length of time. Emigrants from New England and the northern part of New York state, must not expect to find the same climate in the West, at 38 or 40 degrees; but let them remove to the same parallel of latitude in the West, to Wisconsin, or the northern part of Illinois, and they will probably find a climate far more uniform than the land of their birth.

Prevailing winds modify and affect the climate of every country. Southwestwardly winds prevail along the Mississippi Valley. The following tabular view of observations made at Cincinnati, by Dr. D. Drake, for six succeeding years, with so few omissions, that they amount to 4200, will give further illustrations of this subject. They have been brought from eight points of the compass.

The results of my own observations, made for twelve years, with the exception of 1826, and with some irregularity, from travelling in different parts of Missouri and Illinois during the time, do not vary in any material degree from the above table, excepting fewer east and northeast winds.

Dr. Drake has given a table, setting forth the results of 4268 observations on the state of the weather at Cincinnati, from which it will be perceived that of the 365 days in a year, about 176 will be fair, 105 cloudy, and 84 variable.

Dr. L. C. Beck made similar observations at St. Louis during the year 1820, which produced the result of 245 clear days, and cloudy, including variable days, 110.

The following table shows the condition of the weather in each month of a mean year, for the above period.

There would be some variations from the foregoing table in a series of observations in the country bordering upon the Upper Mississippi and Missouri. The weather in the states of Ohio and Kentucky, is doubtless more or less affected in autumn by the rains that fall on the Alleghany mountains, and the rise of the Ohio and its tributaries. So the weather in the months of April, May and June in Missouri, is affected by the spring floods of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

The following table is constructed from a series of observations made at the Military posts in the West, by the Surgeons of the U. S. Army, for four years:—1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825. [See American Almanac for 1834, p. 81.]

table continued

The times of observation at the above posts were 7 A. M., and 2 and 9, P. M. The mean of each month was deduced from 90 observations, and of each year from 1095 observations. The reader, who is desirous of following up this comparative view of the climate between the Atlantic states and the Valley of the Mississippi, can compare the observations recorded in these tables, with similar observations made in the same parallels of latitude. He will find the climate of the West quite as uniform, and the weather as little variable as in the Atlantic states.Diseases,—Means of preserving health, &c. Of the Lower Valley, I shall say but very little on this subject. Dr. Drake observes, "The diseases of this portion of the Great Valley are few, and prevail chiefly in summer and autumn. They are the offspring of the combined action of intense heat and marsh exhalation." They are generally remittent and intermittent bilious fevers. Emigrants most generally undergo a seasoning, or become acclimated. Many persons, however, from the northern and middle states, and from Europe, enjoy health. In sickly situations these fevers are apt to return, and often prove fatal. They frequently enfeeble the constitution, and produce chronic inflammation of the liver, enlargement of the spleen, or terminate in jaundice or dropsy, and disorder the digestive organs. When persons find themselves subject to repeated attacks, the only safe resource is an annual migration to a more northern climate during the summer. Many families from New Orleans, and other exposed situations, retire to the pine barrens of Louisiana, in the hot and sickly season, where limpid streams, flowing over a pebbly bed, and a terebinthine atmosphere are enjoyed. Eight months of the year, are pleasant and healthy in the Lower Mississippi Valley.

The advice of Dr. Drake is, that "Those who migrate from a colder climate to the southern Mississippi states, should observe the following directions: First—To arrive there in autumn, instead of spring or summer. Second—If practicable, to spend the hottest part of the first two or three years, in a higher latitude. Third—To select the healthiest situations. Fourth—To live temperately. Fifth—To preserve a regular habit. Lastly—To avoid the heat of the sun from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, and above all the night air. By a strict attention to these rules, many would escape the diseases of the climate, who annually sink under its baleful influence."

Those states and territories to which this work is intended more immediately as a Guide, do not differ very materially in salubrity. The same general features are found in each. There is but little diversity in climate,—their geological and physical structure coincide, and the experience of years shows that there is no great difference. Where autumnal fevers are common they are usually of similar character. The same causes for disease exist in Ohio as in Missouri, in Michigan as in Illinois, in Kentucky and Tennessee as in Indiana. All these states are much more infested with the maladies which depend on variations of temperature, than the states farther south. All have localities where intermittents and agues are found, and all possess extensive districts of country where health is enjoyed by a very large proportion of emigrants. There is some difference between a heavily timbered and a prairie country, in favor of the latter; other circumstances being equal. Changes favorable to continued health are produced by the settlement and cultivation of any particular portion of country. Of one fact I have long since satisfied my mind, that ordinary fevers are not caused by the use of the water of the West.

Exceptions may be made in some few cases, where a vein of water is impregnated with some deleterious mineral substance. The use of a well, dug in the vicinity of a coal bed in Illinois, was supposed to have caused sickness in a family for two seasons. Any offensive property in water is readily detected by the taste. Cool, refreshing water is a great preservative of health. It is common for families, (who are too indifferent to their comfort to dig a well,) to use the tepid, muddy water of the small streams in the frontier states, during the summer, or to dig a shallow well and wall it with timber, which soon imparts an offensive taste to the water. Water of excellent quality may be found in springs, or by digging from 20 to 30 feet, throughout the western states. Most of the water thus obtained is hard water, from its limestone qualities, but it is most unquestionably healthy. Those persons who emigrate from a region of sandstone, or primitive rock, where water is soft, will find our limestone water to produce a slight affection of the bowels, which will prove more advantageous to health than otherwise, and which will last but a few weeks. Whenever disease prevails in the western states, it may generally be attributed to one or more of the following causes.

1st. Variations of the temperature. This cause, we have already shown, exists to as great extent in the same latitude east of the mountains.

2nd. The rapid decomposition of vegetable matter. In all our rich lands, there are vast quantities of vegetable matter mixed with the soil, or spread over the surface. Extreme hot weather, following especially a season of much rain, before the middle of July, will produce sickness. If the early part of summer be tolerably dry, although a hot season follows, sickness does not generally prevail. The year 1820 was an exception to this rule. It was throughout, a very dry, hot, sickly year through the West; indeed, throughout the world. A wet season, with a moderately cool atmosphere, has proved healthy.

3d. Marsh exhalations. These, combined with heat, will always generate fevers. Indeed, there is probably very little difference in the miasm thrown off from decomposed vegetable matter, and that produced from sluggish streams, standing waters and marshes. These, in the great Valley, abound with decayed vegetable matter. Hence, along the streams which have alluvial bottoms (as low lands upon streams are called in the West,) some of which are annually overflowed, and where the timber and luxuriant vegetable growth are but partially subdued, the inhabitants are liable to fevers, dysenteries and agues. Situations directly under the bluffs adjacent to the bottom lands, that lie upon our large rivers, especially when the vegetation is unsubdued, have proved unhealthy. So have situations at the heads or in the slope of the ravines that put down from the bluffs towards the rivers.

The principal diseases that prevail may be stated as follows. In the winter, and early in the spring, severe colds, inflammation of the lungs and pleurisies are most common. The genuine hereditary consumption of New-England is rare, and families and individuals predisposed to that disease might often be preserved by migration to this Valley. Acute inflammation of the brain, and inflammatory rheumatism are not unusual at that season.

During the summer and autumn, cholera infantum with children in large towns, diarrhoea, cholera morbus, dysentery, intermittent and remittent bilious fevers prevail. The intermittent assumes various forms, and has acquired several names amongst the country people, where it prevails more generally than in large towns. It is called the "chill and fever,"—"ague,"—"dumb ague," &c., according to its form of attack.

The remittent fever is the most formidable of our autumnal diseases, especially when of a highly bilious type. In most seasons, these diseases are easily managed, and yield to a dose or two of medicine. Sore eyes, especially in autumn, is a common complaint in the frontier settlements, and when neglected or improperly managed, have terminated in total blindness.

The "milk sickness," as it is called, occasionally prevails in some localities, some particulars of which will be found in another place. There is a disease that afflicts many frontier people, called by some "sick stomach," by others, "water brash," from its symptoms of sudden nausea, with vomiting, especially after meals.

In 1832, the cholera made its appearance in the West. In many places, its first approach was attended with great mortality, but its second visit to a place has been in a milder and more manageable form. It has visited various parts of the West on each returning season since, especially along the great rivers and about the steamboats. It appears to have changed somewhat the characteristics of our western diseases, and will probably become a modified and manageable disease. Since its visit, our fevers are more congestive, less bile is secreted, and the stomach more affected. The subject will doubtless be noticed by our physicians, and observations made, how far this new disease will become assimilated to the ordinary diseases of the country.

We are satisfied, after a long course of observations, much travelling, and conversing with many hundreds of families with the view of arriving at correct conclusions on these subjects, that there is no such operation as that of emigrants undergoing a seasoning, or becoming acclimated, in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, or the Wisconsin Territory. Nor does it make the least difference from what part of the United States, or Europe, they come, nor whether they arrive here in the spring or autumn. There is an erroneous notion prevailing in some of the Atlantic states on this subject, that should be corrected. When sickness prevails, there is just as much, and it is equally severe, amongst the old settlers, those born in the country, or who migrate from the Carolinas or Georgia, as those who come from the northern states. Families are just as liable to sickness, and are as often attacked for the first time, after residing several years in the country, as at any other time. A large proportion of the families and individuals, who remove from New England to the various parts of the Valley, north of the 37th degree of latitude have no sickness the first year.

The impression has formerly existed abroad, that Illinois is less healthy than other western states. This is entirely erroneous. As in all countries, there are some localities, where the causes that produce sickness exist more than in others. This is not the fact with Illinois in general.

That this state is as healthy as any other western state, can be abundantly supported by facts. Let a candid observer compare the health of the early settlers of New England, with that of the early settlers of the West, and he will find the scale to preponderate in favor of the latter. Unless there is some strange fatality attending Illinois, its population must be more healthy than the early settlers of a timbered region. But in no period of its history have sickness and death triumphed, in any respect equal to what they did two or three years since, in the lake country of New York.

The year 1811, is recorded in the memoirs of the early settlers, as a season of unusual sickness near the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The latter river rose to an unusual height in June, the waters of the small creeks were backed up, and a large surface of luxuriant vegetation was covered and deadened. This was succeeded by hot and dry weather. Bilious and intermittent fevers prevailed extensively. The seasons of 1819, '20, and '21 were usually sickly in Illinois and Missouri. Emigrants, in shoals, had spread over a wide range of country within a year or two preceding. Multitudes were placed under circumstances the most unfavorable to the preservation of health, in new and open cabins of green timber, often using the stagnant water of creeks and ponds, with a luxuriant vegetation around them undergoing decomposition, and all the other evils attendant on the settlement of a new and unbroken country. Under such circumstances, can it be surprising that many were sick, and that many died? The summer of 1820 was the hottest and driest ever known in this country. For weeks in succession, the thermometer, in the shade at St. Louis, was up to 96° for hours in the day. Not a cloud came over the sun, to afford a partial relief from its burning influence. The fevers of that season were unusually rapid, malignant, and unmanageable. Almost every mark of the yellow fever, as laid down in the books, was exhibited in many cases, both in town and country. The bilious fever put on its most malignant type. Black, foetid matter was discharged from the stomach, and by stools. The writer and all his family suffered severely that season. He lived seventeen miles from St. Louis, on the road to St. Charles in Missouri, on a farm. The settlement had been called healthy. The Missouri bottom was one mile distant. Three miles west southwest, was the Creve-coeur lake, a body of water several miles in length and half a mile in width, connected by an outlet with the Missouri river. The water of this lake was entirely stagnant, covered with a thick scum, and sent forth a noisome smell. Fish in it died. My oldest son, a robust youth of ten years of age, and my brother-in-law, a hale and stout young man, sickened and died the first week in October. I was attacked the 5th day of July, came as near dying as a person could and recover. All my children were sick. While convalescent, in September, I took a long journey to Cape Girardeau country, 120 miles south, and back through the lead mine country to the Missouri river, 60 miles west of St. Louis, and in all the route found that sickness had prevailed to the same extent.

At Vincennes and other parts of Indiana, disease triumphed. The country around Vincennes, on the east side of the Wabash, is a sandy plain. A gentleman who escaped the ravages of fever in that place, and who was much engaged in nursing the sick and consoling the dying, stated to me that nothing was so disheartening as the cloudless sky and burning sun that continued unchanged for weeks in succession. Mortality prevailed to a great extent along the banks of the Wabash. Hindostan, a town on the east fork of White river, 38 miles from Vincennes on the road to Louisville, was begun the preceding year. Seventy or eighty families had crowded in at the commencement of the year 1820. The heavy timber of poplar, (whitewood) oak and beech, had been cut down, the brush burned, and the logs left on the ground. By June the bark was loosened, an intolerable stench proceeded from the timber,—sickness followed, and about two thirds of the population died! And yet, to look about the place, there is no local cause that would indicate sickness. In the summer of 1821, sickness prevailed very extensively, but in a much milder form. Its type was intermittent, and usually yielded to ordinary remedies. During that year the number of deaths in St. Louis was 136—the population 5000. At least one third of that number were strangers and transient persons, who either arrived sick, or were taken sick within two or three days after arrival. St. Louis had then no police regulations—the streets were filthy in the extreme—and the population were crowded into every hole and corner. This was the most sickly and dying season St. Louis ever knew, except when the cholera prevailed in October, 1832.

The same years (1820-21) were noted for unusual sickness throughout the United States, and indeed the whole world. The bilious fever prevailed in the hilly and mountainous districts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and even among the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Very little general sickness (except cholera in 1832-'33) prevailed in 1830, '31, '32, or '33. In 1834, congestive fever, and dysentery, with some of the symptoms of cholera, existed in many places in the West, though not extensively fatal. In the month of June, were frequent sudden showers in Illinois and Missouri, with intervals of extreme heat. July and August very hot and dry. The disease began early in July and continued till September.

The year 1835, was the most sickly year, for common intermittents, which prevailed more amongst the old settlers, than the newly arrived emigrants. In Illinois, and generally throughout the West, below the fortieth degree of latitude, it was sickly, though not fatal. Early in the spring, till the month of May, it was unusually dry, and vegetation was two weeks later than usual. May and a part of June were very wet, followed by a few days of extremely hot weather. Vegetation grew with great luxuriance. Newly ploughed ground sent forth a noxious effluvium, with a most offensive odour, and after a few days would be covered with a greenish coat, like the scum on stagnant water. Town situations, even along the banks of river, were comparatively healthy.

In case of sickness, physicians are to be found in almost every county, and every season adds to their number. Charges are somewhat higher than in the northern states. Many families keep a few simple articles of medicine, and administer for themselves. Calomel is a specific; and is taken by multitudes without hesitation, or fear of danger. From fifteen to twenty grains are an ordinary dose for a cathartic. Whenever nausea of the stomach, pains in the limbs, and yawning, or a chill, indicate the approach of disease, a dose of calomel is taken at night, in a little apple honey, or other suitable substance, and followed up in the morning with a dose of castor oil, or salts, to produce a brisk purge. Sometimes an emetic is preferred. Either a cathartic or an emetic will leave the system under some debility. The mistake frequently made is, in not following up the evacuating medicine with tonics. This should be done invariably, unless the paroxysm of fever has commenced. A few doses of sulphate of quinine or Peruvian bark in its crude state, will restore the system to its natural tone. To prevent an attack of fever, medicine should be taken on the very first symptoms of a diseased stomach; it should not be tampered with, but taken in sufficient doses to relieve the system from morbid effects, and then followed up by tonics, to restore its vigor and prevent relapse.

New comers will find it advantageous for protecting themselves from the damp atmosphere at night, to provide close dwellings; yet when the air is clear, to leave open doors and windows at night for free circulation, but not to sleep directly in the current of air; and invariably to wear thin clothing in the heat of the day, and put on thicker garments at night, and in wet and cloudy weather.

I have observed that those families are seldom sick who live in comfortable houses, with tight floors, and well ventilated rooms; and who, upon change of weather, and especially in time of rains, make a little fire in the chimney, although the thermometer might not indicate the necessity.

In fine, I am prepared to give my opinion, decidedly, in favor of the general health of this country and climate. I would not certainly be answerable for all the bad locations, the imprudences, and whims of all classes of emigrants, which may operate unfavorably to health. I only speak for myself and family. I decidedly prefer this climate, with all its miasm, to New-England, with its northeast winds, and damp, "raw" and pulmonary atmosphere. We very seldom have fogs in Illinois and Missouri. My memoranda, kept with considerable accuracy, for twelve years, give not more than half a dozen foggy mornings in a year.

The following comparisons between St. Louis and several eastern cities, will afford some evidence of the opinions expressed above. I have remarked already, that 1821, was more sickly in St. Louis, than any preceding year, and deaths were more numerous in proportion to the population. Some cases of fever were more malignant in 1820, in that place, but deaths were more frequent the following season. I solemnized the marriage of a young lady of my acquaintance, who was under the age of fourteen years. In eight days she was a widow. At the funeral of a gentleman the same season, who left a widow under twenty years, there were present thirteen widows, all under twenty-four years of age, and all had lost their companions that season. Young men were victims more than any other age or condition. And yet I am prepared to show, that St. Louis, that summer, was not more sickly than several eastern cities were in 1820 and 1823.

The population of St. Louis in 1821, varied but little from 5,000; the number of deaths during that year was one hundred and thirty-six. This account was taken by the Rev. Salmon Giddings, who was particular in collecting the facts. The proportion of the deaths to the population was one to thirty-five.

In 1820, Boston contained a population of 43,893,—number of deaths 1,103; proportion one to thirty-nine and three fourths.

New-York the same year contained a population of 123,000,—deaths 3,515; being a proportion of one to a fraction less than thirty-five.

In Philadelphia, the population then was 108,000,—deaths 3,374; being a proportion of one to thirty-two.

Baltimore had a population of 62,000,—deaths 1,625; being a proportion of one to thirty-eight.

The aggregate population of these four cities in 1820, was 336,893; the aggregate number of deaths, 9,617; the proportion of one to thirty-five, the same as that of St. Louis.

In 1823.

Boston. Population estimated at 45,000; number of deaths by official returns, 1,154; the proportion of one to thirty-nine.

New-York. Population about 130,000,—deaths 3,444; proportion of one to thirty-seven and two thirds.

Philadelphia. Population about 120,000,—deaths 4,600, proportion of one to twenty-six. [This was an uncommonly sickly season in Philadelphia.]

Baltimore. Population estimated at 65,000; deaths were 2,108; proportion of one to thirty and two thirds.

I have thus selected the mortality of St. Louis during the most sickly season since my residence in this country, and compared it with the bills of mortality of four eastern cities for two years, those of 1820 and 1823, and the result is favorable to the health of St. Louis, and by consequence, to the adjoining States. For ten years past, there has been no general sickness in St. Louis, during the summer and autumnal months, excepting the cholera in 1832.

Some parts of Indiana and Ohio are unquestionably more subject to bilious attacks than Illinois. The reason is obvious. Much of that region is heavily timbered, and, upon cutting it away in spots, and letting in the rays of the sun upon vegetable matter undergoing decomposition, miasmata are generated. These regions will become comparatively healthy, when put under general cultivation.

The story is told, that the late emperor of France lay encamped with one of his armies near a place reputed unhealthy, when one of his officers requested a furlough. The reason being asked, and given, that the place was unhealthy, and the applicant feared to die an inglorious death from fever: Napoleon replied, in his accustomed laconic style, "Go to your post; men die everywhere."

If a family emigrate to a new and distant country, and any of the number sicken and die, we are apt to indulge in unavailing regret at the removal; whereas had the same afflictive event happened before removal, it would have been regarded in quite a different light. Let then, none come to Illinois who do not expect to be sick and to die, whenever Divine Providence shall see fit so to order events.

The milk sickness is a disease of a singular character, which prevails in certain places. It first affects animals, especially cows, and from them is communicated to the human system by eating the milk, or flesh. The symptoms of the disease indicate poison; and the patient is affected nearly in the same way, as when poisonous ingredients have been received into the system. Cattle, when attacked by it, usually die. In many instances it proves mortal in the human system; in others, if yields to the skill of the physician. Much speculation has been had upon its cause, which is still unknown. The prevailing idea is, that it is caused by some poisonous substance eaten by the cattle, but whether vegetable or mineral, remains undetermined. Physicians and others have attempted to ascertain the cause of this disease, but hitherto without success.

It infests only particular spots, or small districts, and these are soon found out. There are places in Ohio, Indiana, and the southern states, where it exists. Its effects are more frequent in autumn than any other season; and to guard against it, the people either keep their cows in a pasture, or refuse to use their milk. Some have supposed this disease to be produced by the cattle feeding on the cicuta virosa, or water hemlock; as a similar disease once infested the cattle in the north of Europe, the cause of which was traced out by the great naturalist LinnÆus; but it is not known that this species of plant exists amongst the botanical productions of Missouri and Illinois.Anxious to furnish all the information, on this very important subject, to persons desirous of emigrating to the West, I will prolong this chapter by inserting the following:

"ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS, RECENT SETTLERS, AND TO THOSE VISITING THE SOUTHERN COUNTRY.

"The outlines which have already been given will afford some information to emigrants from other sections of the Union, or from Europe. We will now offer a few cautionary remarks, particularly intended for such as are about to settle, or have recently settled in this section of the United States.

"Of new comers, there are two tolerably distinct classes: the one comprising farmers, mechanics, and indeed all those who calculate on obtaining a subsistence by manual industry; the other is composed of professional men, tradesmen, and adventurers of every description. Towards the first class our attention is now directed, premising that throughout a great portion of the western country, except in large towns, almost every mechanic is almost necessarily a farmer; the population being in but few places sufficiently dense to support that designation of mechanical employments which is common in the eastern and middle states.

"For the industrious and temperate of this class, our country holds forth inducements which are not generally known or understood.

"The language of indiscriminate panegyric, which has been bestowed on its climate and soil, has conveyed little information, and is the source of many fears and suspicions in the minds of people at a distance. Other accounts have described the western country as uniformly sickly; but the habit of exaggeration in its favor has been most prevalent; neither need we wonder, when much of the information communicated, has been afforded by interested landholders, or speculators, and by travellers, whose views have been superficial, and whose journeys have been performed generally, either on the rivers or by post roads.

"The first inquiry of a substantial farmer, from one of the old settled states, is mostly, for good land in the vicinity of a market; and afterwards, whether the situation be healthy. It is true that there are many places in the western country, affording the qualities expressed in this description, but they are perhaps all occupied; and it would be, in several respects, more advisable for a farmer, possessing even a considerable sum of money in hand, to inquire first for a healthy situation, and then good land.

"The spirit of improvement throughout the United States, especially evidenced in canalling, and rail-roads, will, it is hoped, in a few years, open modes of communication, which as yet are wanting, with the markets.

"The same remarks will apply to the poorer class of emigrants. If they value their own health, and that of their families, the main object of their attention will be to secure, if possible, a situation remote from the fogs that hover over the channels of large rivers, which become partly dry in summer, and from the neighborhood of swamps, marshes, ponds, and small lakes.

"Every person, on coming from beyond the mountains, and especially from the eastern States, or Europe, will have to undergo some degree of change in his constitution, before it becomes naturalized to the climate; and all who move from a cold to a considerably warmer part of the western country will experience the same alteration; it will, therefore, be wisdom for the individual brought up in a more rigorous climate, that he seek a situation where the circulation of the air is unimpeded and free, and that he avoid those flat and marshy districts, which have been already described.

"Those who settle in new countries are almost universally exposed to inconveniences which have an unfavorable influence on health. They are seldom able for a length of time to erect comfortable places of residence; and indeed, many postpone this important object of attention, even after their circumstances will permit them to build comfortable dwelling houses.

"Wool is mostly a scarce article in new settlements, so that cotton and linen garments are too frequently worn in winter. There is another circumstance, which no doubt has an unfavorable influence on health, especially among the poorer class: it is the want, during the summer season particularly, of substantial food. This is sometimes owing to indolence or improvidence; but perhaps oftener, to the circumstances in which a few families are placed, at a distance from any established or opulent settlement.

"Erroneous views are too generally entertained in relation to hardening the human system; and the analogies drawn from savage life, are altogether inconclusive. The manners of the North American Indians are essentially different from those of the whites. It is true, there is a portion of the latter, especially in Illinois and Missouri, who from infancy are educated almost in the habits of the aborigines.

"We have frequently heard the example of savages referred to, as an argument in favor of attempting to strengthen the constitution by exposure.[6] There is plausibility in this; but might not the example of the negroes in the lower parts of South Carolina and Georgia, be also quoted as evidencing the propriety of living on corn meal and sweet potatoes, and working every day in the water of a rice field during the sickly season? They are generally more healthy than the whites who own them, and who reside on the plantations in the summer. The civilized man may turn to savage life perhaps with safety, as regards health; but then he must plunge with the Indian into the depths of the forest, and observe consistency in all his habits. These pages are not written, however, for such as are disposed to consider themselves beyond the pale of civilized society; but for the reflecting part of the community, who can estimate the advantages to be derived from a prudent care of health.

"Much disease, especially in the more recently settled parts of this country, is consequent to neglecting simple and comfortable precautionary means; sometimes this neglect is owing to misdirected industry, and at others to laziness or evil habits.

"To have a dry house, if it be a log one, with the openings between the logs well filled up, so that it may be kept warm in winter; to fill up all the holes in its vicinity which may contain stagnant water; to have a good clean spring or well, sufficient clothing, and a reasonable supply of provisions, should be the first object of a settler's attention: but frequently a little, wet, smoky cabin or hovel is erected, with the floor scarcely separated from the ground, and admitting the damp and unwholesome air. All hands that can work, are impelled, by the father's example, to labor beyond their strength, and more land is cleared and planted with corn than is well tended; for over-exertion, change in the manner of living, and the influence of other debilitating causes, which have been mentioned, bring sickness on at least a part of the family, before the summer is half over.

"It is unnecessary for even the poorest emigrant to encounter these causes of distress, unless seduced by the misrepresentations of some interested landholder, or by the fantasies of his own brain, to an unhealthy and desolate situation, where he can neither help himself, nor be assisted by others.

"Many persons on moving into the back woods, who have been accustomed to the decencies of life, think it little matter how they live, because no one sees them. Thus we have known a family of some opulence to reside for years in a cabin unfit for the abode of any human being, because they could not find time to build a house; and whenever it rained hard, the females were necessarily engaged in rolling the beds from one corner of the room to another, in order to save them from the water that poured in through the roof. This cabin was intended at first as only a very temporary residence, and was erected on the edge of a swamp, for the convenience of being near to a spring. How unreasonable must such people be, if they expect health!

"Clothing for winter should be prepared in summer. It is a common, but very incorrect practice among many farmers, both west and east of the Alleghany mountains, to postpone wearing winter clothing until the weather has become extremely cold: this is a fruitful source of pulmonary diseases, of rheumatisms, and of fevers.

"With regard to providing a sufficiency of nourishing food, no specific directions can be given, further than to recommend, what is much neglected—particular attention to a good garden spot; and to remark, that those who devote undivided attention to cultivating the soil, receive more uniform supplies of suitable nourishment than the more indolent, who spend a considerable portion of their time in hunting.

"New settlers are not unfrequently troubled with diseases of the skin, which are often supposed to be the itch: for these eruptions they generally use repellant external applications; this plan of treatment is prejudicial.

"The most proper time for the removal of families to this country from the Atlantic states, is early in the spring, while the rivers are full; or if the journey be made by land, as soon as the roads are sufficiently settled, and the waters abated.

"Persons unaccustomed to the climate of the lower Mississippi country, are necessarily exposed, whilst there in the summer season, to many causes of disease. It will be advisable for such to have a prudent care of their health, and yet, a care distinct from that finical timidity which renders them liable to early attacks of sickness.

"There is one important consideration, which perhaps has been somewhat overlooked by medical men, who have written on this subject. Natives of colder and healthier regions, when exposed in southern and sickly climates, experience, if they remain any length of time without evident and violent disease, an alteration in the condition of the liver, and of the secreted bile itself; when it passes through the bowels, its color being much darker than usual. Sometimes, indeed, it appears to be "locked up in the liver," the stools having an ashen appearance. This state of the biliary secretion is frequently accompanied, although the patient is otherwise apparently in tolerable health, by a pain over the eye-balls, particularly when the eyes are rolled upward.

"The proper mode of treatment for such symptoms is, to take without delay, not less than twenty grains of calomel, and in eight hours a wine glass full of castor oil. The tone of the stomach should not be suffered to sink too much after the operation of the medicine, which, if necessary, may be repeated in twenty-four hours. Sulphate of quinine, or other tonics, with nutritive food, which is easy of digestion, should also be taken in moderate portions at a time.

"Where diseases are rapid in their progress, and dangerous, no time is to be lost. The practice of taking salts and other aperients, when in exposed situations, and for the purpose of preventing disease, is injurious. It is sufficient, that the bowels be kept in a natural and healthy state; for all cathartics, even the mildest, have a tendency to nauseate the stomach, create debility, and weaken the digestive faculty. A reduction of tone in the system, which is always advantageous, will be more safely effected by using somewhat less than usual of animal food, and of spirituous, strong vinous, or fermented liquors. The robust will derive benefit from losing a little blood.

"It ought to be well understood, that as we approximate tropical climates, the doses of medicine, when taken, should be increased in quantity, and repeated with less delay than is admissible in colder countries. Exposure to the night air is certainly prejudicial; so also is the intense heat of the sun, in the middle of the day. Violent exercise should also be avoided. Bathing daily in water of a comfortable temperature, is a very commendable practice; and cotton worn next the skin is preferable to linen.

"It is impossible to prevent the influence of an atmosphere pregnant with the causes of disease; but the operation of those causes may generally be counteracted by attention to the rules laid down; and it is no small consolation to be aware, that on recovery from the first attack, the system is better adapted to meet and sustain a second of a similar nature. The reader will understand that we do not allude to relapses, occurring while the system is enfeebled by the consequences of disease."

To the foregoing remarks, I add the following, from an address of Judge Hall to the "Antiquarian and Historical Society of Illinois," December 10, 1827.

"The climate, particularly in reference to its influence on the human system, presents another subject of investigation. The western country has been considered unhealthy; and there have been writers, whose disturbed imaginations have misled them into a belief that the whole land was continually exposed to the most awful visitations of Providence, among which have been numbered the hurricane, the pestilence, and the earthquake. If we have been content to smile at such exaggerations, while few had leisure to attempt a serious refutation, and while the facts upon which any deliberate opinion must have been based, had not been sufficiently tested by experience, the time has now arrived when it is no longer excusable to submit in silence to the reproaches of ignorance or malice. It is proper, however, to remark, as well in extenuation of those who have assailed our country, as in the support of the confidential denial, which I feel authorized to make to their assertions, that a vast improvement in the article of health has taken place within a few years. Diseases are now mild which were once malignant, and their occurrence is annually becoming less frequent. This happy change affords strong authority for the belief, that although the maladies which have heretofore afflicted us, were partly imputable to the climate, other, and more powerful causes of disease must have existed, which have vanished. We who came to the frontier, while the axe was still busy in the forest, and when thousands of the acres which now yield abundance to the farmer, were unreclaimed and tenantless, have seen the existence of our fellow citizens assailed by other than the ordinary ministers of death. Toil, privation and exposure, have hurried many to the grave; imprudence and carelessness of life, have sent crowds of victims prematurely to the tomb. It is not to be denied that the margins of our great streams in general, and many spots in the vicinity of extensive marshes, are subject to bilious diseases; but it may be as confidently asserted, that the interior country is healthy. Yet the first settlers invariably selected the rich alluvion lands upon the navigable rivers, in preference to the scarcely less fertile soil of the prairies, lying in situations less accessible, and more remote from market. They came to a wilderness in which houses were not prepared for their reception, nor food, other than that supplied by nature, provided for their sustenance. They often encamped on the margin of the river exposed to its chilly atmosphere, without a tent to shelter, with scarcely a blanket to protect them. Their first habitations were rude cabins, affording scarcely a shelter from the rain, and too frail to afford protection from the burning heat of the noonday sun, or the chilling effects of the midnight blast. As their families increased, another and another cabin was added, as crazy and as cheerless as the first, until, admonished of the increase of their own substance, the influx of wealthier neighbors, and the general improvement of the country around them, they were allured by pride to do that to which they never would have been impelled by suffering. The gratuitous exposure to the climate, which the backwoodsman seems rather to court than avoid, is a subject of common remark. No extremity of weather confines him to the shelter of his own roof. Whether the object be business or pleasure, it is pursued with the same composure amid the shadows of the night, or the howling of the tempest, as in the most genial season. Nor is this trait of character confined to woodsmen or to farmers; examples of hardihood are contagious, and in this country all ranks of people neglect, or despise the ordinary precautions with respect to health. Judges and lawyers, merchants, physicians and ministers of the gospel, set the seasons at defiance in the pursuit of their respective callings. They prosecute their journeys regardless of weather; and learn at last to feel little inconvenience from the exposure, which is silently undermining their constitutions. Is it extraordinary that people thus exposed should be attacked by violent maladies? Would it not be more wonderful that such a careless prodigality of life could pass with impunity? These remarks might be extended; the food of the first settler, consisting chiefly of fresh meat without vegetables and often without salt; the common use of ardent spirits, the want of medical aid, by which diseases, at first simple, being neglected become dangerous; and other evils peculiar to a new country, might be noticed as fruitful sources of disease; but I have already dwelt sufficiently on this subject. That this country is decidedly healthy, I feel no hesitation in declaring; but neither argument nor naked assertions will convince the world. Let us collect such facts as amount to evidence, and establish the truth by undeniable demonstration."

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Uniform exposure to the weather is favorable to health. I can affirm this from long experience and observation. Our hunters, and surveyors, who uniformly spend their time for weeks in the woods and prairies, who wade in the water, swim creeks, are drenched in the rains and dews, and sleep in the open air or a camp at night, very rarely are attacked with fevers. I have known repeated instances of young men, brought up delicately in the eastern cities, accustomed, as clerks, to a sedentary life, with feeble constitutions,—I have known such repeatedly to enter upon the business of surveying the public lands, or in the hunting and trapping business, be absent for months, and return with robust health. It is a common thing for a frontier man, whose health is on the decline, and especially when indications of pulmonary affection appear, to engage in a hunting expedition to renovate his health. I state these facts, and leave it to the medical faculty to explain the why and wherefore. One circumstance may deserve attention. All these men, as do the Indians, sleep with their feet towards the fire at night. And it is a common notion with this class, that if the feet are kept hot through the night, however cold the atmosphere, or however much exposed the rest of the body, no evil consequences will ensue. I have passed many a night in this position, after fatiguing rides of thirty or forty miles in the day on our extreme frontiers, and through rains, and never experienced any inconvenience to health, if I could get a pallet on the cabin floor, and my feet to the fire.

Those who are exposed to these hardships but occasionally, when compelled by necessity, and who endeavor to protect themselves at all other times, usually suffer after such exposure.

I have observed that children, when left to run in the open air and weather, who go barefoot, and oftentimes with a single light garment around them, who sleep on the floor at night, are more healthy than those who are protected.