Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 1: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
History
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 1: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
"The temperature of the Atlantic under this parallel is 62, but the
standard of this part of the globe is the North Pacific, which is here
4 or 5 degrees colder than the Atlantic. The Yellow Sea is the nearest
to Pekin, being about 200 miles distant from it; but it is itself cooled
by the mountainous country of Corea, which interposes between it and the
ocean, for a considerable part of its extent. Besides, all the northern
parts of China (in which Pekin lies) must be cooled by the vicinity of
the mountains of Chinese Tartary, among which the cold is said to be
excessive.
"The greatest cold usually experienced during this period was 5°, the
greatest heat, 98°: on the 25th of July, 1773, the heat arose to 108°
and 110°: a N. E. or N. W. wind produces the greatest cold, a S. or S.
W. or S. E. the greatest heat[33]."
[33] "6. Mem. Scav. Etrang. p. 528."
"MADRID, lat. 40° 25', long. 3° 20' E.
The usual heat in summer is said to be from 75° to 85°; even at night it
seldom falls below 70°; the mean height of the barometer is 27,96. It
seems to be about 1900 feet above the level of the sea[34]."
[34] "Mem. Par. 1777, p. 146."
The above accounts are extracted from Mr. Kirwan's useful and elaborate
estimate of the temperature of different latitudes.
The history which has been given of the climate of Pennsylvania, is
confined chiefly to the country on the east side of the Allegany
mountain. On the west side of this mountain, the climate differs
materially from that of the south-eastern parts of the state in the
temperature of the air, in the effects of the winds upon the weather,
and in the quantity of rain and snow which falls every year. The winter
seldom breaks up on the mountains before the 25th of March. A fall of
snow was once perceived upon it, which measured an inch and a half, on
the 11th day of June. The trees which grow upon it are small, and Indian
corn is with difficulty brought to maturity, even at the foot of the
east side of it. The south-west winds on the west side of the mountain
are accompanied by cold and rain. The soil is rich, consisting of near
a foot, in many places, of black mould. The roads in this country are
muddy in winter, but seldom dusty in summer. The arrangement of strata
of the earth on the west side, differs materially from their arrangement
on the east side the mountain. "The country (says Mr. Rittenhouse, in a
letter to a friend in Philadelphia[35]), when viewed from the western
ridge of the Allegany, appears to be one vast extended plain. All the
various strata of stone seem to lie undisturbed in the situation in
which they were first formed, and the layers of stone, sand, clay, and
coal, are nearly _horizontal_."
[35] Columbian Magazine, for October, 1786.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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