It is a common mistake to send patients to South Africa with no detailed instructions as to the localities best suited for individual cases, and regardless of the fact that the physiography of the country is so varied that no general statement as to the climate is possible. Two broad features, however, may be immediately distinguished, if we regard South Africa as consisting of interior highlands surrounded by a narrow, low-lying coast belt, the width of the latter varying much, but seldom exceeding fifty miles. The largest towns, with the exception of Johannesburg, are comprised in the coast-belt, the uplands being for the most part sparsely inhabited. The climate of the seaboard is further conditioned by the prevalence of currents and winds, so that towns on the east coast have a materially different atmosphere from those of the west. It will, of course, be remembered that the seasons in the southern hemisphere are exactly reversed with respect to those of the northern. For the Cape the division of the year may be made as follows:-- _Spring_--September, October, November. _Summer_--December, January, February. _Autumn_--March, April, May. _Winter_--June, July, August. In South Africa, however, the matter is complicated by the fact that the rains occur, in some parts, mostly in the winter, as in England and northern countries generally, and in other parts are strictly confined to the summer. The humidity of the air is probably the most important factor in the healthiness or otherwise of a climate for many diseases, and this point must therefore be most carefully considered. For phthisis in particular moist warmth has long been condemned as only less harmful than moist cold. Madeira and the Riviera have consequently lost much of their former vogue as suitable resorts for phthisis, on account of their high degree of humidity. It is to be earnestly desired that the claims of the highlands of South Africa to be considered the most advantageous country in the world for all but the latest stages of this disease, should become more widely known, alike to patients and physicians. A further consideration, of the highest importance to non-wealthy consumptives, is that South Africa is a new and progressive country, in which there are good prospects that the change of environment will lead, not only to restored health, but to the means of earning a livelihood as well. [Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken]