By far the most potent of these is our climate, which differs from that of Europe in three respects; it is more variable; the extremes of heat and cold are greater; and the atmosphere is drier. The reason for the extreme variability of our climate is found in the fact that our mountain chains run north and south, while those of Europe run east and west. In consequence of this, when up in Manitoba Territory King Aeolus reverses his spear and smites upon the side of the mountain, rude Boreas comes whistling down upon us with hardly a moment’s notice, except a hasty telegram from Washington with the familiar announcement that the thermometer will fall forty degrees in the next twenty-four hours. This is followed by nearly as rapid a rise in the temperature. The extremes of our climate keep us house-bound for a large part of the year, and this is a very potent factor of ill-health. There are few portions of the country where it is agreeable to be out of doors for as many as a hundred days of the year. The effect of a dry, variable, extreme climate is to stimulate powerfully the nervous system and keep it on the _qui vive_. The liberty and enlarged scope of thought and action, which American women enjoy, must also be considered as causes of ill-health. How much more nervous energy an active, ambitious, American woman must expend than a German matron, with her placid, narrow life. There are many other unavoidable causes of ill-health in American women which need not be discussed here; let us rather turn our attention to the more practical consideration of the avoidable causes of ill-health in our women. While there are very many of these, it has seemed to the writer that the following are the principal ones: 1. Lack of general exercise. 2. Lack of specific exercise. 3. Lack of abdominal breathing. 4. Improper modes of dress. 5. Superstition. As every one is aware, there are three causes for the circulation of the blood. (_a_) The contraction of the heart; (_b_) Contraction of the voluntary muscles; (_c_) The contraction of the diaphragm. American women attempt to dispense with the last two; they neither take exercise nor do they breathe with the diaphragm. The muscles act precisely like the bulb of a Davidson syringe; when they contract the blood is forced into the veins; when they relax a new supply flows in. Dubois-Reymond determined by experiment that the minimum amount of exercise, necessary to maintain the circulation, is equivalent to a walk of five miles a day. American women do not average one-fifth of this amount.