Southern Medical and Surgical Journal - Georgia Regents University

1859.] Climate to l/ie Consumptive, d-c. 737may be attributed to the uniform temperature of the seawaters,which secures a regulation in the advance of temperaturefor the season, and a mitigation and moderation of continentalinfluences. At the south at this time, the currents are shiftingand substituting; hence greater abruptness in the monthly advance.The proximate cold masses cannot exert any influencehere, until their full sway is established below, and the heatand rarefaction of the plateaus and valleys of the interior, attracttheir atmosphere inland.The extent to which the thermometer may fluctuate throughoutthis area, as indicated by the extreme single monthly observations,can, at the present time, be onlyapproximative of theconstants. The freezing point may be attained at any part ofit, and the lowest recorded point is about nineteen degrees (19°)at Fort Vancouver. Low down upon the coast, it is alwaysreached in the month of March, although the few records furnisheddo not show its occurrence during April and May. Thedegree of cold experienced at Fort Orford during the months ofMarch and April, is greater than at San Francisco, althoughtheir possible ranges of the thermometer do not indicate that extentof fluctuation in temperature, which is observed at the latterplace. The possible range here for March, is two degrees(2°) less than at San Francisco ; that of April is fourteendegrees (14°) less ;and that of May is just equal to it. Thesecannot be taken as altogether reliable,for the observations of asingle year are not sufficient, nevertheless they give a foreshadowingof their probable temperature statistics.As we recede from the shore line towards the Cascade Range,the extremity of these observations rapidly increases. In the"Willamette Valley, at Fort Vancouver, the possible range ofthe thermometer for March is increased over that of Fort Orford,fifteen degrees (15°) ; and over that of Fort Astoria, thirtythreedegrees (33°) ; the lowest at Fort Orford, being nine degrees(9°) greater, and the highest six degrees (6°) less; and atFort Astoria,the lowest is eleven degrees (11°) higher, and thehighest is twenty -two degrees (22°) less,April, however, in thisvalley is not so extreme, the two extremes manifesting a tendencyto come together ;yet the highest for the month, is tendegrees (10°) higher than at Fort Orford on the coast, and its