National Sanitarium for the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases. 
REMARKS 
OF 
HON. JACOB H. GALLINGEB, 
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 
In the Senate of the United States, 
Monday, April 11, 1892. 
Mr. GALLINGER. In pursuance of the notice heretofore 
given by me, I call up Senate joint resolution No. 67. 
The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair lays before the Senate 
the joint resolution (S. R. 67) providing for the appointment of 
a commission to select a site for the establishment of a national 
sanitarium for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. 
Mr. GALLINGER. Mr. President, it may not be unprofitable 
for the Senate to pause for a brief time from the consideration 
of political and financial questions and give thought to a subject 
that deeply concerns the physical and moral well-being of a large 
class in every State of the American Union—a class of citizens 
environed by misfortune and rendered hopeless and helpless by 
disease. The statistics of mortality show that consumption de- 
stroys more lives than war, pestilence, and famine combined, and 
the individual sufferer is powerless to cope with this relentless 
enemy of mankind. In their utter helplessness these unfortu- 
nates appeal to the Congress of the United States for sympathy 
and help. Shall their appeal be in vain? 
The joint resolution for the establishment of a national sani- 
tarium for the treatment of pulmonary diseases, which I had 
the honor to introduce on the 22d day of March last, reads as 
follows: 
Section 1. That the President of the United States shall appoint a com- 
mission consisting of three persons, two of whom shall be physicians, whose 
duty it shall be to select a site, and make report thereon to the President, 
for the establishment of a national sanitarium for the treatment of pulmon- 
ary diseases, said location to be in some one of the Territories of the United 
States and upon such of the public lands as may We unoccupied. 
Sec. 2. That the commission so appointed shall, within six months after 
their appointment, report to the President of the United States where, in 
their best judgment, is the proper place to establish said sanitarium, to- 
gether with the boundaries of the land whereon to establish the same, and 
also rules and regulations suited for the government of the same. 
Sec. 3. That upon the receipt of such report the President shall by proc- 
lamation withdraw the lands described in said report from sale, and from 
preemption, homestead, or other entry or sale, and shall reserve the same 
for the purpose of said sanitarium. 
Sec. 4. That the surveyors-general of the several Territories shall, under 
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, make such surveys and render 
such assistance to said commission as the said commission may desire. 2 
Sec. 5. That the traveling expenses, fares, and other expenses incident to 
the selecting and reporting upon such site shall be paid out of the Treasury 
of the United States, upon vouchers properly certified, and the said commis- 
sioners shall each be paid 810 per day for each and every day they shall be ac- 
tually employed on such duty. 
Sec. 6. That 815,000, or so much thereof as may bo necessary, is hereby ap- 
propriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
for the payment of said commission, their expenses, fares, clerk hire, and all 
other matters connected with or growing out of the selecting and reporting 
said site. 
Two points are essential in the discussion: 
First, can the Congress of the United States constitutionally 
and properly locate such institution upon the public domain; and, 
second, if so, is it desirable that it shall be done? I will en- 
deavor, in the fewest possible words, to express my views on the 
subject. 
When this matter was first broached one of the leading news- 
papers of the country declared it to be “ paternalism run mad,” 
doubtless meaning to convey the idea that it was asking of Con- 
gress an unusual and improper exercise of power. In view of the 
legislation already accomplished this surely is not so. The fact 
is, Congress has repeatedly recognized the principle that under- 
lies this proposed legislation. 
Under sections 4801 to 4812, Revised Statutes of the United 
States, foreign seamen who are sick or disabled are provided 
for in that great national charity, the hospitals for the relief of 
seamen, which are located in all the larger ports of the country, 
supported and maintained by the Government, admission to them 
being open to all seafaring men. 
Sections 4825 to 4837, Revised Statutes, provide national homes 
for disabled volunteer soldiers, which, like the hospitals for sea- 
men, are a nation’s tribute to the sentiment of patriotism. 
Sections 4838 to 4858 provide that— 
There shall be In the District of Columbia a Government Hospital for the 
Insane, and its objects shall be the most humane care and enlightened cura- 
tive treatment of Its inmates. 
Sections 4859 to 4869 provide for the deaf and dumb in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, by which deaf mutes in the several States and 
Territories have provision made for the amelioration of a terri- 
ble constitutional infirmity, and by kindly provision for such un- 
fortunates is shown our national forethought. 
Sections 1940 and 1947 provide for the setting apart of two 
sections of land in each township for public schools. 
By section 2380 provision is made for the reservation of certain 
lands for town sites. Mines, salines, timber, and water are re- 
served under other sections for sundry uses. 
By the act of June 3, 1887, John Chamberlin is allowed to 
erect and have a hotel on the Government reservation at Fortress 
Monroe. 
The provisions for national cemeteries recognize the right of 
the Government to purchase or donate lands for national pur- 
poses, and the establishment of these cemeteries teaches the 
lesson that proper care for the living is the Bacred charge tho 
dead heroes left us in trust to perform. 
The legislation concerning the Hot Springs of Arkansas is a 
recognition of the principle embodied in the proposed legisla- 
tion, and it will be observed that by joint resolution of March 3, 
1887, the Secretary of the Interior is required to furnish from 3 
the hot springs, for bath houses not on the Government reserva- 
tion, hot water to private enterprises. 
By sections 2474 to 2477, that vast territory known as the 
Yellowstone Park, with all its natural wonders, has been set apart, 
and provision made for its protection for “public purposes of 
pleasure.” Here the robust, and those who can afford the ex- 
pense of travel may enjoy the scenery and revel in the sunshine 
of this beautiful spot. Is it not proper that some space be re- 
served for the comfort and well-being of those whose conditions 
of health or of purse will not admit of the enjoyment of that na- 
tional park? It should be borne in mind that “They who are 
whole need not a physician, but they who are sick.” 
There are other vast tracts of the public domain set apart for 
parks, among which may be named the Gen. Grant National 
Park, the Sequoia National Park, and the Yosemite National 
Park, all in the State of California. The Yosemite Park alone 
covers over 1,000,000 acres of land, and, as is well-known, is es- 
sentially a pleasure ground. In the act establishing the Sequoia 
National Park provision is made for leasing small parcels of 
ground for building purposes, for the accommodation of visitors, 
a precedent that will be of use for those seeking health on the 
reservation that we hope to have set apart for health purposes 
under the provisions of this bill. 
Again, by act approved May 29, 1884, establishing a Bureau of 
Animal Industry, means are provided for the extirpation of 
pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious diseases among domestic 
animals. Provision is made for a chief, a secretary, veterina- 
rians, agents, and other officers, at large salaries, some of the 
per-diem employes receiving $10 per day. It is provided that 
transportation lines shall be subject to the direction of these of- 
ficials, and the prosecuting officers of judicial districts are re- 
quired to aid them in their efforts to stamp out pulmonary and 
other disorders in the cow, the horse, the hog, the sheep, and all 
manner of four-footed beasts. 
The act placed $150,000 at the disposal of the Bureau for immedi- 
ate use, and by the appropriation act of the next year $100,000 
is provided annually to carry on the work. Nearly $1,000,000 
has been expended by this Bureau in its beneficent operations. 
The question arises, will Congress, after making such liberal 
provisions for stamping out pulmonary diseases in domestic ani- 
mals, hesitate to do something to prevent the spread of similar 
diseases among human beings? Or is it to become a byword that 
the American Congress is always ready to legislate for the pro- 
tection of property, but rarely ever for the good of humanity, or 
the welfare of the unfortunate and unprotected? 
Many other citations could be made if necessary, but surely 
enough precedents have been shown to conclusively prove that 
Congress can constitutionally and properly use the public domain 
for the purpose sought to be accomplished. 
In attempting to show that it is desirable that the proposed 
sanitarium should be established, I will largely rely upon the 
observations and investigations of others—those who have given 
much thought, time, and money to the subject. It is well to 
suggest that this is not a new topic. Philanthrophic and public- 
spirited physicians have been discussing it for many years, and 
societies are already formed to carry out as far as they can by 
private benevolence the work that it is hoped Congress may aid 4 
in doing-. The American Health Resort Association of Chicago, 
of which Dr. T. C. Duncan, of that city, is president, and Dr. .T. 
F. Danter, of Toronto, Ontario, is vice-president, lias already 
done a great work in this direction. 
At a meeting of this society held in Chicago October 27,1891, 
nearly two thousand physicians wore present, showing the great 
interest manifested by the medical profession in the welfare of 
the unfortunate class whom they are striving to benefit. Under 
the auspices of this society several physicians have made exten- 
sive tours of investigation through Colorado, California, New 
Mexico, etc., and much valuable information has been gathered. 
The interest that Dr. Duncan feels in the pending legislation 
is expressed in the subjoined letter: 
The American Health Resort Association. 
Chicago. March 28, 1892. 
Dear Sir: I learn through the press that you have Introduced into the 
United States Senate a joint resolution to set aside some of the public lands 
for a national sanitarium. That is a grand good move, and one that will be 
the means of saving thousands of lives. I hope the resolution will be adopted 
before Government lands adapted to that purpose are all taken up. Our as- 
sociation, having done work in that line, can appreciate the fact that land 
adapted to a sanitarium is being rapidly entered. I deem this a matter of 
the utmost importance, and trust you may find a ready response on the part 
of the Government. Certainly the masses of the people are with you. 
Yours, most truly, 
T. C. DUNCAN. 
Hon. J. H. Gallinger. 
Dr. W. T. Shepherd, in a communication to the Medical Vis- 
itor, thus writes of the climate of Albuquerque, N. Mex.: 
Albuquerque, n. Mex., October 20,1891. 
Of a phthisical family, I found myself in poor health a few years ago, after 
quite a hard course of study, and came to New Mexico, where I shortly re- 
gained health and strength. Thinking the climate near the lakes too severe, 
I did not return there, but went into the northwestern corner of Iowa, near 
the Minnesota line, in the celebrated Southern Minnesota climate, and took 
up a country practice. After two years’ work I found my old trouble return- 
ing—indigestion, cough. a little hemoptysis, etc.—and so went to Prof. Arnul- 
phy for examination. He reported slight deposit in left apex, and remember- 
ing the family tendency. I left at once and arrived in Albuquerque in August, 
1888. after looking quite thoroughly over Western Kansas, Colorado, and New 
Mexico. My cough soon stopped, hemoptysis ceased, and by the beginning 
of the new year I seemed entirely well in every respect. 
This improvement, while not so marked in all cases, is observed in nearly 
all coming to this climate in the inciplency, and in those where no softening 
of the lungs has taken place is quite the rule, even though there may be con- 
siderable deposit. 
The cases of pulmonary difficulties most benefited by a removal to this cli- 
mate are those of chronic pneumonia, or such as are known as consumption 
following pneumonia, asthma, and the early stages of tuberculosis. 
Those cases of chronic pneumonia which so much resemble tuberculosis 
are benefited even in quite late stages, many becoming entirely well—the only 
limit I would put upon t his class of cases being the time when so much of 
the lung tissue has been destroyed by suppuration that shortness of breath 
is constant and troublesome even in a lower altitude. People here must take 
deeper breaths to get the required amount of oxygen. 
Asthma is always relieved almost Immediately and completely upon reach- 
ing these high, dry plains. Barring cases dependent upon organic diseases 
of the heart you can not go amiss in sending asthma to New Mexico. I do 
not know a single case existing in the Territory and only one case which has 
required a month to complete the cure. 
As to tuberculosis, our great disadvantage and the patient’s distress result 
from the general practice among Eastern physicians of keeping their pa- 
tients on hope and cod-liver oil until the curable stage has passed, and the 
patient comes to us as a last resort before going to his long home. 
Patients should be sent here just as soon as the diagnosis can be made. 
Do not let them put it off one day. They must come on at once, and straighten 
business matters afterward by mail. They must fly as they would from the 
cholera. Hundreds are killed by that one or two months to arrange business 
matters. 5 
Before softening has commenced the patients have a fair chance of re- 
covery—perhaps as good as an ordinary case of typhoid fever or pneumonia, 
and their chances decrease with every day of delay. 
It is another mistake of Eastern physicians that cases having hemorrhages 
should not come here. This seems not to be true at Albuquerque, for cases 
having hemorrhages do unusually well. 
I have made considerable study of the native people with a view of finding 
whether or not they have tuberculosis, and although they live in the most 
unsanitary surroundings no case of the disease has come to my knowledge. 
I have yet to find a case of tuberculosis developing in this climate even 
among the adult children of those who came here years ago with the disease. 
Dr. A. Petin, a distinguished physician, educated in Europe, 
makes the following contribution to the Journal of the Ameri- 
can Medical Association: 
Las Cruces, N. Mex., October 16,1891. 
Dr. T. C. Duncan, 
President American Health Resort Association. 
Dear Doctor: In conformity with my promise, I send you my report, at 
last. Ever since 1872 I am a resident of the United States, but every other 
year, and sometimes every year, I take a trip to Europe, where I attend clinics. 
Three years ago I had the opportunity of listening to several lectures by 
some eminent professors of Paris. Their subject was phthisis. 
After several meetings with some of these gentlemen, I was entertained 
with a proposition to find a more suitable climate to establish a sanitarium 
for consumptives, at an altitude of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the ocean, 
not too cold, not too warm, without much rain, neither fog, and especially 
avoiding snow. The object of finding such a climate was to permit the pa- 
tients to be out of doors as much as possible and even to have them sleep in 
the open air seven or eight months of the year. In Germany a great many 
patients are kept in pine forests, and some of them find relief by the emana- 
tion, but lately a great many prominent physicians of all nations found that 
it was not only the pine emanation, but the pure air which benefited them 
the most. It was also with the same belief that a French medical society was 
formed to rescue the consumptive children from that deadly disease. 
For over two years I traveled most of the time in North, Central, and 
South America. I have found a great many good locations, with finest 
scenery, but almost everywhere there is some objection, either too much 
moisture in the atmosphere, fog, cold, snow, or excessive altitude. After 
traveling all over the Pacific coast, N.evada. Arizona, and Colorado, I had the 
good fortune to meet Mr. H. F. Grierson, of the Santa Fe Railroad, and trav- 
eling together for several months we came to see every place of interest in 
New Mexico, Texas, and Old Mexico. In the Territory of New Mexico we 
found numerous good places, but some rather too cold, some too high alti- 
tude, and others too much snow for certain classes of patients. By gather- 
ing a great deal of information from old residents, I found malaria existing 
more or less all along the Rio Grande, and another objection to the valley is 
the dust brought by the river, which is so fine as to fly at the smallest breeze; 
but altogether the best climate with the most sunshine is to be f ound in South- 
ern New Mexico, although some difference must be made on account of tem- 
perature. 
In fact I was never satisfied until I found the San Augustine plains, with 
an altitude of 4,800 feet above the sea, surrounded by mountains from 1,200 
to 1,500 feet higher, with unsurpassable drinking water and also mineral 
waters, one spring containing a great quantity of peroxide of iron and man- 
ganese, and others containing sulphate of lime in enormous quantities, etc. 
But the grandest of all is the level plains, 170 miles long and about 80 miles 
wide, all covered with palms, cactus, saponaria, Panama plant, soapweed, 
etc., and every kind of flower all the year round, giving the best opportunity 
for riding, either horseback, or in any kind of vehicle. The temperature is 
the most even, the thermometer all the year round at an average of about 
62°, with scarcely any snowfall, and when it does snow it does not last more 
than an hour or two; no dust, no malaria, and the soil is the most porous 
that can be found anywhere. 
There are some samples of consumptives cured residing here who, when 
they first came, were not capable of walking alone, and who are enjoying 
good health ever since. There is a peculiarity in this country. As soon as 
one gets here he feels happy! The amount of rain for three years was an 
average of about 4 inches a year. Fogs are entirely unknown, and very 
seldom is there great wind. There is an abundance of game of all kinds, 
good fishing, and beautiful shade trees grow at the foot of the mountains. 6 
There any patient can sleep out of doors eight months of the year without 
fear of catching cold. 
I hope to see you soon and to have a trip over there whore you will Judge 
for yourself if there is any other place to compare with tho one I refer to. 
Having no other interest than a philanthropic one, I am of the opinion that 
a great resort can be built there. 
Dr. J. F. Danter, of Toronto, who mado an exhaustive investi- 
gation of the subject of climatology, with reference to the treat- 
ment of consumption, at tho instance of the American Health 
Resort Association, thus writes to tho Medical Visitor: 
Tobonto, Canada, August 31,1891. 
To the American Health Resort Association: 
I have the honor to report as special commissioner appointed by your pres- 
ident, T. C. Duncan, M. D., to visit New Mexico and investigate its claims as 
a health resort for consumptives, that I went through the whole Territory, 
from Raton to El Paso, and spent most of August in my investigations. 
That country is divided by the Rocky Mountains almost in the center from 
north to south On the west side of the mountains is the Rio Grande River 
and its many tributary streams that make the land broken and undulating 
with wide valleys and plateaus. Hetween Santa Fe and Albuquerque the 
range is cut through by a tributary to the Rio Grande. This break in the 
mountain chain is a most Important one in moderating the climate there- 
about. The streams in the eastern half of the State trend to the southeast 
almost from the Raton range on the north. This spur of the Rocky Moun- 
tains doubtless shunts the “ northers ” farther east. The country east of the 
mainRocky Mountain range is more undulating and well adapted to grazing 
and will be beneficial to those cases of incipient consumption who can play 
the cowboy or farmer. Good farms can be had by irrigation, and this local- 
ity will be beneficial to many consumptive families. 
Las Vegas.—The mountains seem broken into many spurs as we approach 
Las Vegas, which is a smart city of some 6,000 people, with fair accommoda- 
tions. The Hot Springs are the great attraction, f tested them in every way 
possible. There are hot and cold springs and baths of all kinds. The bath 
attendants are experts, and I can report that this is a delightful place. The 
hotel affords the most elegant accommodations; cheaper places can be had 
near by. The air is very bracing. I met there consumptives who had hem- 
orrhage in Boston and the East; they were improving. I met others with 
special diseases, all doing well. For rheumatism, syphilis, blood diseases, 
it is an excellent place to go. I was surprised to see consumptives who had 
had hemorrhages there and improving. The altitude, over 7,600 feet, I should 
fear was too trying; still, if they do not exert themselves much, take the 
baths and drink the water, they will doubtless continue to improve. 
The rare air doubtless aids rapid healing of diseased surfaces. Some had 
been there before, went back East, were worse, and returned to remain. Re- 
covery the second time is not so rapid as at first, showing that going East 
was a mistake. This is a fact that people are slow to learn. 
Santa Fe was my next stop. This is a quaint old town of some 7,000 people. 
One forgets himself among the many things of interest here, which fact 
alone would be helpful in many cases of consumption. 
It is situated in a valley opening and widening to the south, with moun- 
tains east and west, and broken peaks to the south. It was not hot, and can 
not be very hot in summer nor very cold in winter. This location is well 
ventilated, and at times may be too raw and severe for the very feeble. The 
altitude is 7,000 feet, and the air very stimulating. The hotel accommoda- 
tions are good, and the people most hospitable. 
I was royally entertained when my errand became known. It is the cap- 
ital city, and the governor, judges, merchants, editors, and physicians vied 
with each other to show me all the special merits of the city and Territory 
as a health resort. 
The old Government military reservation with fort and barracks in the 
center of the city they hope to have set aside for a national sanitarium. It 
would make an excellent one. I was feasted with the finest fruits I ever 
tasted, apricots, peaches, apples, etc. There are some fine springs, and the 
Santa Fe River seems ample for irrigation as well as to supply the city. 
Albuquerque was my next point. The country between this place and 
Santa Fe seemed to me favorable for invalids. 
The valley here is wide and well watered by the Rio Grande, which is a 
broad, shallow river, and the fall is ample for effective irrigation. On the 
river bottom are good crops and rank vegetation. The best place for con- 
sumptives here is on the mesa. I met here many consumptives, some im- 
proving, some holding their own. Most of the people I met came for their 7 
health. The necessity for being active and out of doors to get the benefit of 
the climate, was the testimony of nearly all of the physicians. 
The Commercial Club entertained me. and I was driven out to the springs 
and to Camp Whitcomb over the mountains. Camp Whitcomb is a good 
place for resort during the very hot days of summer. The water mostly 
used is melted ice, manufactured in this city. This is an active, bustling 
place. It is 2,000 feet lower than Santa Fe, and hence warmer. The railroad 
divides here; one line goes to California and the other down the valley and 
on to Mexico. Invalids who must go on to California, I learned, stop here 
to advantage. 
I recommend that consumptives sent here or to any other point should as 
soon as possible be distributed among cottages, with a nice plot of ground to 
occupy their time and attention. 
El Paso.—The most southerly point I visited in the Rio Grande Valley was 
El Paso. It is a city of about 10,000 people, and is situated at the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains, where the Rio Grande cuts through on its way to the Gulf. 
The valley here is not very wide. It was very hot the day I was there, and, 
except for the winds that I fear must sweep through in winter, will be a good 
point for consumptives. The altitude is 3,900feet, the lowest point, I believe, 
In New Mexico. I ascertained from the physicians that the city was very 
healthy. The accommodations are good. 
Las Cruces was a place of which I expected much. I met Dr. Petin and was 
entertained by Prof. Hadley, president of the Agricultural College, which is 
located here, affording free tuition. We went over the Organ Mountain, 
where Dr. Petin had selected a place for a sanitarium, but before he could 
secure the land squatters had taken possession. It certainly was a nice, se- 
cluded, fertile valley, and its only drawback is that it is 25 miles from the 
railroad. This is a town of some 3,000 people, half of whom are Mexicans. 
I saw here large flocks of Angora goats, which are very profitable, I was told. 
The altitude is about 4,000 feet. The valley is wide here and very fertile 
when irrigated. Dr. Petin thinks that it will equal France as a grape coun- 
try; it produces the finest grapes I ever saw. His opinion of it as a health 
resort is that it is the best in the world. The low altitude, the southern lati- 
tude, and the dry, warm winds coming from Mexico, are its special features, 
adapting it to severe cases of consumption. As a winter resort it has special 
advantages for feeble invalids, but the accommodations are not very exten- 
sive. The water here is good. I also met here Dr. Frazier, of Toronto, and 
Judge Newcombe, formerly of Nova Scotia. 
San Marcial was my last stop on my return to the Rio Grande Valley. It 
is a small town and has an old, abandoned fort and military reservation that 
would make a good sanitarium, but I learned that a man had laid claim to It. 
This is also a good point for fruit and herds. 
There are many other small towns in the Rio Grande Valley that I did not 
stop at, but all have the general merit of being warm and dry, which will 
commend them as good points for consumptive colonies. 
I think that New Mexico surpasses any locality for consumptives I have 
yet visited, and I have been all over California, Colorado, and the South, 
Sandwich Islands, and Europe. 
I stopped off at Cimarron and Hutchinson, Kans. They are both in a com- 
paratively dry section, and the lower altitude renders this a good interme- 
diate point to get acclimated and to test the climate before going to higher 
altitudes; therefore the merits of Southwest Kansas, with its medium alti- 
tude, should not be overlooked by the profession. 
In conclusion, I am decidedly of the opinion that the region visited is for 
consumptives superior to any other part of the United States or the world 
of which I have any practical knowledge. 
I will next quote from Dr. W. P. Roberts, his views being found 
in a communication to the Health Journal. Dr. Roberts is now 
traveling through New England, interesting the medical profes- 
sion in the work of the Health Resort Association, and is aoout 
to organize an aid society in Boston for the purpose of securing 
funds to send indigent consumptives to a more favored clime. Dr. 
Roberts writes as follows: 
Boston, Mass., September 20,1891. 
To the American Health Resort Association: 
Pursuant to the appointment as Special Commissioner by your honored 
President, I visited Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, going as far South 
as El Paso, Texas, and across the river into Old Mexico, and beg leave to pre- 
sent the following report: 
Allow me to premise that I had to leave Maine on account of consumption 
that was a family inheritance. I was given up by five physicians to die with 
the awful scourge that carries off almost 30 per cent of the whole people who 8 
die on that coast. I was advised to make a change of climate as affording a 
possible chance of prolonging my life. I reached the upland prairies of Illi- 
nois in the lovely autumn weather, and began to improve at once in the dry 
open air. I thought, like many others, that because I was almost well I 
could safely return, but the disease again became active .and I was obliged 
to return, this time to the prairies of Iowa. I fully recovered and have had 
no trouble with my lungs since: but, while vigorous looking, I feel I am not 
the man I would have been had I come West sooner, while in my growing 
teens. Therefore I am anxious to urge young people whose parents suc- 
cumbed to consumption to leave New England. 
In going to Denver we cross the divide beyond Colorado Springs. The 
streams here flow northeast. This north and east exposure has been against 
Denver as being a desirable residence for consumptives. Many, however, 
have been benefited and many have died as I found by the mortality records. 
There is a feeling that the air at times is being contaminated by the smoke 
and gases from the massive smelting works, containing, as they do, volatil- 
ized galena (lead), arsenic, antimony, etc., although an effort Is being made 
to condense these from the smoke, as is done In other smelters. The same 
objection is increasing against Pueblo and El Paso. I collected much valu- 
able data for our association 
Colorado Springs (a city without a single spring) Is more favorably lo- 
cated. I collected here facts of interest from the mortality records and the 
leading members of the medical profession. This is without question the 
best point in this section of Colorado for consumption. I learned that pneu- 
monia was often prevalent, severe, and fatal. Their most disagreeable 
weather is during March and April. Sufferers with pulmonary hemor- 
rhage, unless complicated with organic heart disease, need not feel barred 
from going to any of these cities. 
I found, in searching the mortality records of Colorado Springs, that a few 
cases of young and middle-aged persons raised in that climate had died from 
consumption. 
Pueblo is several degrees warmer than either of the other cities visited. In 
fact, it was hotter than any place in New Mexico when I was there. Except 
for the smelters already noticed, it is a good health point for those with weak 
lungs. I met many people who were given up as hopeless in Chicago and 
other Eastern cities, but who are now well. I have no doubt that a few miles 
away from this city, in a lower altitude, is the “Beulah land ” of Colorado 
for those with weak lungs. 
At La Junta, in the extreme eastern border of Colorado, I met several wit- 
nesses who were willing to assert that the climate had cured them. Simi- 
lar testimony is at hand in Trinidad, and, in fact, in all of the places in Colo- 
rado I visited. What a golden, glorious health record for the Centennial 
State! 
The Raton Spur of the Rocky Mountains is crossed by plunging through a 
long tunnel. Here I was informed asthmatics, no matter how severe, lose 
their difficult breathing as they emerge into the pure air of New Mexico. 
Prom Raton, which is quite a town, to Las Vegas, there is a gradual descent. 
Here is the famous Maxwell grant, where are vast herds of cattle. Irriga- 
tion is making it productive. In this section many a consumptive young 
man years ago got well while “roughing it” as a “cowboy.” It is high 
(6,500 feet), warm, and dry—too dry, perhaps, and'dusty. 
Las Vegas and the hot springs are both a curiosity and a revelation. It is 
a surprise to And such an elegant hotel among the mountains, and hot and 
cold springs side by side. One can get all sorts of baths. I witnessed a mud 
bath. The patient is covered with the soft, hot mud, which is here strongly 
impregnated with valuable mineral ingredients, then thoroughly bathed or 
steamed, cooled, and wrapped to rest. Fresh mineral earth is at hand. The 
effect of this bath on certain skin affections is wonderful. The water shows 
many valuable ingredients. It is a Carlsbad. but it is also wonderfully strong 
in lithia. For rheumatism, syphilis, and skin diseases generally the waters 
have made wonderful cures. The Rocky Mountains here are broken, and 
the source of these springs suggests volcanoes and liquid available mineral 
ingredients of reliable medicinal value. The reputation of these waters ex- 
tends back many years. There will be a great flock of visitors when they be- 
come better known. 
Santa Fe I approached with dread on account of a weak, irritable heart 
that followed an injury to the spinesome months ago, but was agreeably dis- 
appointed. I could breathe with greater ease and slept better than in any 
place visited. 
I will not stop to describe my visit to t his quaint old town of crooked streets, 
adobe palaces, small fruitful gardens, and wonderful buildings, especially 
the oldest assembly hall, decorated with ancient war weapons; nor my re- 
ception by Governor Prince and many citizens; nor how I was feasted with 9 
the choicest of fruits (apples, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, small fruits, 
etc.). 
My stay was most pleasant, and I did not see an insect or reptile to render 
the life of the most helpless invalid a burden. The altitude of this city is 
about 7,000 feet; it is sunny and warm, with cool nights. The air is very dry. 
The rainfall is only about 14 inches, or one-fourth of that of my old New 
England home. The mountains surround it on all sides, and hence the 
air is very free from dust and must contain much ozone. The summer is 
very pleasant. In the winter it may be trying for the very feeble, but I saw 
many cases cured, and the mortality is very low. 
At Albuquerque we are in a lively, flourishing city, with a most delectable 
climate, on the mesa. On the river bottom the doctors informed me that 
they sometimes have intermittent fever to deal with, especially below the 
irrigating ditches. The roads are line after getting on the mesa leading 
into the mountains, where are springs of pure water and soda springs. Here 
can be taken desert claims (320 acres), and in the mountains mining claims. 
I was shown many people who came for their health. It certainly is a good 
point for consumptives. 
We pass on to Las Cruces, another Mexican town, where the finest grapes 
are raised. A 20-mile ride over the pass of the Organ Mountains, we come to 
the spot selected by Dr. Petin for a sanitarium. The road is not a difficult 
one and the air most invigorating. At a ranch affording all the comforts of 
civilization we spent the night. The young ladies, who have been here six- 
teen years, are models of health. At the foot of the mountain are many 
springs and a natural bathtub worn out of the rock. Here is a most desira- 
ble place for a sanitarium. 
El Paso is the “allopolis” of the Southwest—a great business center. The 
climate is fine, and a sheltered location on the east slope among the foot- 
hills promises to be a good retreat for invalids. 
As to the climate of Southwestern Kansas and Eastern Colorado, I submit 
that it will be preferable for a certain class of cases, such as incipient phthisis, 
with organic heart trouble and catarrhal complications. 
To sum up all my observations, from South to North, we have in Western 
Texas, all of New Mexico, part of Arizona, Southeastern Colorado, and South- 
western Kansas, especially the high ridge upon which the Arkansas flows, 
the health-giving climate in latitude, longitude, and altitude possessed by 
no other scope upon the earth. This whole section is equal to supporting 
the present population of the United States. That this is the sanitarium 
section of this country, especially for persons with weak lungs, let those 
who doubt my statements go see for themselves, and become convinced. 
The next witness I will call in this interesting discussion is Dr. 
Frederick W. Seward, of Goshen, N. Y., who seems to have had 
exceptional opportunities for making an intelligent investigar 
tion. Dr. Seward says: 
To the American Health Besort Association: 
Agreeable to your instructions the writer visited Western Kansas, Colo- 
rado, New Mexico, and Western Texas, and herewith submits his report upon 
the climatic conditions of the same. 
Passing westward beyond a line drawn through Kansas at its center from 
north to south we leave the rain belt and reach the eastern boundary of the 
dry or arid region, which extends westward to within a few miles of the Pa- 
cific coast, within this arid region a marked difference in soil and condi- 
tions of the atmosphere prevail from that in the rain belt. 
The soil of the prairie section is dry, porous, and impregnated largely in 
places with alkaline matter. 
Limestone and sandstone are underlying rock foundations in most of 
Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, while in New Mexico and 
Arizona volcanic rock is also abundant. From the character of the rock 
foundations, the soil, and the extreme dryness and purity of the atmosphere, 
it is evident no acid or noxious gaseous emanations prejudicial to health 
can arise from the earth’s surface. 
Atmospheric conditions are much the same in their chief characteristics 
in all this region, differing mainly as to the temperature in different lati- 
tudes and at different altitudes. These, however, are of great importance, 
bearing upon the invalid. The summer season is admirable in all parts of 
the West except in the extreme southern portion of New Mexico. North of 
New Mexico the winter months are objectionable and not well suited to the 
sensitive invalid. Take it all in all, New Mexico offers the best climatic con- 
ditions throughout the year of any of the continent. The soil, as has been 
stated, is dry and porous, yet, as a rule, well covered with grass, sandy wastes 
being infrequently found. 
The air is dry and pure. Dry because the rainfall is lower than in any 
other portion of the country of equal altitude, from 12 to 18inches; and again, 10 
because the precipitation is very rapid when it occurs, being principally in 
the form of showers, and the relative humidity is extremely small. 
Dry again because of the inventory of the sun’s rays and absence of cloudi- 
ness. From tables compiled from observations taken at various Govern- 
ment posts during a long series of years, we And the following conditions to 
obtain at points widely separated and which give accurate knowledge as to 
their principal climatic attributes: 
Cedar Keys. 
Santa Fe. 
San Diego. 
Spring. 
| Summer. 
P 
< 
Winter. 
Spring. 
| Summer. 
Autumn. 
Winter. 
| Spring. 
Summer. 
j Winter. 
Mean cloudiness 
38 
53 
30 
40 
35 
45 
23 
31 
38 
26 
26 
34 
Mean relative humidity 
73 
75 
77 
77 
36 
43 
60 
52 
72 
76 
69 
62 
Mean absolute humidity ... 
57 
91 
70 
50 
12 
37 
15 
11 
39 
57 
44 
29 
Mean rain and snow (inches) 
9 
35 
13 
12 
o 
8 
3 
2 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Seasonable temperature ... 
70 
83 
74 
00 
47 
66 
48 
30 
58 
68 
63 
54 
Percentage cloudiness in 
year 
40.4 
35.5 
31 
Absolute humidity 
67 
19 
42.50 
Precipitation (inches) 
59 
15 
8 
St. Paul, Minn. 
Atlantic City. 
El Paso. 
&C 
fl 
T> 
p> 
ca 
u* 
a> 
cn 
q 
I 
4-> 
0 
◄ 
u 
a 
a 
* 
1 
P. 
CA 
u 
V) 
0 
< 
.a 
£ 
1 
A 
CA 
0 
CA 
0 
< 
1 
£ 
Mean cloudiness 
Mean relative humidity 
Mean absolute humidity... 
Mean rain and snow (Inches) 
Seasonable temperature... 
Percentage cloudiness in 
year 
Absolute humidity 
Precipitation (inches) 
65 
63 
18 
7 
41 
51 
71 
51 
12 
67 
54 
24. 
29 
56 
68 
23 
7 
45 
50 
54 
77 
6 
3 
10 
55 
78 
37 
10 
46 
48 
80 
64 
12 
70 
49. 
39. 
44 
44 
69 
43 
11 
63 
76 
75 
52 
75 
15 
11 
33 
19 
34 
19 
1 
63 
28 
41 
43 
6 
81 
23. 
27. 
12 
20 
54 
30 
3 
61 
75 
25 
28 
60 
17 
2 
45 
From the foregoing It will be observed there is a marked difference in ab- 
solute humidity between Santa Fe and El Paso on the one hand, and the 
other four stations on the other. Also in the former the rainfall is largely 
during the summer months, occurring as before stated in showers, while in 
San Diego three-fourths of the precipitation occurs during the winter months, 
and in the three remaining stations is about evenly distributed among the 
four seasons. In explanation, the wide difference in percentage of absolute 
humidity and precipitation at San Diego is due to altitude, sea-level air car- 
rying much more moisture without precipitation necessarily occurring. 
By the physician climatology is to be studied from the hygienic ratherthan 
the therapeutic standpoint, and the effort to do the latter has probably given 
rise to much of the misinformation upon the subject, and is responsible for 
much of the disappointment resulting from changes made by Invalids, act- 
ing under advice given from false premises. Those attributes of climate 
which tend to the preservation in its integrity of organic life, or to the res- 
toration of vital energies, if impaired, and which have become well recog- 
nized as essential to this end, are: 
Dryness of air; dryness of soil; abundant sunshine; intensity of sun’s rays; 
purity of atmosphere; altitudes of 3,000 to 9,000 feet; diminished air pressure; 
absence of noxious gaseous emanations; absence of long-continued extremes 
of temperature. 
The above attributes give rise to another condition which to my mind is of 
Importance and deserving of further study. I refer to the increased electric 
tension of the body, which is experienced In dry atmospheres. Lessened in- 
duction of electric fluid gives rise to a more positive state of the body. A 
positive state is one of energy, functional activity, and, consequently, of in- 
creased nutrition and strength. It has been demonstrated within a coinpara- 11 
tively recent date that men employed about electrical works, and particularly 
on electric street cars, or where there is a large induction of electric fluid, 
have experienced immunity in a large degree from chronic ailments. 
The atmosphere immediately about them is heavily charged with elec- 
tricity, hence that within does not flow from them. “Virtue ” has not gone 
out of them. It is a question if the enervation we experience from warm, 
damp weather is not largely due to the rapid outflow of electric current, or, 
in other words, to a more negative state of the system. Contrast with this 
enervation the stimulating influence of a cold, clear, crisp atmosphere, where 
the humidity is congealed and the air becomes a less perfect conductor. In 
studying the climatology of our country from this standpoint, and admit- 
ting the value of the above-mentioned attributes, as we must, I am ready to 
affirm that in no other section will the perfection of these be so nearly found, 
or approached, as in New Mexico. With rare exceptions these attributes 
are to be sought for in the selection of a climatic change for the invalid. 
It is a common error to suppose that an even temperature is more con- 
ducive to health than frequent changes. Extreme changes, I admit, are not 
well borne by the invalid, but these are not the rule in the arid region, ex- 
cept at points contiguous to the snow-capped mountain peaks. While an 
even temperature means a moist atmosphere, long-continued extremes of 
temperature exhaust the system, and herein lies the explanation of the un- 
favorable effects of the climatic Influences of the health resorts of the South 
at sea-level altitudes, and at the North, in regions of continued cold, such as 
Minnesota. In the North, which is much dryer than in the South, the long ex- 
tremely cold winter saps the vitality of the invalid and he sinks under the 
exhaustion. In the south he dies, not from inability to keep up the waste 
from rapid combustion, but from inability to supply compensation for, or 
stay the rapid disorganization of, lung tissue, which is augmented by the 
moist, warm air. The consumptive in the South dies easily but very rapidly. 
In New Mexico the days are warm, but not oppressively so, while the nights 
are always cool. There being no dews the night air is never damp nor in 
the least injurious. One can sleep on the ground with no haunting dread of 
rheumatic pains or lameness on awaking. An actual observation demon- 
strates the fact that this applies as well to the invalid as to the robust indi- 
vidual. 
On this point of “variability vs. equability” I wish to quote Dr. Denison, 
of Denver, a recognized authority. He proves “by comparing twenty-five 
dry and twenty-five moist prominent stations and health resorts in the United 
States, and the fifteen moist and the fifteen least variable signal stations in 
the United States for 1883, how uniformly variability goes with dryness and 
equability with moisture. 
Variability is quite a uniform constituent of dry, high climates, and that 
as the dryness predominates, the marked variability is less felt, and is less, 
if at all, objectionable. On the other hand, marked atmospheric equability, 
wherever found, is prima facie evidence of excessive humidity. It is toady- 
ism to the mistakes of medical antiquity for equability to be any longer in- 
sisted on as a constituent of the best climate for phthisis. It is all right and 
essential for humid climates, but for dry, cold, and elevated resorts it is out 
of the question. 
Besides the quality of stimulation which is associated with variability, 
there is an important consideration in the purifying of the atmosphere, 
which variability indicates. This happens through the alternate expansion 
by heat and contraction of the air by cold, together with the nightly chilling- 
and sometimes freezing, which regularly renders it inimical to germ life. 
The purity of atmosphere which is representedfby warm, moist, and equable 
climates, is not to be compared with that purity which is represented by the 
opposite attributes. The first is where the temperature so continuously 
hovers within the limits of the microbe’s needs, where sound as well as heat 
is smothered in a short distance, and the sun’s rays give a dusky red glow. 
The second, indicating a comparative absence of germs, is where exposed 
meat can cure and not spoil; where far-distant objects appear near and the 
unobstructed rays of the sun give nearly as white a light as does an electric 
lamp. These characteristics of high climates New Mexico has to the full in 
common with other places. In the Rocky Mountain region the clearness or 
transparency of the air is a decided indication of its purity. So a large area, 
having throughout a similar atmosphere, through which one can see most 
remarkable distances, and besides probably be deceived as regards the same 
must indicate as does its coldness, rarefaction, and dryness, that the purity 
is approaching the absolute. 
This purity of air, dryness of soil, and warm but not oppressive days, to- 
gether with intense but genial sunshine, has the desired effect to keep the 
invalid in the open air constantly—one of the most essential points in the 
treatment of the chronic invalid. 
Be the cause of consumption what it may, whether as Koch and Cornet 
contend, always due to contagium, or as other assert, to heredity, the truth 12 
is, depreciation of vitality from whatever cause has a direct and positive 
bearing upon its development within the human organism. 
Those characteristics of climate, then, as before stated, which tend in the 
largest degree to the building up of the depreciated system, offer the most 
positive assurances of relief from the existing disabilities. 
This is not a matter of theory. One has but to visit most any section of the 
arid region of our country to find ample confirmation of the statement. So 
rapid has been the development throughout all this section that thousands of 
settlers, the majority of whom were doomed to chronic invalidism in the East 
and South, are to-day living examples of the beneficial effects of the climate. 
From weaklings they have been made strong; from a condition of help- 
lessness they have been transformed into beings of power; from a life of dis- 
comfort and wretchedness they have been issued into the blessed sunshine 
of healthfulness, contentment, and thrift. 
Also, in further confirmation, we have but to glance at the death rate from 
consumption in different States: 
Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island—25 in 100. 
Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York—20in 
100. 
Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Washington—16 
in 100. 
California, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin—14 in 100. 
Dakota, Iowa, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia—12 in 100. 
Illinois—11 in 100. 
Nebraska, Missouri, Montana—9 in 100. 
Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina—8 in 100. 
Alabama, Florida. Mississippi, Utah—6 in 100. 
Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas—5 in 100. 
New Mexico—3 in 100. 
It must not be supposed the remarkably low death rate in New Mexico is 
due to imperfect or too brief observations. We have abundant and reliable tes- 
timony to the contrary, and the bearing of all this testimony is emphatically 
in favor of New Mexico as a resort for the consumptive; but it is not the con- 
sumptive alone who is warranted in seeking this genial climate with the ex- 
pectation of finding relief from his sufferings. 
The writer has personal knowledge and experience as to its wonderful in- 
vigorating eflects upon the subject of nervous prostration, or ‘ Amerlcan- 
itis,” as it has been aptly termed. That state of the system which results 
from overtaxation, and which has become so common in our day by reason 
of the severe strain put upon us in the endeavor to keep pace with the de- 
mands of business and social duties, and which state, by reason of its ex- 
treme prostration, so surely invites the development of any latent or hered- 
itary form of diseases. 
Malnutrition and insomnia are the prominent features of such cases, and 
their prolongation must inevitably result in a fatal termination. 
However, under the stimulating effects of such climatic conditions as are 
found in New Mexico, enabling the Invalid to lie much in the open air and 
basking in the genial warmth and vivifying Influence of the sunshine, the 
dormant or suppressed functions of digestion or assimilation are awakened 
and called into a new activity; the blood, freighted with normal cell-produc- 
ing material, is sent coursing through the tissues of the body, and repair in- 
stead of waste becomes the order of the hour. Then the starved nerves, sat- 
isfied with their new diet, as the hungry man with his meat, go to rest and 
give sweet sleep, the chief of all restorers, to the wearied and diseased brain 
and body. Dyspepsia, rheumatism, scrofula in all its forms, in short all con- 
ditions of heredity or of malnutrition are favorably impressed here. 
The subject of organic heart disease should not be sent to an altitude of 
more than 1,500 feet or thereabout, and the consumptive whose normal 
breathing capacity has become impaired to the extent of 50 per cent should 
not go beyond an altitude of 2,500 feet at first. 
The hemorrhagic may be sent with advantage to 5,000 or 7,000 feet at once. 
The opinion that diminished air pressure contraindicates high altitudes has 
been abundantly disproved by actual experience. Rather high altitude Is 
now regarded as a reliable preventive. 
While perhaps enough has already been given to show the ad- 
vantages that the Rocky Mountain region offers for those suffer- 
ing from weak lungs, I can not refrain from incorporating an 
exceedingly interesting paper received a few days ago from Dr. 
George M. Kellogg, of East Las Vegas, N. Mex. The only hes- 
itancy I feel in giving this paper, is that it relates wholly to New 
Mexico, and the fear that so much testimony in behalf of that 
Territory may arouse the suspicion that the case is prejudged. 13 
Such is not the fact. If the Commission is appointed a thorougn 
examination will be made of every available place, and the de- 
cision reached will be upon the best obtainable information. In 
sending his contribution Dr. Kellogg writes as follows: 
East Las Vegas, N. Mex., March 29,1892. 
Dear Sir: People of this Territory have remarked with interest that you 
have introduced a hill into the Senate concerning the sanitary claims of the 
Rocky Mountain country. Much has been published on this subject, written 
by tourists who interviewed the country only from a car window, but I have 
been moved to give you the views and observations of a physician, based 
on several years of experience and the study of climatology throughout the 
length and breadth of the Territory. If there is any matter in the paper that 
you may wish to make use of you may depend upon it as reliable, justified 
by observation, careful statistics, and by human history. 
Very respectfully, 
GEORGE M. KELLOGG. M. D. 
Hon. J. H. Galling er. 
Dr. Kellogg’s theme is “ New Mexico as a health resort,” of 
which he writes in the following entertaining and instructive 
way: 
The Rocky Mountain region, especially the mountains and upland plains 
of New Mexico, is a land lifted by nature into the pure serene, for the general 
invigoration of the race. 
New Mexico, with a portion of Arizona belonging to the Rocky Mountain 
crest, and its eastern slope, has, perhaps, the most equable climate known. 
There are no extremes of winter-cold or of summer-heat while there is a nota- 
ble absence of dampness in air and earth. Little moisture is left for this 
region after the hot winds of the Southern Pacific are wrung dry by the coast 
ranges. The elevation of this country—from four to eight thousand feeb—is 
just sufficient to mitigate that oppressiveness from summer heat which oth- 
erwise would be seriously felt in these latitudes from 37° to 32°. The winter 
months throughout this region, owing to the ever-present sunshine and the 
positive shelter of the mountains themselves, afford the most satisfactory 
retreats yet proposed for invalids. 
The purity of the air is shown in the absence of atmospheric dust and dis- 
ease germs. Its notable clearness over the plains has been remarked for 
many years. Objects are distinctly visible miles away, which in the average 
atmosphere would be hidden by fog and dust, 
With a sun visible nearly every day in the year, and often for months with- 
out a cloud-fleck to obstruct its direct rays, the sun heat is yet really grateful 
instead of oppressive. The native, when enfeebled by illness or age, basks 
in the sun. It is the best medicine that he knows. It renews his youth by 
quickening life at its springs. 
The invalid and valetudinarian feels at once this mild stimulus. Simply 
to breathe the air seems a luxury and a delight. 
A noted peculiarity of this upland country is the coolness of the nights 
even in the extremes of summer. The earth, heated by the continuous sun- 
shine, freely radiates at night its surplus, there being no blanketing clouds 
to confine or intercept. Uninterrupted and balmiest sleep is thus insured, 
bringing healing upon its wings; while the absence of noisome insects to 
torture is an additional security. 
It is certain that change of climate as a curative measure, promising 
though it be, requires means in abundance to secure its best effects. But as 
though nature were willing to bestow her best resources on the poor as well 
as the rich, the benefit of this climate is open to all at a minimum of cost. 
The least expensive structures afford ample shelter and security at all sea- 
sons. 
Nourishing food can be obtained on the average at its cost in our great 
population-centers; fuel, too, is largely unnecessary where the sun’s largess 
is ever-present and grateful. 
Not to mention the beautiful and abundant building stones the Mexican 
adobe houses of sun-burnt brick are delightfully cool in summer and warm 
in winter. These may be built of materials at hand, or, by larger outlays, 
can be made as luxurious as could be desired. Along the leading routes of 
travel such might be conveniently located, and nowhere be more than an hour 
away from skilled physicians and needed supplies. 
While the elevations of New Mexico, from four to eight thousand feet, pos- 
sess the same essential climatic features, each altitude has some special 
desirable quality. 
The plains are more uniformly dry and their winters less rigorous than in 
or near the mountains. 5a. all these sections the atmosphere has the char- 
acteristic clearness, save for occasional dust storms. 14 
The mountains catch the greater part of the rain and snow and furnish the 
chief water courses and supplies for irrigation in the Territory. 
The summer rains, from the middle of July to September, are chiefly ob- 
served in the mountains and are quite transient. In the plains these are un- 
common and there is an almost entire absence of dew. 
Nature, as though to confound the wise, shows vegetable life in hundreds 
of native species, flourishing on the plains with wondrous healthfulness— 
unvlsited by that mold or fungus so conspicuously inimical to plant life in 
damp regions. The cryptogamous plant world, which elsewhere sends its 
spores and disease-producing germs across the world, is almost unrepre- 
sented in the dry plains and mountains. Fungi. lims.-cs. ferns, lichens, and 
liverworts, which thrive so signally in the damp and dark, iind small en- 
couragement in the Sunshine State. 
The experiments of Tyndall to demonstrate the purity of the atmosphere 
in the Alpine glaciers can be repeated even in the foothills of the Rocky 
Mountains, at an elevation of from four to seven thousand feet. On the 
plains, at four to five thousand feet, putrescence is almost impossible. The 
ordinary ranchman knows that he may with impunity hang his venison or 
beef under a tree or shed for weeks, even in summer. 
The manifold vermin of the infusorial and of the insect world are not 
tempted to climb or fly to this region from their eastern homes. 
Most men believe that in the general upbuilding and economy of the 
earth “some steadfast purpose runs.” Have not these mountains been 
pushed up in accordance with a plan which involves the general good of 
being? 
The genius of modem civilization may be maritime, but that of the most 
ancient periods certainly was not. The early home of the Caucasian race 
was in the uplands of Asia. The shepherds on the oriental mountains stud- 
ied and named the stars ages before the first frail shallop was launched from 
the shore. The early Phoenician navigator had learned elsewhere to trust 
the stars before he ventured himself and fortunes on the waves. 
The Aztec and Peruvian civilization originated in the mountains and 
plains of the western continent. It may well be, then, that those Influences 
which led men to cultivate religion, art, and science in the early period still 
remain as an earth heritage to future mountain dwellers. 
History in certain broad senses repeats itself. It is at least certain that 
nature has upreared these mountains in order to diversify the conditions of 
mankind, to vary their industries, their resources, and character. The phys- 
ical well-being of the race, as well as its moral and intellectual nature, may 
here again find its highest expression. It is certainly possible for such as 
can not have the privilege in crowded and stifled cities to live clean and 
healthful lives in the mountains. 
Even in the most prolonged summer heats sunstroke is unknown in New 
Mexico. Diseases associated with malaria are excessively rare. Acute rheu- 
matism, pleurisy, and pneumonia seem incident only to special and unneces- 
sary exposures to cold night air and subterranean damp, peculiar to a miner’s 
or cowboy’s life. The diseases for which the mountain climate may be claimed 
as a prophylactic are, first, those deadly disorders of Infancy, "summer com- 
plaint ” and cholera Infantum. Abdominal disorders are rare. Typhoid and 
typhus fever are but feebly represented by the dreaded “mountain fever,” 
which is neither so deadly nor so common as those diseases in the East. 
There are some neuroses, like chorea, which seem to be aggravated in this 
country. On the plains, however, neuralgic disorders, with due avoidance of 
night air, are, as a rule, benefited. But of all diseases incident to humanity, 
lung troubles, like tubercular consumption, bronchial consumption, and 
asthma, are the most uncommon among the native population. 
Invalids with lung diseases seem to be greatly relieved and often posi- 
tively cured. 
It is almost certain that where there is simple tuberculous cachexia the 
mountain climate will eradicate it. It is only in the late stages of phthisis 
that improvement is not at once experienced on change to New Mexico. Bron- 
chitis and asthma are generally greatly relieved and are often cured by sim- 
ple residence. But where the lungs are riddled by disease and tied down by 
adhesions the very rarity of the atmosphere becomes a disadvantage. 
The striking feature of the mountain country Is the diathermancy of the 
air. Less heat is absorbed by the atmosphere than in the lowlands; this 
obviates, in great measure, the oppressiveness of the air. Moreover, there 
is on this account an immediate and great difference between temperatures 
in sunshine and in the shade. 
This difference has been calculated as 1° Fahrenheit for every 230 feet of 
vertical ascent. This gives for elevations of 6.000 feet above 20° Fahrenheit 
difference. But the effect on the sunshine of the absence of aqueous vapor 
in overcoming its direct depressing influence Is something for which there 
is no accurate measure. Perhaps at the crest of the continent there Is an 
electric or other earth aura which ameliorates the sunshine and causes it to 
invigorate and quicken the pulses of life. 15 
Statistics have proved that the West India Islands and all the shores of our 
Gulf States are unfavorable for most lung diseases and rheumatic fevers. 
They are known also as hot-beds of malaria and of abdominal disorders gen- 
erally. The same is true of the climate of India. 
The boasted climate of Nice and Mentone, save for a short period of the 
year, is found a signal failure. This is true of all the islands and shores of 
the Mediterranean. Except the parched land of Egypt, no region has been ad- 
mitted by English authorities as especially favorable for lung troubles. The 
exception is probably due to the dry though hot atmosphere. Egypt is, how- 
ever, the home of the plague, cholera, of abdominal diseases, of ophthalmia, 
and a thousand discomforts. 
Great Britain in her ambition to possess the earth has accomplished one 
important matter at least, though at great expense of life and treasure. 
She has tested many climates by means of her army. Her published health 
and death rolls have established the extreme unhealthfulness of Gibraltar, 
of the islands and shores of the Mediterranean, of the Black Sea, of India, 
China, the valley of the Nile, the West Indies, Central America, and Dema- 
rara, Canada, Australia, and her own foggy shores have given the best re- 
turns of salubrity as shown in England’s army reports—a sad record at best. 
The Kirghees steppes, near the Caspian Sea, though below the sea level, 
owing to its extreme dry air, has been observed, as in the valley of the Nile, 
to be favorable for tuberculous disease. 
In the elevated plains of Persia and Armenia, at elevations of from six to 
seven thousand feet, phthisis is much benefited. 
In the Alps, at St. Moritz on the river Inn, in the valley of the Upper En- 
gadine are spas and winter cures, where some happy results have been ex- 
perienced, despite harsh air and inclemency. Davos at an elevation of 5,300 
feet has, of late, been much lauded as a health resort for consumptives. 
The elevated plateau of Anahuac, in Mexico, has borne for several centuries 
a reputation for salubrity. The plain of Quito, though directly under the equa- 
tor, at an elevation of 9,000 feet, has a well-established claim for general health- 
fulness, as have Montana and Potosi, at still greater elevations. 
New Mexico, with its clear, dry air, affords a great contrast to many moun- 
tain regions, particularly to the Alps. These, placed between near and 
sharply-contrasted seas, the superheated Mediterranean, the fierce, cold Bal- 
tic, and the stormswept Atlantic, have ever been the cradle of storms and 
climatic excess. The mountain tops are eternally capped with snow and gla- 
ciers; their low valleys are hotbeds of miasm and dampness, where con- 
sumption and cretinism prevail. 
The cold sides of the Alps are to-day, however, lined with hotels and pen- 
sions for invalids, who try to imagine themselves benefited by gazing on 
ice-clad peaks and mountain torrents. 
There is this to proclaim, and it is of higher importance than the story of 
lands of matchless fertility, or of hills seamed through with precious metals, 
in the Rocky Mountains there is an area of 1,000 miles by 300, with a climate 
the most serene and invigorating of all that have been tested or in any proper 
sense demonstrated. 
In pursuing my investigations on this subject the fact has been 
developed that one of the earliest and most intelligent advocates 
of a national sanitarium was Dr. W. Thornton Parker, of Beverly, 
Mass. Dr. Parker was for a considerable period a United States 
army surgeon at White Earth Indian Reservation, Minn., and 
subsequently was stationed in Texas, New Mexico, and the In- 
dian Territory. Dr. Parker made a special study of lung dis- 
eases and climatology and has written much on the subject, both 
for the newspaper press and magazines, an article from his pen 
appearing in Treat’s Manual for 1891. At the Ninth Interna- 
tional Medical Congress Dr. Parker read a paper in which he 
said: 
If there be any class of sufferers who have endured more from many phy- 
sicians, that class comes under the head of consumptives. Dragged about 
the world from the ice mountains of Switzerland to the swamps o f Florida 
dosed with nauseating cod-liver oil and countless medicines more or less de- 
bilitating, tormented with the outrageous Bergen’s method, then hoping 
that oxygen inhalation would be the thing; shut up in cabinets, nearly 
baked to death in ovens; surely the record is a pitiful one. 
This physician scouts the Koch method as only another install- 
ment of torture and delusive hope for the consumptive, and urges 
as a substitute for all of these things the “climate cure,” which, 16 
he asserts, can be found in the great plains of Colorado and New 
Mexico. There, he says, can be found “pure and life-giving 
sunshine, the rational cure for consumption.” 
Dr. Parker points out the fact that England has given this 
method of cure a fair trial with satisfactory results. The Gov- 
ernment, some years ago, located for this purpose a consumptive’s 
hospital at St. Lawrence, Isle of Wight. The hospital is built 
on the separate-cottage plan, no communication existing between 
the houses except by a subway running from end to end, by 
which each house is supplied direct from the kitchen. After 
citing the methods practiced at this retreat and comment- 
ing upon their beneficial results to this class of patients, Dr. 
Parker urges upon the United States Government the propriety 
of establishing a national sanitarium in our great Western health 
section. 
With the mass of testimony above given little need be added 
to show the desirability of the legislation proposed. It matters 
little whether or not consumption is contagious—a view firmly 
held by a large majority of educated American physicians—the 
startling fact remains that it is a fearful destroyer of human life. 
Whether the disease is always hereditary, or whether the bac- 
teria of tuberculosis, the identity of which the microscope of 
the medical scientist has established, can be communicated from 
patient to attendant, consumption is a tremendous fact, and the 
Government can well afford to make a liberal outlay to lessen 
its ravages and stay its deadly work. 
With a death rate of 25 per cent in New England from this 
disease, of 20 per cent in the Middle States and at the capital 
of the nation, and a gradual reduction until it reaches 3 per cent 
in New Mexico, it surely is the dictate of wisdom for the Govern- 
ment to lend its aid in the beneficent work contemplated by the 
legislation under consideration. Private individuals have done 
much and wrill do more, but private means are not sufficient to 
accomplish the best results. The aid of the National Govern- 
ment, intelligently administered and economically used, will in- 
spire the heart and nerve the arm of those now engaged in this 
blessed work, and from all over our land, from the homes of de- 
spondency and distress, prayers of thanksgiving will be offered 
for help that may save life and restore to robust manhood and 
womanhood those who are now battling with inherited disease 
under adverse and unequal conditions. 
After all, the highest and noblest purposes of government are 
to secure the happiness and prosperity of the people, and surely 
no legislation can be thought of that promises so much for the 
well-being of a large class of our citizens as that for which I 
plead. All over our land the Macedonian cry is heard, and with 
anxious heart and earnest hope the stricken ones plead for na- 
tional sympathy and national help. Surely that cry will not go 
unheeded; surely that help will not be withheld.