RT Journal
T1 Medical climatology: Climatic and weather influences in health and disease
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1939
FD December 16
VO 113
IS 25
SP 2263
OP 2263
DO 10.1001/jama.1939.02800500069030
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1939.02800500069030
AB Chapter I opens by differentiating sharply between weather and climate. By weather in a meteorologic sense is meant the sum total of atmospheric conditions prevailing from hour to hour and from day to day or week to week. Climate, however, refers to average conditions over many years or decades and while more stable than weather should not be thought of as a fixed term to cover unchanging values. This book deals definitely with variations in climate; i. e., different climatic areas rather than with weather as defined. Climate, Mills says, plays a distinct part in average body heat loss and energy output, therefore exerting a preponderant role in the existence of man and other warm blooded animals. There is a climatic dominance of growth, fertility, metabolism, body resistance, vascular system and other human functions. Mills has not attempted in this book to cite the mass of evidence for the role