cool lake air, which
brings refreshing slumbers to the people of blessed, breezy Buffalo."

EQUABILITY OF CLIMATE.

[Illustration:
One of our Physician's Rooms--Bureau of Correspondence--Invalids'
Hotel and Surgical Institute.]

Then, in regard to _equability of climate_, the great desideratum for
invalids in any locality, here again sentiment and science are greatly
at variance. An examination of the official records of the Signal
Service Bureau, and the statistics of the Smithsonian Institute, showed
that out of a list of forty cities on the continent Buffalo ranked
highest for equability of climate. Thus we quote from an editorial in
the _Advertiser_ of the same issue: "While the aggregate of change for
Buffalo stood at 67 for the year, that of Philadelphia reached 204,
Washington was 224, Cincinnati 205, St. Louis 171. Winchester, in one of
the healthiest parts of Virginia, reached as high as 201. Aiken, in
South Carolina, a famous resort for invalids, touched 220. St.
Augustine, one of the lowest in the list, showed a much less equable
climate than that of Buffalo, being 94 to our 67." The transition from
summer to winter, and _vice versa_, is exceedingly gradual, and,
consequently, Buffalonians are seldom afflicted with those epidemic
diseases which generally appear in other localities during the spring
and summer months. Thus the thermometric readings of the Signal Service
Bureau for 1873, show that the average temperature for July and August
was 74 deg.. For September it was about 64 deg., which was again reduced by
about 10 deg. for October. The monthly average for November was 73 deg., and for
December 25 deg., which was also the average for January. Then the readings
for February showed an average of 26 deg., for March 32 deg., and 43 deg. for April.
A more equable and gradual transition from midsummer heat to midwinter
cold cannot be shown by any locality on this continent. Seldom does the
mercury rise above ninety during our warmest summers, or fall below zero
in our most severe winters. In J. Disturnal's work, entitled "The
Influence of Climate in North and South America," published by Van
Nostrand, in 1867, the climate of Buffalo is thus characterized: "From
certain natural causes, no doubt produced by the waters of Lake Erie,
the winters are less severe, the summers less hot, the temperature night
and day more equable, and the transition from heat to cold less rapid,
in Buffalo than in any other