Still, these will not altogether account for the fact, nor is it to my
mind explained by any of the more obvious faults in our climate, nor yet
by our habits of life, such as furnace-warmed houses, hasty meals, bad
cooking, or neglect of exercise. Let a man live as he may, I believe he
will still discover that mental labor is with us more exhausting than we
could wish it to be. Why this is I cannot say, but it is not more
mysterious than the fact that agents which, as sedatives or excitants,
affect the great nerve-centres, do this very differently in different
climates. There is some evidence to show that this is also the case with
narcotics; and perhaps a partial explanation may be found in the manner
in which the excretions are controlled by external temperatures, as well
as by the fact which Dr. Brown-Sequard discovered, and which I have
frequently corroborated, that many poisons are retarded in their action
by placing the animal affected in a warm atmosphere.
It is possible to drink with safety in England quantities of wine which
here would be disagreeable in their first effect and perilous in their
ultimate results. The Cuban who takes coffee enormously at home, and
smokes endlessly, can do here neither the one nor the other to the same
degree. And so also the amount of excitation from work which the brain
will bear varies exceedingly with variations of climatic influences.
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