|
From the foregoing remarks, it is proved that the air of Harrogate
is particularly dry and not so cold as people imagine. It
therefore follows that it may be truly said to be a suitable place
for residence all the year round. Many people, in the winter, can
better bear and feel invigorated by a dry cold, than when they
shiver and feel chilled by a "damp cold." And this does
not apply only to the strong; but weak patients also, when serious
disease does not exist, bear the bracing air and enjoy it. Of
course, one hears of people being dissuaded from making
Harrogate a place of permanent residence. But this is by those
who are not acquainted with the facts.
Persons who have suffered from the debilitating effect of
relaxing damp climates, with all the attendant horrors, such as
neuralgia, loss of appetite, and sleep, find that the dry, cold,
tonic power of the air works the cure appetite returns, digestion
improves, "Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,"
requires no sedatives to woo it, and the mind and body are left in
a healthier condition.
In an ideal summer, like the last - 1898 - the air was lovely.
Even in the hot months of August and September, when other places
in the South and even in Scotland were sweltering in the heat,
Harrogate was bearable and. enjoyable. There is always what is
known as a "kick" in the air here.
One sometimes hears that Harrogate is "such a windy
place." Well, I cannot say that it is not. We certainly get a
fair amount of wind, but it comes from a pure quarter, viz., from
the Yorkshire hills, moors, and wolds. We know that ozone, an
allotropic modification of oxygen, exists in the air in small
quantities, but in greater proportion in the country than in
confined cities, having the power of destroying offensive odours,
and is in itself a powerful bleacher and intense oxidiser.
|
