Bethesda.

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NICHOLS' BARK AND IRON.

Pilatka

the second city in size on the St. John's River, — a city where the tourist or invalid may pleasantly pass a few days, and, from which he would make the excursion up the Ocklawaha River to Silver Springs.

For a hundred and fifty miles the little steamer winds her way in and out along the narrow pathway arched by the overhanging trees. On either side, a wild, dense jungle, an impenetrable swamp, full of snakes, alligators, turtles, and strange reptiles. At night, the wild tropical scenery is illuminated by an immense bonfire of pitch-pine knots, and this gives to the scene a strange, weird, and almost unearthly appearance.

At last we come to the spring, one of the most remarkable of all the natural wonders of this State.

Upon the Upper St. John's we have Sanford and Enterprise ; but the invalid will be more interested in a few words respecting the interior.

In our judgment, the time is not far distant when all persons who visit Florida in search of health will pass by all the health resorts which we have mentioned, and locate somewhere on the broad plateau of rolling pine lands, between Sanford on the St. John's and Tampa on the Gulf. No swamps, but a dry soil, clear atmosphere, good water, every day a trade wind from the Gulf to the Atlantic, and no malaria.

At this point we hear the consumptive, and the thousands of sufferers from bronchitis and various throat troubles, anxiously inquiring what advice we have for them.

We answer: The suitableness of a climate for consumptives and for bronchial affections is based upon statistics of actual results attained.

Dryness, elevation, and equability of temperature are, in the order named, the climatic conditions favorable to the arrest and ultimate

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BETHESDA.

cure of consumption. Mere degrees of temperature — hot, cold, and cool — represent so many sensations as experienced by different individuals, and are not to be considered particularly ; but sudden or persistent changes in the humidity of the air, or extremes of heat and cold, are to be avoided. Apply these simple tests to Florida. What is the answer? After careful and persistent inquiry, we know of no place respecting which there is such a diversity of opinion as regards the healthfulness of the climate, as Florida. We know of no place where you will find so many disappointed people as in Florida.

Undoubtedly, hundreds have been cured and thousands benefited by a more or less protracted visit to Florida. There are a larger number who have made a fatal mistake in going there. We advise all invalids, before they leave home, to remember that a place suitable to one class of patients is altogether unsuitable for another class.

You should therefore find out just what kind of climate is indicated in your case, and where that particular place is to be found.

Do not rush about from place to place, eating everything, trying to see everything, being constantly fretted and annoyed by the friction of travelling and the lack of comfort in hotels, seeking for some fancied "BETHESDA," which, like the Will of the Wisp, evades you grasp.

Rather find a sunny, comfortable place, some place where the climatic conditions are favorable to your particular case ; and if you cannot find such, stay at home, where you will be surrounded by friends, have all the home delicacies and comforts necessary to the invalid, and where you can have the advice of your family physician.

Think and act in view of some such suggestions as these : —

1. Tubercular consumption does its work usually between the age of sixteen and thirty-five, when the brain acquires its full growth and power, when there is the greatest drain upon the constitution. One of the most important things is, therefore, to build up, to strengthen

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