Outdoor air

“ Now and again a puff of east wind—life-giving—would stir the whole countryside and pass on, leaving us glowing under a sun which warmed every cranny, and made the section of air just above the flat fields rock with heat. ”

“ The sprinkling of trees and bushes, the multitude of flowers, assure us that there must be moisture underground, along the bed of the stream; but above ground there is not a drop, and not a breath of wind to break the dead calm of the smothering air. ”

“ We must seek it among the leafless woods and the brambly lanes, on the heathy moors and the great still hills, if we want to feel its joyous breath and hear its silent voices. There is a glorious freshness in the spring there. The scurrying clouds, the open bleakness, the rushing wind, and the clear bright air thrill one with vague energies and hopes. ”

“ Outdoors, particularly when the play of diffused light and the movement of all the objects is continually felt, either through their own elasticity or because of the heat and light waves, this study is most necessary, if you would get the feeling of freedom, space, and air. ”

“ The air is moist and smells pungent with the slight odor of flowers and undefined scents of rainforest vegetation. Because the sunshine quickly penetrates openings in the natural canopy of leaves above our field station, the light is clear, and the colors are brilliant and saturated. ”

“ As the wind, wandering over the sea, takes from each wave an invisible portion, and brings to those on shore the ethereal essence of ocean, so the air lingering among the woods and hedges—green waves and billows—became full of fine atoms of summer. ”

“ I walk over the hills, to compare great things with small, as through a gallery of pictures, ever and anon looking through a gap in the wood, as through the frame of a picture, to a more distant wood or hillside, painted with several more coats of air. It is a cheap but pleasant effect. To a landscape in picture, glassed with air.
What is a horizon without mountains?
A field of water betrays the spirit that is in the air. It has new life and motion. It is intermediate between land and sky. On land, only the grass and trees wave, but the water itself is rippled by the wind. ”

“ Place me on the coasts beyond the tropics—place me where the wind blows toward the shore in the day-time, and toward the sea by night—and I instantly advance toward conclusive experiments. For example, I know that the heat of the sun during the day rarefies the air over the land, and so causes the wind. ”

“ The sun which comes down through the cloudless medium of an atmosphere unscreened by the usual curtain of vapor, parches and crisps the thirsty soil, whilst the winds that sweep uninterruptedly over the unbroken expanse, fill the air, during the dry season, with sand and dust. ”

“ The open air which the wind purifies by keeping it in motion is the best place in which to work, to play, and to sleep, when work and play are done and we rest until another day comes. Indoors we need all the air we can coax to come in through windows and doors. ”

“ After nightfall the air on mountain peaks and on hills and ridges soon becomes cooler than the air at the same elevation out over the open valley, due to contact with the elevated earth, which radiates heat and cools faster than the air. ”

“ In the depths of a forest, or in a narrow valley, the wind, if felt at all by the traveller, gives scarcely any clue to the movement of the air over the open country, but in most cases the movements of low clouds, when any are in sight, may be taken as a fairly satisfactory test. ”

“ Familiarity with all these atmospheric conditions can be acquired only after long practice. Against every tree, house, hill, fence, and hedge beats an invisible surf of air; upward currents on one side and downward on the other. ”

“ The north wind sweeping the bare stubble fields and winding its shivering horn through the leafless trees does sometimes pierce my warm coat and strike a chill into my heart. Then how empty and cold seems the outdoor world! ”

“ A strong current of air frequently blows down the valley and renders it occasionally in its shady parts a cold walk for the invalid, who must in winter months carry wraps for use when either he gets out of sunshine or the sun retires behind a cloud. ”

“ It possesses all the virtue of the sea air without the moisture which ultimately loosens the joints, and seems to penetrate to the very nerves. Those who desire air and quick recovery should go to the hills, where the wind has a scent of the sunbeams. ”

“ Come off the open field with the east wind cutting into you, and get inside they firs and you’ll feel warm in a minute. If you goes into the ash wood you must go in farther, because the wind comes more between the poles.” Fresh air, exercise, frugal food and drink, the odour of the earth and the trees—these have given him, as he nears his sixtieth year, the strength and vitality of early manhood. ”

“ The air of the out-door world, of the woods and hills, is, par excellence, a product of Nature—of wild, free, and untamable Nature—and therefore the presumptive source of innumerable evils. Cold air is the general scapegoat of all sinners against Nature. ”

“ Nevertheless, the tenderest tourist finds it warm enough in summer. The air is electric and full of ozone, healing, reviving, exhilarating, kept pure by frost and fire, while the scenery is wild enough to awaken the dead. It is a glorious place to grow in and rest in ”

“ In this way the sun-waves and the air carry off water everyday, and all day long, from the top of lakes, rivers, pools, springs, and seas, and even from the surface of ice and snow. Without any fuss or noise or sign of any kind, the water of our earth is being drawn up invisibly into the sky. ”

“ They float across the sky. The little particles unite and form rain-drops. They sprinkle the dry fields. At night the grass and flowers become cool. The air is not so cool. The warm air touches the grass and flowers. ”

“ But we should never end were we to characterize all the beautiful spots, the entrancing walks and drives to be found amid these cool and healthful slopes and plateaus. A difference of at least ten degrees is felt between the mountain resorts and the villages on the river bank, and the air is inexpressibly fresh and invigorating. ”

“ The wind coming up the cliff seems to bring with it whole armfuls of sunshine, and to throw the warmth and light against you as you linger. The walls and glass reflect the light and push back the wind in puffs and eddies; the awning flutters; light and wind spring upwards from the pavement; the sky is richly blue against the parapets overhead; there are houses on one side, but on the other open space and sea, and dim clouds in the extreme distance. The atmosphere is full of light, and gives a sense of liveliness! every atom of it is in motion. ”

“ But in the after part of the day, the heat of the sun, acting more powerfully upon the arable lands and objects in the fore-ground of this mountainous range, rarified the air more highly upon the shores than on the sea, which produced a tendency in the winds to blow towards the land. ”

“ One essential condition, however, in this case is, that there shall be room enough, with ample verandahs, and shaded gravel walks, which will afford opportunities for open air exercise in all states of the weather. ”

“ You know how the pebbles look beneath a clear running stream; and the things which we see through air in this state all seem to be similarly moving or quivering. It is easy then to imagine how masses of heated air would rise up from the side of a mountain-range which faces the sun,—that is, the southern side,—while on the other, or northern side they cast a soft shadow for leagues over the plains at their feet. ”

“ When I have walked all day in vain under the torrid sun, and the world has been all trivial,—as well field and wood as highway,—then at eve the sun goes down westward, and the wind goes down with it, and the dews begin to purify the air and make it transparent, and the lakes and rivers acquire a glassy stillness, reflecting the skies, the reflex of the day. ”

“ Hence the air is very pure, free from organic germs, intensely exhilarating and buoyant.
Sportsmen are livingly aware of the recuperative power of the Highland air. Perhaps these city men do not benefit so much by the easy walking exercise on the grouse moors as in breathing the splendidly delight-inspiring air. What a change one feels there in a very few hours!
“A change of air” is an old wives’ adage. But much of the weather-lore of our forefathers was based on real scientific principles only now coming to light. Nature is ever true, but it requires patience to unravel her secrets. ”

“ We, therefore, open the window and door in order to create a current of fresh air, and so allow the oxygen to be renewed. In this we but imitate nature, which sends a wind to purify the close atmosphere on warm summer days. ”

“ Forests produce rain. Under the influence of vertical sun-rays trees exhale the aqueous vapors which their leaves have absorbed from the atmosphere, and in contact with the night-air or any stray current of lower temperature, these vapors discharge rain-showers even in midsummer, and at a great distance from the sea. ”

“ He liked the air, and above all the transparent, tender, naive, virgin tone which can be seen in nature only twice in the year: when everything is covered in snow, on the bright days in spring, and on moonlight nights when the ice breaks on the river. ”

“ Besides, a great deal of the beneficial effect said to be produced by the water ought with more reason to be ascribed to the delightful mountain air, and the charming walks, drives, and rides, which entice visitors to spend the greater part of the day in healthy rambles. ”

“ Now that there is no vegetation, the barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and cause their moisture to be disseminated. ”

“ A land where the eye had freedom to rove over wide spaces of green right away to a circling horizon of blue, and a wild wind swept over it, fresh, cool, and laden with the pungent scent of marsh flowers—as fresh and cool as the wind that sweeps over the sea, only without its salt savour. The wind was making holiday; it tossed the long grasses and reeds about, it bent down the hedges before it, it made mimic waves and Lilliputian tempests on the ponds that we passed. It is wind that gives life to a scene, and the strife of it stirred the blood in our veins. ”

“ In regard to the climate, it must be remembered that the woods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulation of air, and the continual vigorous vegetation furnishes such a prodigious quantity of vapour, that a thick fog covers the whole country all night, and a great part of the morning, continuing till either the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersed by a brisk sea-breeze. ”

“ Mountains also assist in the formation of clouds. When a wind laden with moisture strikes against a mountain, it is tilted and flows up its side. The air expands as it rises, the vapour is chilled and becomes visible in the form of clouds, and if sufficiently chilled, it comes down to the earth in the form of rain, hail, or snow. ”

“ When night comes, however, then the land loses its heat very quickly, because it has not stored it up and the land-air grows cold; but the sea, which has been hoarding the sun-waves down in its depths, now gives them up to the atmosphere above it, and the sea-air becomes warm and rises. ”

“ The seashore is properly a great national playground during the heat of summer. Evaporated spray leaves a trace of salt in the air which, with the salt of the ocean, seems to be beneficial to many. Likewise there is no condition of life that is not benefited by the pure air of the wooded mountains. ”

“ Observation, based on an experience of considerable length, justifies me, I think, in saying that climate, altitude, and electrical conditions are not without their influence in the production of the cerebral state necessary to the exercise of the faculty I have described. Dry air, high levels, and a crisp, calm, exhilarating atmosphere favor its activity ”

“ The summer days in the lower valleys are quite warm, but, as the dry atmosphere rapidly absorbs the perspiration of the body, it prevents the debilitating effect experienced where the air is heavier and more saturated with moisture. ”

“ They get all the sea air and out-of-door life that they can crowd into one month. One lady said to me one day, "I can't bathe, but I take a 'bain d'air' every day—I sit on the rocks as far out in the water as I can—take off my hat and my shoes and stockings." ”

“ Mountains may be more cloudy and rainy than plains, for the currents of air that cross them must rise, and in rising they cool by expansion and often reach the dew point of the air, moisture being precipitated in the form of clouds, rain, or snow. ”

“ On high ridges, where the winds have a free sweep, magnificent overcurling cornices are formed, which, with the avalanche piles, last as fountains almost all summer; and when an exceptionally high wind is blowing from the north, the snow, rolled, drifted, and ground to dust, is driven up the converging northern slopes of the peaks and sent flying for miles in the form of bright wavering banners, displayed in wonderful clearness and beauty against the sky. ”

“ A portion of this heat, being imparted to the superincumbent air, causes it to rise, when the air, first from the beach, then from the sea, to the distance of several miles, begins to flow in with a most delightful and invigorating freshness. ”

“ The air must be dry and clear, there must be little or no wind, or if there is a wind it must be a strong one from the south and west that has already driven the smoke from the western edge of the town. ”