364 THE PULSE OF ASIA
popular belief in the highly invigorating influence of clear, cool weather. They show, however, that although in damp, muggy weather people feel disagreeable and suppose themselves ready to do all sorts of evil things, as a matter of fact, they do not do them. The vital functions are depressed so far that there is no surplus energy to spend in doing anything very active, either good or bad. The only relief lies in talking and feeling cross. Dry weather, on the contrary, stimulates the vital processes, unless it be exceptionally warm, and creates a surplus of energy which finds expression in work or mischief, as the case may be. When, however, the dryness becomes extreme, people's nervous equilibrium is upset. The power to control emotional impulses of all kinds seems to be weakened. On very dry days in Denver, which are apt also to be windy days, the amount of crime among adults and of misconduct among school-children increases enormously. The nerves, according to Dexter, become unstrung by reason of the high state of electric or magnetic tension induced in the air by the dryness and wind. When the wind dies down and the air becomes more moist, the nerves return to their normal condition, but the human system has been through an experience which makes it more difficult to resist the next impulse toward whatever the feelings suggest. The tendency is toward nervousness and lack of self-control. Persons of strong physique and of steady nerves are influenced but little. In a region like that of Denver, it may be that the bracing effect of the climate in general offsets the evils of occasional extreme dryness. If Dexter's conclusions are correct, however, we should expect to find that people in extremely hot, dry countries, like Persia and
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