Europe’s Heat Wave and Drought
The hot weather in Europe has caused not only great suffering but fearful results. In one week in London, as given by the London Times, the thermometer rose above ninety-three degrees every day, and as high as ninety-eight degrees and a fraction. This, with the humid atmosphere of London, makes the heat intolerable. The persistent drought has also caused a great deal of loss in crops. On the continent it has been even worse than in London. The drought is the longest and the weather the hottest that that city has known for seventy-seven years. Everywhere, the despatch tells us, the suffering is intense. "Streets of molten asphalt, and trees burned to a cinder, were common; and the red brick dwelling-houses radiated and intensified the fearful heat of the sun. Casualties among the poor are enormous; many prostrations and deaths are reported." Business has fallen off fifty per cent. Parks have been converted into lodging-houses, and police discipline has been notably relaxed.