now you've all got me remembering about how houses and autos were 'cooled' 50+years ago, before regular AC was common. We had what we simply called "water coolers" at home, it was a box similar to an air conditioner, fit into a window...with a squirrel-cage fan inside and grill-work cut into it. Fit just inside the grill on 3 sides was a mat of wood fiber (what WAS that called??) There was a little trough at the top with holes in the bottom and a connection for a garden hose to send a slow trickle of water around that dripped thru the fiber batting, so that the air from the outside was filtered thru damp batting as it was blown into the house. (We had to go to a supplier and buy a new mat-filter every couple of years, as it would decay and smell!

Earlier, we had a similar gadget that fitted onto a car, over the passenger side. It was a tube-shaped thing filled with the fibers with an opening at the front, like a jet engine, and side vent into the car, thru a partially open window. The faster you drove, the more 'cool' air you got.

The point was, that the evaporative effect was supposed to help the comfort level, but I think just having the air move was as important as anything! (That house unit had to have the air flow directed upwards, as it would blow the papers off the table 6 ft, away!)