664 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



due a certain immunity of the wives and children of soldiers in 

 this regard. A moderate amount of alcoholic stimulant undoubt- 

 edly has a beneficent action.* Dr. Clarke even asserts that light 

 wine is an indispensable part of a hygienic diet ; f but the abuse 

 of the drinking habit is a factor in the comparative immunities 

 of all races in the tropics not to be neglected. 



Alcoholism and sexual immorality go hand in hand. Newly 

 acquired vicious habits, unknown amid the restraints of home 

 life, would speedily cause physical prostration in any climate. 

 An engineer in Algeria testifies that " a Sunday will put more 

 men in the hospital than three days in the hot sun." J One of 

 the most subtle physiological efl^ects of a tropical climate is a 

 surexcitation of the sexual organs,* which in the presence of a 

 native servile and morally undeveloped population often leads to 

 excesses even at a tender age. || The elimination of this factor be- 

 comes especially important in dealing with the crossing of races 

 and the effects of climate upon fecundity. It is invariably true 

 that the mulatto a social as well as an ethnic hybrid suffers 

 from a loss of caste which exposes this class to many temptations. 

 The effect of this upon morbidity can not but be very great in 

 face of the peculiarly weakened physical resistance."^ Among the 

 imported and liberated negroes in the West Indies, indeed, im- 

 morality rises to a climax almost sufficient to outweigh every 

 other consideration. ^ 



The influence of national habits in the choice of food is a third 

 element to be eliminated. One of the immediate effects of a trop- 

 ical climate is a stimulation of the appetite, | which too often 

 leads to overindulgence. On the other hand, it seems to be 

 rather the kind than the quality of food which is the decisive fac- 

 tor. Dr. Felkin advises an increase in the daily allowance, pro- 

 vided it be of the right sort. X In this regard the Teutonic nations 

 are especially handicapped in competition with the Mediterranean 

 peoples. The English and Germans insist upon their usual allow- 

 ance of meat, where the Spaniards or Italians are content with 



* Science, 1891, p. 3. f Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, xix, p. 75. 



X De Quatrefages, The Human Species, p. 236. * Vide Jousset, op. ciL, p. 229. 



II Vide interesting letters from Dutcli physicians in the East Indies in Verhandlungen 

 der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, 1886, p. 90. 



^ Revue d' Anthropologie, second series, v, p. 47. 



() Publications of the American Statistical Association, June, 1895, p. 195 seq. 



X .lousset, op. eit, p. 211 ; St. Vel, p. 29. 



^ The physiological effects of diet are discussed in Proceedings of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, 1889, p. 787. Vide also Archiv fiir Anthropologie, xxiii, 

 p. 467. Foster (Elements of Physiology, p. 843) agrees with Dr. Felkin. The caution of the 

 best authorities in making positive assertions is in sharp contrast with the statements of 

 Buckle and earlier writers. 



