Trtland uptn Animal ani VegrtabU Liff, 435 



mates, are all either entirely unknown, or but feebly felt in Ireland. There is here no cha- 

 Ta£leriftic difeafe to mark the natural fource of unhealthfulnefs. There are few dlforders 

 •which cannot be diredly traced up to feme artificial caufe ; to feme intemperance, to 

 feme negled, to fome excefs, either of luxury or penury, in the fuffering fubjc£l. Manu- 

 fadlures in their kind unwholefome, induflry exerted beyond its proper limits, irregularity 

 of food or fermented liquors, illicit amours, colds, the confequence of folly or inattention, 

 excefs or deficiency of proper exercife, anxiety and fretfulnefs of mind, together with the 

 copious lift of cafualties, afford to the phyfician of this country the caufes and explana- 

 tion of almoft all its difordcrs. 



From its peculiar falubrity, the natives of this ifland are celebrated through Europe for 

 juft fymmetry of proportion and an athletic frame ; becaufe, from earlieft infancy to man- 

 hood, a check is rarely given to the progrefTive increafe of animal ftrength, or the natural 

 and appropriate forms of an undifeafed body. From the fame hygeian fource flow thofe 

 ardent paffions, thofe exuberant ftreams of animal fpirits, which render our natives al- 

 ways cheerful, oftentimes turbulent and boifterous, the ufual confequences of uninter- 

 rupted health and a vigorous conftitution. Hence wild adventure, perfonal courage, im- 

 petuofity of purfuit, inattention to confequences, and improvidence of difpofition, become 

 the charafteriftic features of minds feldom under the influence of that anxiety, which, 

 flying from the prefent moment and its enjoyments, watches for futurity, and pants after 

 remote felicity. 



The general temperature of our climate, in the vicinity of the capital, is fomewhat 

 lower than the 50th degree of Fahrenheit's thermometer* ; and a mean of the hotteft or 

 coldefl months of our year rarelv varies more than ten degrees from this ftandard heatf. 

 Winter therefore with us is ufually accompanied with a temperature of forty degrees, 

 fpring and autumn of fifty degrees, the fummer of fixty degrees of the thermometer ; and 

 the general heat of any fingle month of thefe feveral feafons feldom varies much fiom the 

 correfponding temperature of that particular feafon to which it belongs. 



Of thefe limits the loweft is not fufliciently cold to check the growth of any of the na- 

 tural herbage of our ifland, nor the higheft powerful enough to parch the furface of a moift 

 foil, or to fcorch its luxuriant grafles. Hence it comes to pafs that our fields maintain a 

 perpetual verdure, unimpaired by either folftice. Hence too the farmer is enabled to lay 

 his lands under grafs almoit at any feafon, even at the commencement of winter J : and 

 hence the grazier never lofes the benefit of his rich paftures at any period of the year, 

 unlefs during the tranfient paflage of a temporary drift of fnow ; fo that horfes, cattle, 

 and fheep, arrive here, with little care, at a degree of perfedlion unattainable in other 

 countries without infinite experice and trouble. 



For the growth of flax, the ftaple comrpodity of the kingdom ;, of potatoes, the general 

 food of its inhabitants ; and of barley, from whence the ardent fpirits and other fermented, 

 liquors of the country are derived ; the climate feems to poflefs a peculiar felicity of tern- 



• See Hamilton's paper on the temperature of Ireland, in the fecond volunie of thefe Tranfaftions. 



f See State of the Weather in Dublin, from J 

 'ranfaftions. 



J See Young's Tout in Ireland, Yol. I. p. 130, 



f See State of the Weather in Dublin, from JUne 1791 to June 1793, by Mr. Kirwan, Vol. V. of theft-- 

 Tranfaftions. ' 



peraturc^ 



