t 47 ]• 



rility, and altnoft perpetual winter, to the unhappy chmate of 

 Kamfchatka *. 



Heat or cold in extremes ; dry air in rapid motion, and moift 

 air in a ftagnant ftate, fcera to be the principal external fources of 

 human difeafes; and climates are generally found favourable to 

 health and longevity, in proportion as they are exempt from thefc 

 natural caufes of diforder and decay. 



It ought therefore to be inferred, a priori, that Ireland, cele- 

 brated for the fingular equability of its temperature, and the 

 ccafelefs motion of an atmofphere always influenced by the moif- 

 ture of the Atlantic, fhould be likewife charaderiftically free 

 from natural difeafe ; and experience proves that this conclufion 

 is true. 



The exhaufting agues of North America, or the fens of Eng- 

 land t ; the fatal fluxes which prevail in the low countries of the 

 continent of Europe ; the dreadful bilious diftempers of both the 

 Indies; the peftilence which defolates the African and Afiatic 

 climates; are all either entirely unknown, or but feebly felt in 

 Ireland. There is here no charaderiftic difeafe to mark a natural 



fourcc 



* The latitude of Kamfchatka correfponds to that of Ireland ; the wefterly winds 

 arc prevalent in each ; yet the former experiences a rigorous winter of nine months, 

 -and the latter rarely of as many days. See Cook's Voyage in 1 779, vol. iii. ch. 6. 



f The ague is fo rare, in feveral parts of Ireland, that many perfons are totally 

 unacquainted with it. In the northern province the Author has never met with th« 

 difeafe, and its exiftcnce there is generally denied. 



