240 Account of the Climate, $c of the North of France. 



change to triple quartans, and in other instances to quoti- 

 dians. From the middle of April to the middle of May, these 

 fevers, when not interfered with by medical treatment, cease 

 of themselves. The patients, however, are liable to a recur- 

 rence of the disorder in the course of the ensuing summer ; 

 and nothing is more common than to see children who have 

 had the fever hanging about them for two or three years in 

 succession, during which time they preserve their appetite, 

 and even eat more than when in perfect health. It is not cus- 

 tomary to treat this disease medically in the case of children, 

 and accidents are rare. When a child has once had and got 

 quit of die fever, he is thereby acclimate, or rendered less liable 

 to suffer from the climate in the after period of his life, if he 

 be not much exposed to the exciting cause, such as digging 

 the ditches. Of all others, the men who mow the hay suffer 

 most ; the ditchers are all natives, but the hay-makers come 

 from a different and higher part of the country, being allured 

 by the love of gain. As they always work at what is termed 

 piece-work, their exertions are great, and as the hay falls, the 

 dank surface of the soil, consisting of the half decomposed 

 ejectment from the ditches, is exposed to the direct rays of the 

 sun : Hence it happens that the noxious vapour arises most 

 abundantly at a time when the men are exhausted with labour, 

 and consequently when the system is least able to resist its in- 

 fluence. These labourers contract complicated tertians, and, 

 in the language of the country, are said to have " swallowed 

 the frog in Flanders.' 1 '' The patient experiences a feeling of 

 great debility ; the secretions seem almost suspended ; the re- 

 spiration is slow and oppressed ; and the surface of the body 

 assumes a leaden colour. The first care of those unfortunate 

 persons is to quit the marshy country, and when they get 

 home, and are properly attended to, they often recover, though 

 some occasionally sink under various supervening complica- 

 tions. 



Upon the whole, this is a very rich and populous country, and, 

 in several respects, very highly interesting; but it is neither 

 very agreeable nor very healthy, especially to strangers, as a 

 place of residence. Catarrh and rheumatism are frequent in 

 autumn and spring. In summer diari'hcea, verging to dysen- 



