278 HISTORY or 



An opposite set of calamities are the conse- 

 quence, in climates where the air is condensed by 

 cold. In such places, all that train of distempers 

 which are known to arise from obstructed per- 

 spiration, are very common ;* eruptions, boils, 

 scurvy, and a loathsome leprosy, that covers the 

 whole body with a scurf, and white putrid ulcers. 

 These disorders also are infectious ; and, while 

 they thus banish the patient from society, they 

 generally accompany him to the grave. The 

 men of those climates seldom attain to the age of 

 fifty ; but the women, who do not lead such labo- 

 rious lives, are found to live longer. 



The autumnal complaints which attend a wet 

 summer, indicate the dangers of a moist air. The 

 long continuance of an east wind also, shows the 

 prejudice of a dry one. Mineral exhalations, 

 when copious, are every-where known to be fatal ; 

 and although we probably owe the increase and 

 luxuriance of vegetation to a moderate degree of 

 their warmth, yet the natives of those countries 

 where there are mines in plenty, but too often 

 experience the noxious effects of their vicinity. 

 Those trades also that deal in the preparations of 

 metals of all kinds, are always unwholesome ; and 

 the workmen, after some time, are generally seen 

 to labour under palsies, and other nervous com- 

 plaints. The vapours from some vegetable sub- 

 stances are well known to be attended with dan- 

 gerous effects. The shade of the machinel tree, 

 in America, is said to be fatal ; as was that of the 



Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 235. 



