BOOK m. CHAP. VI. 505 



the \realth and profperity of the ifland, aud to the profits of 

 Great Britain. 



CHAP. VL 



Regulations for preferving Health in JAMAICA. 



.S E C T. I. 

 Place of HABITATION and AIR. 



OBSERVATION of the effefts which the change from a cold 

 to a hot climate produces on hard inanimate fubftances, fuch as 

 wood, iron, and the like, muft naturally teach us to exped, that the 

 human body, a fyftem of tubes and glands, or matter delicately or-^ 

 ganized, cannot pafs rapidly from the one to the other, without being 

 affeded in a proportionate degree. 



As the heated air between the Tropics a6ls upon metals by expan- 

 fion ; fo, when it adts upon the human body, it relaxes the folid parts, 

 and rarefies the fluid, increafes the velocity of the blood's circulation, 

 caufes an unufual difcharge of the bile, and a regurgitation of it into 

 the ftomach, violent acute pains in the head, loathing of food, and 

 ficknefs ; hence feverifli diforders may enfue, which would be foon 

 and eafily cured, if no other predifpofing caufes fupervened. 



The authors, who hav^e treated on this fubjeft with moft difcern- 

 ment, agree pretty uniformly, in afcribing the malignancy of Weft In- 

 dia fevers to a vitiated air, either at fea, or on fhore. 



At fea, occafioned by noxious exhalations, raifed during long con- 

 tinued calms, when the water, not being agitated as ufual by the trade 

 winds, is fubjeft to become corrupt near the furface, where it is lefs 

 charged with fait, to preferve it from ftinking. 



On (hore, by the like exhalations, excited by the heat of the fun, 

 from foul, oozy fliores, the naufeous ftagnant water of lagoons, and 

 the fetid mud or foil of low, fwampy grounds. 



This morbid air, admitted into the lungs and circulation, may in- 

 duce a difpofition to putrefcency, and render thofe diforders of the 

 frame malignant, which otherwife, perhaps, the efforts of nature alone, 

 or but flightly aflifted, might have thrown off. 



Vol. II. T 1 1 Such 



