BOOK III. CHAP. VI, 569 



with motion or hard drinking, by which feme acrimonious humour 

 is lodged upon them. Sailors who tope half rum, half water, till 

 they are fweating at every pore, and tumble almofl naked on the 

 open deck, or in a flreet, and there fleep, expofed to the damps of 

 the night air and dew; or white fervants on plantations, who follow 

 the like fottifli pradice; or others who are obliged to travel in the 

 night, and after riding hard till a fweat is excited, come on a fudden 

 to a fteep hill, or a river, which conflrains them to walk their 

 horfes a gentle pace; or thofe who are chilled by a fudden rain ; or 

 who are too carelefs after violent dancing ; all thefe perfons are liable 

 to be afBidted with fuch a fpafmodic dilbrder. Hence it appears, 

 that it may proceed from a variety of caufes, and affcdl even the 

 moft fober and temperate perfons, as is well known it does in Ja- 

 maica J and the oleum ricini, or nut-oil, which is ufed with fo much 

 fuccefs in giving relief to thofe afRidled with it, owes perhaps its 

 efficacy to the opening, foothing, lubricating nature of its operation, 

 by which it fweeps away the acrid matter that was perpetually 

 Simulating, fupplies the want of mucus, to the abraded parts, and 

 recompofes the nerves, in confequence of which the fpafm or con- 

 vulfion ceafes. 



Let me now juft recapitulate, for it cannot be repeated too often, 

 the deftruftive effecls of fpirituous liquors itnmoderately ufed; for 

 rum, though lefs pernicious than any other, is not lefs noxious in 

 the end, when drank in excefs for any confiderable time. 



When drank in this manner, they render the fibres of the body 

 too rigid and tenfe. They communicate an acrimony to the animal 

 fluids, and, not mingling freely with them, thicken, coagulate, 

 and obftrud their circulation, efpecially in the fmalkr veflels. 

 They caufe the liver and mefenteric glands to become fchirrhous, 

 render the bile tenacious and vifcid, deftroy the appetite, hinder the 

 excretion of the urine, and produce difeafes that terminate in un- . 

 timely death [«]. The dropfy was formerly fo common in Ja- 

 maica, 



[<j] Their corrofive a(5lion on the ftomnch and bowels may be imagined, from the effects 

 obfcrved on the hogs in Germany fed with the dilViUers wa(h ; tlieir guts are fo rotted, that the -. 

 inhabitants cannot make hogs-puddings with them. To the fame caufe it is owing, that the 

 Helh of Inch hogs becomes fo tender that it will not keep by faking. 



It is a known obfervation of expert dealers in hair for wigs, that they can diftinguifh the dram- 

 drinkers hair by the touch, finding it dr}-, harfii, dead-ended, and unfit for ufe : and in the fame 



Vol. II. 4 D manner 



