10 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



ing this long journey with me have all, one after the 

 other, decided otherwise, so I shall find myself alone 

 for once from one end of the world to the other. This 

 isolation also has its advantages and charms. The time 

 will belong to me exclusively and I shall dispose of it 

 in the most profitable manner in studying the different 

 places of greatest interest, the people, their customs 

 and habits. I shall also devote special attention to 

 matters pertaining to our profession and report from 

 time to time to the readers of The Journal the results 

 of my observations. Experience has taught me that in 

 traveling in tropical countries the best means to counter- 

 act the baneful effects of heat is work, mental and physi- 

 cal. It is under the influence of prolonged heat that 

 inactivity begets mental and physical languor, while 

 exercise of body and mind increases the force of the 

 enfeebled circulation and stimulates the organs of secre- 

 tion and excretion to greater activity. Before leaving 

 the Pacific Coast I desire to discuss very briefly the 

 subject indicated by the title of this, my first communi- 

 cation, and in doing so I fully realize what Cicero said 

 of letter-writing: 



"We write differently when we think that those 

 (inly to whom we write will read our letters, and in 

 a different style when our letters will be seen by 

 many." 



My prospective letters mean letters to the over 31,000 

 subscribers of the official organ of the American Medi- 

 cal Association, many of whom I count among my most 

 esteemed and intimate friends, hence my diffidence and 

 uneasiness in beginning. 



From time immemorial travel has been recognized as 

 an important element in acquiring a general education 

 and in obtaining proficiency in the professions, arts, 

 sciences and trades. 



It is the study of men and manners in different 

 (limes and varying social and political conditions that 

 proves so useful in enlarging the views of life and 



