WITH RESPECT TO HEALTH AND DISEASE. 275 



this instance also, farther experience has shown that 

 Providence was not in fault. 



875 By draining the land, removing manure, buildin 

 houses in better situations, and obtaining better food a 

 warmer clothing, it appears that generations now succeed 

 each other, living on the very same soil, without a single 

 case of ague ever occurring, where, a century ago, every 

 man, woman, and child, was almost sure to suffer from it 

 at one time or other of their lives ; thus again showing 

 how much man may do for the preservation of his health, 

 and the improvement of his condition, when his conduct 

 is directed by knowledge and sound principles. 



876. Ansorfs and Cook's Voyages. If we wish for 

 a still more admirable proof of the same practical truth, 

 we have only to compare the condition of our seamen, in 

 maritime expeditions undertaken a century ago, with 

 their lot in the present day the expedition against Car- 

 thagena, or that of Anson, for instance, with those of 

 Cook, Parry, and Ross ; or the health enjoyed by the 

 crew of the " Valorous," with that of the seamen in the 

 other vessels lying in the same harbor. 



877. Prison's Voyage. >Anson set sail from England, 

 on the 13th of September, 1740, in the Centurion of 60 

 guns and 400 men, accompanied by the Gloucester, of 50 

 guns and 300 men ; the Pearl, of 40 guns and 250 men ; 

 the Wager, of 28 guns and 160 men ; the Tryal sloop, 

 of 8 guns and 100 men, and two victuallers, one of 400, 

 and the other of 200 tuns. They had a long run to Ma- 

 deira, and thence to the coast of Brazil, where they 

 arrived on the 18th of December ; but by this time, the 

 crews were remarkably sickly, so that many died, and 

 great numbers were confined to their hammocks. 



878. The commodore now ordered " six air-scuttles to 

 be cut in each ship, to admit more air between the decks" 

 and took other methods to correct the " noisome stench 

 on board," and destroy the vermin, which nuisances had 

 become " very loathsome ;" and beside being " most in- 

 tolerably offensive, they were doubtless, in some sort, pro- 

 ductive of the sickness under which we had labored." 

 Such is the mild language used by the chaplain, Mr. 

 Walter, in communicating these appalling truths ! On 

 anchoring at St. Catherine's, 80 patients were sent on 



