156 TRINIDAD. 



diately after meals, the digestive functions are in the highest degree 

 of activity ; all perturbing causes should then be carefully avoided, 

 and only gentle exercise indulged in. 



Fatigue of whatever kind, and especially from 10 A.M. to 

 3 P.M., is injurious, and may bring on fever, which generally takes 

 the adynamic form ; but regular exercise is absolutely necessary. 

 Persons who lead a life of general physical inaction, soon find that 

 their appetite decreases, whilst their sensibility increases to a 

 morbid extent : they become debilitated, and subject to nervous 

 affections, and, if otherwise of a nervous temperament, highly ex- 

 citable, and even hypochondriacal. When these individuals come 

 to the determination of regularly taking foot or horse exercise, they 

 gain by degrees a better and more regular appetite ; the nervous 

 symptoms subside, ultimately to disappear. 



Moderation in eating, drinking (as also in the use of stimu- 

 lants) , and exercise, form the great secret for perserving health in 

 Trinidad. Two meals per diem are sufficient ; something, how- 

 ever, must be taken early in the morning, such as chocolate, tea, 

 or coffee, particularly in marshy localities ; neither would I object 

 to chocolate or tea at night after an early dinner. Regularity in 

 the hours of meals is also of paramount importance. 



Attention ought likewise to be paid to clothing, in the 

 materials of which thick cotton should be preferred to linen ; it 

 answers admirably as an under-shirt. Cotton is no good con- 

 ductor of caloric, and is particularly useful in retaining perspi- 

 ration within proper limits ; it is also preferable to flannel, which 

 is heavy and irritates the skin. In our climate, indeed, cotton 

 is fully as good a protective as woollens, since in the system is 

 required not so much the preservation of warmth as the pre- 

 vention of cold ; for it is* most essential that perspiration should 

 not be checked. 



The cold bath has for effect to diminish the temperature of 

 the body by a merely physical action, but it is also one of the 

 best cooling agents, as it, at the same time, diminishes the power 

 productive of heat. Cold bathing, therefore, must be highly 

 beneficial ; but it ought to be of short duration a few minutes 

 only ; and persons who are in a position to do so should bathe 

 every day, since experience has proved that such practice is an 

 almost sure guarantee of sound good health. 



During sleep perspiration is augmented, though, at the same 



