462 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
except in the extreme form, the melancholic bilious tempera- 
ment. “The bilious temperament possesses the good 
qualities of the nervous, without its irritability, and of the 
sanguine, without its susceptibility to external impressions.” 
Individuals possessing the lymphatic temperament do not 
resist disease well, and readily suffer from disease of the 
liver and derangements of digestion. It follows, therefore, 
that the bilious, or bilio-nervous temperaments are best fitted 
for residence in the Tropics; then persons of the sanguine 
temperament, but those would only stand the climate for a 
short time. Persons having a lymphatic temperament should 
stop at home. No one possessing a syphilitic, rheumatic, 
scorbutic, or malarious history should go to the Tropics, and 
persons either suffering from or having a tendency to heart 
disease should remain at home. With regard to age, no one 
should go to Africa under the age of twenty-five. Persons 
under this age are bound to suffer more from typhoid fever, 
from the severer forms of malarial fever, and from dysentery, 
than those who are older. With regard to women, apart 
from what has just been said, no woman with any tendency 
to the diseases special to her sex should go to the Tropics. 
With regard to phthisis, persons who have only incipient 
phthisis will do well in North and South Africa, and I am 
not at all sure that that disease should be a bar to their 
proceeding to Tropical Africa, provided that they are not 
going thither with the object of undergoing great physical 
exertion. 
In going to Africa for the first time, it is well to arrive 
in the country in the coolest season. That season, as has 
been seen, varies considerably in different parts of the 
continent. 
It is not my intention to refer to the diseases which, 
though occurring in Africa, are common to countries in 
the temperate zone. The outstanding diseases to which 
attention. must be directed are yellow fever, malaria, 
dysentery, diarrhcea, and typhoid fever. With the excep- 
tion of yellow fever, all these may be said to be prevalent 
throughout the continent. I will proceed to deal with the 
less important diseases first. 
