ON ETHNO-CLIMATOLOGY. 131 



pole. In the northern hemisphere the ascent of a high mountain causes a 

 rush of blood to the head, and in the southern there is an attraction of blood 

 10 the feet; hence the cause of the sickness. 



An examination of the human race shows us that every family presents 

 different modifications, which are doubtless connected in some way with the 

 nature of the cosmic influences by which they are surrounded. We know 

 that some plants and animals are peculiar to certain regions, and that if trans- 

 planted to other climates they degenerate or die ; such is the case with man. 

 In every climate we find man organized in harmony with the climate; and if 

 lie is not in harmony, he will cease to exist. The general scale of power for 

 enduring change is in certain respects in unison with the mental power of 

 the race, and is also dependent on the purity of blood. Uncivilized and 

 mixed races have the least power, and civilized pure races the greatest. 

 Every race of man, however, has certain prescribed geographical salubrious 

 limits from which it cannot with impunity be displaced. Such, at least, is 

 tlie lesson I have drawn from existing data. It is civilization which chiefly 

 enables the European to bear the extremes of climate. Indeed, a people 

 must be civilized to some extent before they desire to visit distant regions. 

 The Esquimaux, for instance, is perfectly happy in his own way, and has 

 no desire to move to a warmer climate. His whole body and mind are 

 suited for the locality ; and were he moved to a warm climate, he would 

 certainly perish. The whole organism of the Esquimaux is fitted solely 

 for a cold climate ; nor is such a supposition problematical and inexpli- 

 cable by known physical laws. On the contrary, the physiological expla- 

 nation of such a phenomenon is quite simple. Thus, the European going 

 to the tropics becomes subject to dysentery; and the Negro coming to 

 Europe, to pulmonary complaints. Europeans who have recently arrived 

 at the tropics are instantly known by their walk and general activity. This, 

 however, soon subsides, the organic functions become disturbed, the pulse 

 and circulation are more active, the respiration less so, while the muscular 

 fibre loses its energy ; the stomach also becomes very weak. The action of 

 the skin becomes abnormal, while the heat acts on and excites the liver. 



It rs often stated that tropical climates stimulate the organs of generation, 

 but this is contrary to experience. That there is a low state of morality, 

 and that the inhabitants of these regions are essentially sensual, cannot be 

 denied ; just as the cold region is distinguished by the gluttony of its 

 inhabitants, and temperate regions by increased activity of brain. 



The geography of disease has a most important bearing on this subject. 

 It is somewhat strange that man sufl'ers more from epidemics than animals, 

 and this is probably owing to his neglect of the laws of diet, which require 

 to be adapted to every climate. Thus we find that the temperate zone, 

 which ought to be by far the healthiest, has more diseases than either the 

 hot or the cold zones. The cold zone has but a small number of diseases ; 

 and in the torrid zone the number is not large, although the diseases 

 are generally very malignant. Attempts have been made to classify diseases 

 into three categories — those of hot, cold, and temperate regions. Such a 

 classification is, however, arbitrary and most unsatisfactory ; for the same 

 climate may be found in each of the three regions. In the tropics there are 

 temperate and cold regions, just as there is equatorial heat in the temperate 

 zone. Dr. Fuchs* distinguishes these three regions of disease. The first he 

 calls the Catarrhal region. This is so denominated because catarrh of the 

 respiratory organs predominates in it. "Catarrh," he says, "is the com- 



• Mediciniscbe Gecgrapliie. By Dr. C. Fuchs, 1853. 



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