132 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



the human species in the higher ranges of tempe- 

 rature. The adoption of an animal diet exclusively, 

 or of too large a proportion of this species of food, 

 disposes the human frame, when exposed to the in- 

 fluence of a tropical heat, to those diseases which 

 arise from endemic sources — from the decay of ve- 

 getable matters, the exhalations of marshy and ab- 

 sorbent soils, and the accumulated emanations in 

 moist and close situations. And not only does this 

 class of diseases prey more exclusively and fatally 

 on those who, in warm climates, indulge in a full 

 animal diet, but those maladies, also, which occur 

 under epidemic forms; assuming the characters of 

 wide-spreading pestilences, produce their greatest 

 havoc amongst those who, to the predisposition 

 occasioned by a high range of temperature, have 

 superadded that, resulting from the adoption of ani- 

 mal diet. It appears to be a salutary law of nature, 

 that, in those particular climates and countries, 

 wherein the too frequent use of animal food would 

 be detrimental to the human race, there, those ani- 

 mals usually destined for this purpose are few in 

 number, and stunted in growth. The same climates 

 and situations, indeed, which are productive of the 

 most destructive diseases, are also inimical to those 

 ' classes of animals which, being chosen as a chief 

 article of food, would both dispose to these dis- 

 eases, and increase their fatality. Thus it appears, 

 that the distribution of the lower classes of animals 

 over the surface of the globe is so proportioned, 

 and certain of their genera and species so restricted 



