140 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



almost exclusively, or at least chiefly on it, fre- 

 quently prove productive of disease amongst the 

 otherwise high-feeding inhabitants of commercial 

 cities. The adoption also of those highly-seasoned 

 dishes, with an undue proportion of animal food — 

 undue, because disproportioned to the productions 

 of the country — is generally a fertile source of dis- 

 ease, and particularly of liver complaints and remit- 

 tent fevers, amongst the Europeans residing in coun- 

 tries within the tropics. 



From these and many more considerations, that 

 might have been introduced, the following corolla- 

 ries may be inferred : that the climate of a country, 

 in a great measure, determines the general charac- 

 ter of the food proper to man, and both mutually 

 tend to produce certain peculiarities of constitution; 

 that while the climate disposes to many diseases, 

 the food, which is more immediately within his 

 reach, is the most beneficial in preventing their 

 invasion or counteracting their fatality ; and that, 

 as the nature of the food counteracts the particular 

 rigours of the climate and its noxious effects upon 

 the human system ; and as the human organs of 

 mastication and digestion are of a universal charac- 

 ter, man is consequently enabled to exist wdierever 

 an individual of the animal or vegetable creation is 

 found. 



The variety in the food of man forms a striking 

 contrast with the simple diet of most animals. Some 

 have reasoned by an analogy drawn from the animal 

 world, that man ought to confine himself to a single 



