92 Literary and Philosophical Society, 



total abstinence from it is one of the most important means 

 for preventing this disease. . . . 



^ In what precise manner these substances (viz., the fat 

 and oil of fish and marine animals) act, is not perhaps 

 easily explained ; but as the use of them would, doubtless, 

 cause an accumulation of similar parts in the body, and as 

 we find all animals destined to endure the severe cold of 

 the arctic climates are copiously furnished with fat, we 

 may conclude that it possesses some peculiar efficacy in 

 defending from the impressions of cold. . . . 



'Writers on the scurvy seem almost unanimously to 

 consider a portion of these liquors as a useful addition 

 to the diet of persons exposed to the causes of this disease ; 

 and due deference ought certainly to be paid to their 

 knowledge and experience : but, convinced as I am that 

 art never made so fatal a present to mankind as the in- 

 vention of distilling spirituous liquors, and that they are 

 seldom or never a necessary, but almost always a perni- 

 cious article in the diet of men in health, I cannot but look 

 with peculiar satisfaction on the confirmation this opinion 

 receives bv the events in these narratives. . . . 



' We have acquired, by association, the idea of opposing 

 actual cold by matters potentially or metaphorically hot ; 

 but this in great measure is a fallacious notion. On the 

 contrary, it is found that the effects of excessive heat are 

 best resisted by warm and acrid substances, such as the 

 spicy and aromatic vegetables which the hot climates most 

 abundantly produce, and which are so much used in the 

 diet of the inhabitants. And if it be admitted as a general 

 law of nature, that every country yields the products best 

 adapted to the health and sustenance of its inhabitants, 

 we should conclude that aromatic vegetables and fer- 



