84 



UNITED STATES. 



very cold and moist, and the air dense, cloudy, and 

 hazy. 



It has been confidently asserted by European writ- 

 ers, and by some of great reputation, that the cli- 

 mates of America, under similar latitudes to those 

 of Europe, are unfriendly to health and longevity; 

 that the general period of human life is from forty- 

 five to fifty ; and these pernicious effects are ascribed 

 to putrid exhalations from stagnant waters; to a 

 surface uncleared, uncultivated, and loaded with 

 rank vegetation, which prevents it from feeling the 

 purifying infiuence of the sun.* 



If such remarks were intended to be confined to 

 the low plains in the southern states, the propriety 

 of them might not, perhaps, be disputed; but a dis- 

 tinction ought to be made between those parts of 

 America, and others in far different circumstances. 

 If authors profess to write as philosophers, they 

 should seek for inform ation from the purest sources, 

 and uo< concent themselves with theorising on sub- 

 jects, which can be determined only by fact and ob- 

 servation ; or with farming general conclusions from 

 partial reporcs. if tiiey write as politicians, their 

 aim may indeed be answered by stating facts in a 

 delusive lighv ^ and by representing America as at 

 grave co Eur-v^peans, chey may throw discourage- 

 ment on emigration to this countrys It is at the 

 same time aiimsing to observe the inconsistent con- 



* itobertson's Hist. Amer. voL ii, p. 17. King's Thoughts on Emi- 

 gration to America, Political Mag. 1783^ p. 261, 



