S76 



the province of Maule, where it became very fatal.' 

 A countryman who had recovered from it, conceiv- 

 ed the idea of attempting to cure a number of un- 

 happy wretches who had been abandoned by covv'á 

 milk, which he gave them to drink, or administered 

 to them in clysters. With this simple remedy he 

 cured all those whom he attended, while the physi- 

 cians with their complicated prescriptions saved buta 

 very few. I have mentioned this anecdote, as it 

 serves strongly to confirm the successful experi- 

 ments of INI. Lassone, physician to the queen of 

 France, in the cure of the small pox with cow's milk, 

 published by himself in the medical transactions of 

 Paris for the year 1779. The countryman, how- 

 ever, employed milk alone, whereas M. de Lassone 

 thought it advisable to mix it with a decoction of 

 parsley roots. These instances would seem to prove 

 that milk has the singular property of lessening the 

 virulence of this disorder, and repressing its noxious ' 

 or deadly, qualities. 



The inhabitants of the country are generally very 

 benevolent. Contented wdth a comfortable subsist- 

 ence, they may be said scarcely to know what parsi- 

 mony or avarice is, and are very rarely infected with 

 that vice. Their houses are open to all travellers that 

 come, w^hom they freely entertain without an idea of 

 pay, and often on these occasions regret that they 

 are not more wealthy, in order to exercise their hos^ 

 pitality to a greater extent. This virtue is also com- 

 mon in the cities.^ To this cause it is owing that 



* Throughout Chili they are extremely kind to strangers ; the 

 inhabitants aré tineqnalk d in point of hospitality, and I have my- ^ 



