1882.] 
( 6ig ) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
*** The Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fa&s or 
opinions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respe&ive authors. 
THE CLIMATE OF WEST AFRICA. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir,— I n the Notes of your issue for August is a note as follows 
(p. 500) : — “ On the West coast of Africa teetotallers die first, 
hard-drinking men second, whilst the temperate live longest.’’ 
I have had some considerable experience of living on the West 
coast of Africa. Take the “ temperate ” in the largest sense the 
remark is true. A man may be temperate in the use of alcoholic 
drinks, but intemperate in eating, which I think is more fatal 
than the use of liquors and wine : these latter in a great degree 
counteract the effeCt of the miasmic exhalations. Gorging the 
system with solid substances makes it more apt for the introduc- 
tion of fever germs, and is without the corrective effeCts of alco- 
hol. The usual course of meals adopted was as follows : — At 
6 o’clock a.m. coffee and bread or biscuit: at 11 a.m. a dinner of 
several dishes, omitting soup and substituting tea or coffee 
(wines of course). Dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. The breakfast re- 
peated on a large scale, with soups. At both these meals the 
participants indulge freely (as a general rule). 
My observations showed that excessive eating was more fatal 
than excessive drinking. As a rule the climate was most fatal to 
new comers who were Germans. The mode of dress— but that 
is now corrected — was flannel next the skin, long cloth shirt, and 
a vest and outer coat of a thick close-thread texture. The con- 
sequence was that persons so clothed were always hot and un- 
comfortable, a clammy moisture continuously clinging to the 
skin, owing to the arrest of the exhalations by the outer coat. 
The reform was as follows . — Long cloth shirt next the skin, and 
outer garments of woollen substances. The exhalations of the 
body passing through the shirt were quickly passed through the 
wool, and left the skin moist but not clammy. 
There came under my observations three persons who did not 
perspire ; they all died within two months of their arrival. There 
is also a curious physiological fadt which I observed, but have 
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