THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 
123 
sin, BuckwlicatjOr Black corn (Poti/gonum Fagop^runi), on which the [loorer 
nhahitants of Solognc, in the Orleanois, uro almost wholly maintained, 
occasion pains in the joints and other diseases. In like manner, the 
glutinous dishes of polenta, macaroni, millet-broth, and new chestnuts, 
produce dilfercnt glandular enlargements and other endemical maladies, 
HI every [ilace where the populace feed too exclusively upon these sub- 
stances. The abuse of acid wines on the Rhine, and other districts of 
Germany, as well as the constant use of cider, dis|»ose towards gout and 
colic. 
According to Forster and other observers, we can only attribute the 
sloughing ulcers found among the inhabitants of several Islands in the 
South Seas to the acrid drinks, which they prepare from the roots of a 
species of Pepper. Several other diseases must be consideied rather as 
resulting from a particular kind of diet prevalent in one particular place, 
than (rom any other cause. Of this kind are the flabby and leucophleg- 
•natic condition of those nations which subsist chiefly on milk, but- 
ter, and cheese, as in Friesland, in the Alps, and all places where much 
cattle are maintained. The dysentery and diarrhoeas, so fatal in very 
Warm or tropical climates, (iroceed rather from indigestible substances, 
the abuse of fruits and spirituous liiiuots ; for we find that these diseases 
can often be avoided by abstaining from the excesses which led to their 
prevalence. 
Hippocrates has long ago remarked, in his Treatise on Air, Water, and 
Soils, that the local circumstances of each territory predispose the human 
constitution to particular maladie.s, or relieve it from diseases of an op- 
po.site kind. At the present day, we find the dull inhabitants of the 
banks of the Phasis equally subject to disorders of the lymphatic system 
with the Sanromates of the Pains Matotis ; we nmy contrast, with equal 
justice, the mild and timid Asiatic with the robu.st and courageous Euro- 
pean, or the corpulent inhahitant of a fertile valley, with the energetic 
and nervous mountaineer. We likewise find that in low and humid 
grounds, where the air is stagnant, or exposed to the influence of warm 
nnd moist winds from the south and west, as in Holland, putrid and erup- 
tive diseases become very prev.alent. Biokon-down constitutions arc 
often affected by vertigo, deafness, catarrhal ophthalmias, difficulty of 
breathing, coughs, lethargy, apoplexy, catarrhs, &c. 
On the other hand, in dry and northern exposures in elevated regions, 
ngituted by winds from the north and east, such as the upper Auvergne, 
^he Vivarais, or at Marseilles, Montpellier, or Grenoble, the inhabitants 
nre much exposed to inflammatory consumption, active hasmorrhages, a 
strong disposition to acute maladie.s, to inflammations, pneumonia, rheu- 
uiatisin, and acute ophthalmias. Diseases of the chest are common 
uniong the inhabitants of cold and mountainous countries. 
The two characters of a locality just enumerated, give rise to endemical 
affections of an opposite kind. In low, moist, and tolerably warm 
places, the constant humidity hahitually relaxes the frame. Diseases 
bore assume a chronic character, with imperfect crises, and Immoral 
'logouerations, inducing a precocious old age, among the most of the 
'•'habitants. Elevated regions, on the other hand, bring the body into a 
state of vigour and energy. 
From these endemical dispositions, it follows that strangers often remain 
•"tempi from the diseases prevalent among the natives of a country, or, 
•"' tile contrary, the same circumstances, which have become, through 
b^bit, essential to the health of the inhabitants of a district, occasion the 
'bness of a stranger. The water of the Seine often causes Diarrhoea to 
••Very one, except the Parisians, who are accustomed to drink it. The 
Cretin of the Valois loses ins stupid appearance in the arid and stimulat- 
'"S heights of tile surrounding mountains, while the mountaineer is less 
affected with Ilamiorrhages and' acute affections by descending into the 
•Icnser and moister air of' the neighbouring valleys. 
Hence it fldlows, that maladies, like plants, do not disseminate them- 
salves equally in all regions, 'fhe miliary fever, frequent in Normandy, is 
"'•nost unknown ill the other provinces of France. Aphtha;, common in 
Holland, are scarcely ever to bo found in Vienne. The carbuncle, com- 
mon in the south of France, can scarcely be encountered in the north, 
^’or analogous reasons, it may bo said that the peculiar n.ituro of each 
"ountry serves to modify the types of the several diseases of the human 
•■ace. A pleurisy, for example, will be different in intensity in a mountuiii- 
•'us locality and in deep valleys. On this ticcount, however exact the 
•descriptions of diseases maybe made by phj'sicians, they always exhibit va- 
•'eties in different climates, which have not been elsewhere remarked. 
d he Laplanders, according to Schosffer and Liiinteus, are subject to in- 
ffaminations of the head and lungs, and especially of the eyes, in coiise- 
•l''ence of their being exposed to smoke and dust, tis well as to the glare 
"d the sun upon the snow ; al.so to mortification of the extremities from 
•be cold. The frequent use of the milk of the Rein-deer and smoked 
fish often occasions pprnsis, and violent colics, followed by ptvalism. 
dhey are also disposed to vermes, and arc singularly liable to spasmodic 
"ffections. They arc never affected with plague, acute fever, or agues. 
I" Norway and Sweden, in some parts of Finland, of Russia and Den- 
mark, however, agues, paralysis, gout, dropsy, and rheumatism, arc preva- 
lent, according as the country is more or less moist or cold. . But the 
dryer and elevated regions of Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, are salubri- 
ous, and the inhabitants attain a rcm.arkable degree of longevity. 
The Muscovites, Cossacks, and Tartars of Kasan, inhabit more 
healthy countries : with the exception of affections of the chest, caused 
by cold, they experience few maladies, and have good appetites. Some- 
times they experience a morbid hunger during severe frosts. Intermit- 
tent fevers prevail on the banks of the Volga, the Don, and other large 
rivers. 
VVe know that the peculiar affection of the hair, termed the Plica Polo- 
nica, is endemic in Poland. Lithuania, Transylvania, and Silesia, and 
sometimes is found in Alsace, Switzerland, and the Low Countries. It 
is said to prevail more especially among Jews and Christians, of un- 
cleanly and intemperate habits, lint especially among the former. This 
disease, according to many writers, was introduced originally from Tartary 
in the Ukraine. It is often accompanied by a general affection of the 
lymphatic system, and other diseases. Some instances are not wanting 
among the uncleaidy Fakirs of Hindoostan. 
In Hungary, the inhabitants are sometimes affected with pestilential 
fevers, accompanied by purple or miliary eruptions. In Thrace, Mace- 
donia, and Turkey in Europe, we find many acute fevers, affections of 
the brain, and dysenteries. It is well known that the plague often pre- 
vails in Uonstantinople, and extends its ravages among the Turks. F'rom 
the frequent use of the hot bath and opiates, their constitutions assume 
loss energy than those of Europeans in other climates. 
Ill Germany, purple and miliary fevers are very prevalent towards 
Leipsic; in Misnia, these affections are frequently complicated with small- 
pox and measles. 
We find a great number of endemical affections in Britain. Tubercu- 
lous consumption and catarrii are very frequent maladies in this country. 
The counties of Essex, Cambridge, and Lincolnshire, were once very 
subject to intermittent fevers, owing to their marshes, though latterly, 
they have greatly diminished from the general drainage of these districts. 
Common continued fever is very prevalent, especially towards autumn, 
and in our large manufacturing districts, hooping-cough, measles, and scar- 
latina, occur almost universally among children. 
In France, calculous disorders prevail in the Barrois and the wine 
country, which some would attribute to the nature of the waters, but. 
are more probably owing to the wine. In the moi.st territory of Langue- 
doc, children become subject to the disease called la surrctle, a kind of 
locked-jaw, and cr/aorw, masclotts, or sub-cutaneous vermes, found likewise 
ill the north of Europe. 
The Swiss are often troubled with nostalgia, or an excessive longing 
for their native laud, when in foreign countries. The districts of Vaud, 
Fancigiiy, Maurienne, and especially the Valais, are subject to cretinism, 
broiichocele, glandular swellings, accompanied by cachexia, dropsy, and 
idiocy. During the greatest heats of summer, the inhabitants of these deep, 
valleys are ;dso afflicted with iiiflainniatious of the brain and coiip.-'-de-soleil. 
In Italy, diseases vary according to the localities. The maladies ende- 
mical in marshy countries increase towards Mantua, the lagniies of Venice, 
the marshes of Fisa, and especially during autumn, in the aria enttim of 
the Pontine marshes, near Rome. Towards .Naples, there are often to be 
seen red spots upon the skin, being a kind of urticaria or iietile-rash. 
The Greeks are often afflicted with ordinary leprosy, attended with aloj 
pecia, or a falling away of the hair from the entire body. 
In the moist gorges of the mountains in the Asturias, there prevails a 
peculiar scorbutic leprosy, called mul dc la rusa, described by M. Thierry 
ill the Journal Medicale. 
'File elevated plains ol Tartary In Central Asia maintain a great number 
of wandering nations, whose disordeis can sc.arcely lie termed endemical, 
as these people continually change their place of residence. Some Sibe- 
rians are subject at birth to an occasional relaxation of the muscles of the 
upper eyc-lid, occasioning a temporary blindness, like the young of many 
quadrupeds. Southern .\sia exhibits most of the endemics peculiar to 
tropical climates ; the hepatic and nervous systems become highly excited, 
ami lead to corresponding diseases. In Asia Minor, besides the plague 
and many aff'ections of the lymphatic system, such as leprosy and ele- 
phantiasis, there prevail spasmodic affections, and especially the cholera 
wio/Aav, which is also freriuent in Batavia. At Ceylon, ascites and tym 
panites are very | revalent, especially during the rainy season. Among all 
these nations, the nervous system is excited by a kind ot habitual irritation 
from the heat, which gives rise to a corre.spomliiig ileliilily in the mus- 
cular system, and feebleness of the digestive organs, the vital energy being 
determined towards the surface of the body. .'Vccordiiig to Dnluihle, 
there prevails a peculiar kind of erysipelas among those Chinese who 
work in varnish, and the Asiatics generally arc often afflicted with a 
kind of eruptive disease ax jiciiiphiga^'j Ironr being exjiosetl to the heat of 
the sun. 
Many of the diseases found in Asia prevail also in Africa, but modified 
