Popular Science Lectures. 439 
shewed how the former, in coming to the tropics, subjected 
the heat-regulating function of his body to a struggle for 
accommodation to the unaccustomed surroundings, which 
frequently ended disastrously. 
It was pointed out that only a small quantity of food is 
required in the tropics, especially by people of sedentary 
habits ; and reference was made to Dr. PARKES'S opinion 
that alcoholic beverages are particularly hurtful in the 
tropics. Exercise should not be neglected, both for the 
body and the mind. Houses should be built larger, and 
in situations freely exposed to the sea-breeze, to secure 
coolness during the hot hours. Cool light clothing should 
be worn during the activity and heat of the day, and 
warm (flannel) coverings used during the cold and 
dampness of the night. Special stress was laid upon the 
importance of protecting the body against the cold night 
air ; and it was strongly insisted on that the great con- 
trast between the atmospheric state of the day and night 
in the tropics, is the essential climatic condition against 
which it is necessary to struggle ; and the body should 
be protected not only against the heat of the day, but also 
and especially against the opposite conditions that obtain 
at night. Full exposure to this diurnal fluctuation in the 
atmosphere resulted in an unstable condition of the heat- 
regulating function of the body, and impressed the 
system with a proclivity to periodic disturbance. This 
is the predisposing cause of most of the sufferings com- 
monly attributed to tropical climates. 
