Retrofped? of Domeftic Literature.— Medicine, Se. 
thofe waters are loaded, and which are 
left on, or mix with the ooze or mud, at 
the fides and bottoms of the overflowed 
{wamps and ditches, as thefe become gra- 
duaily uncovered, in the precefs of eva- 
poration, and more corrapted, and the 
effluvia from them exhaled, by the interfe 
heat of the fun; and he confiders this. fe- 
ver to differ only in malignity and fatality 
from that of hot countries, in p:oportion 
to the difference of climate. ‘It has been 
found, however, in fome particular fea- 
fons in the neighbourhood of Lynn, more 
efpecially when a very hot and dry fum- 
mer fucceeded an inundation from the 
fea, to come near, in violence and malig- 
nity, to its appearance in many places be- 
tween the tropics. He conceives the nii- 
afma to mix with the faliva, and thus to 
find its way into the ftomach; from 
which, if unfortunately it is not expelled 
by vomiting or purging, it is abforbed 
by the inte(tinal tube, and contaminates 
not only the contents and juices of that 
paflage, but the circulating fluids them- 
felves, thus producing the difeafz in its 
worft varieties. Whether Dr. Hamilton’s 
theory of the origin of this difeafe bea 
tenable one or not, his mode of practice 
for the cure of it ieems to be a very ra- 
tional one, and to have been generally 
attended with fuceefs ;—the treatifes are 
all of them creditable to the author. 
<¢ The Medical Affaitant ; or, Jamaica 
Praétice of Phyfic: defizned chiefly for 
the ufe of Familics and Plantations. By 
Tuomas Dancer, M.D.” This is al- 
together a very refpectable work; as it is 
intended lefs for medical men than for 
heads of families, and fuch as have the 
charge of Negroes, the author ‘has judi- 
cioufly commenced it with an introduc- 
tion, wherein he has exhibited a concife, 
but tolerably clear and correét view of the 
animal economy, an account of: the dif- 
ferent temperaments, of the effe&s pro- 
duced by the varieties of age, fex, habit, 
climate, &c. Upon the fame principle, of 
accommodation to thofe unf{cientific per- 
fons for whole benefit this work is written, 
Dr. Dancer has avoided entering into any 
difcuffion refpeGing the nature aud origin 
of the yellow fever, but confined himtelf 
to defcribing the appearance of the dileafe, 
as it has occurred to his own obfervations, 
and to giving fuch practical direétions for 
its treatment, as have been fanétioned by 
his own experience. Among other difeafes 
noticed in this volume, is a very fingular 
ene, called Malacia-~Africanorum, Pica 
Nigritum, or the difeafe of dirt-eating 
among Negroes, -The man who could 
649 
effeGtually explore the eaufe and cure of 
this difeate, fo fatal to Nesrees, and fo 
ruinous to their owners, would deferve a 
ftatue. ‘“* TI know of no calculation, (he 
continues,) cf the general mortaliry of 
this difeale, but it fometimes {weeps off 
one half or more of the Negroes on a 
plantation.” As there is-a ftrong refem- 
blance between the fymptoms in Pica and 
Chlorofs, "namely, niiisand palms of the 
hands becoming white; lips and gums 
quite pallid, fhewing the want of the red 
globules in the blood, attended with a 
defire of taking into the flomacn indigef- 
tible fubftances—as there: is this refem- 
blance inthe iymptoms, Dr. Dancercon- 
cludes, that there 1s a confiderable analogy 
between the difeales themfelves, and that 
however diffimilar may be the remote 
caufes, the proximate one mutt be the 
fame: ‘** As in chlorcfis, it is evidently 
debility in the ftomach, to it mutt in pica 
and dirt-eating.”” But furely Dr. Dancer 
has omitted to maik one obvious diftine- 
tion beiween the two cafes: namely, that 
in pica, the eating indigeftible fubfiances 
is the caule of thedifeafe, and in chlorofis, 
the defire for taking fuch fubftances into 
the ftomach, is the effe& of it. Dr. 
Dancer, however, juttly obferves, that 
when the major part, or a great number 
of Negroes, ona plantation, or new Ne- 
groe, on landing, take to dirt eating, it 
would be ridiculous to confider’ the difeafe 
as the effect of any conftituticnal circum- 
fiance. We muft fearch for the caufe 
elfewhere, and we fhall find it no where 
but in the paffions. He tells us, that the 
Negroes on an eftate, from diffatisfaction, 
took to dirt-eating, and great numbers of 
them died. The overteer being difcharged 
the complaint ceafed, but the furvivors de- 
clared, that if the overfeer had remained, 
they would all have givei themfelves up 
to the fame fate! It may be inferred, 
from the whole of Dr. Dancer’s account, 
that difcontent among the Negroes, whe- 
ther arifing from a change of mafter, at- 
torney, overleer, driver—from the dif- 
pofleffing them of their grounds or habi- 
tations—from the fhitting their refidence, 
particularly from the lowlunds to the 
mountains, or from whatever cther fource 
arifing, is general the proximate caufe of 
this defolating malady. He thinks, how- 
ever, that ‘the influence of Odeah, or the 
terror of witchcraft, is a much more fre- 
quent caufe than any; this, at leaf, 
muft be fufpeéted, where there is no ap- 
parent ground of complaint.” When a 
Negroe conceives himielf to be under 
Obeah, every accident he meets with, and 
every. 
