OCR Text |
Show PI ~SF.RT. ..... ..._IX...., __, H I. S T 0 R Y '0 ·F M E X I C Q. mcnts of Americans, where there 'is J'lo refort of feamen or f0ldicrs., .the diftemper is never {~en or heard of. With refpect to South A-. merica, we have been informed by pcrfons of accuracy, fincerity,, . and great acquaintance with thofc countries, befides w)'lat we l~;we, .known ourfcel \lCS, ~~at in thel provinces .of Chil~, .and .t) o[e of J>araguay, that diftcmper is extremely uncpmmon among the wi}ites.~ an~ 1=1ever feen among the Americans. So1nc mifiionaries who have _refided [orne twenty, others thirty years among different nations of A-. merica, agree.in affirming, that they have never fcen a perfqn infeCted,. :with that difeafe, nor ever known .that any was. , As to the provinces of.Peru and ~ito, Ulloa fays (y ), that althopgh in thof~ countries .the venerea1.di11:emper is common among the whites, .and other races of men, it is very rare to fee an Indian infeCted. America, therefore, .is not the parent of that difeafe, of that evil, as has been .v.ulgarly faid., nor ought fuch a diil:empcr, as lV.l;,. de .Pa.w would. infinnate, to be, confidePod ,as a confeqnence of the corrupted blood, - l ,, .and vitiated conil:itution of the Ameri~ans. What then is the native C<?untry of the French evil; as it neither derives its origin from Europe nor Ameri~a? We do not know. But in the mid.{l: of.uncertninty if we may be allowed to conjeCture, we fuf-; p~Cl that GOJ1tagiqn ~o ;hn.vc come from Guinea, or fomc oth~r equit10etial c;on)ltry of i)frica. The very learned Engli!h phyficiaJ) Syden .h<Jm .was of this opinion ,(z), .~nd it is ftrengthened by what is af1irmed .by Battifla F~dgofio., an eye-witnefs of the beginning of the French evil in Europe. He f.1ys, in the work which we have already cited (a), that the French evil was brought from Spain into Italy, and from E- (y) It nppcars, that this author has confounded the French evil with the fcurvy: for we -know that Dr. iul io Rondoli Pcf.ou·cfc, a famous phyfician of Sicrr~ , affinnect to a prrfon of ,credir. th at nmo~gCt m ~ny who were thO\lght infc~.'lcd with the french evil, und whom he urcJ, he I1:Hl pot found any who w:~s really infc')cd with th at di!lcmpcr; but that all were fcor- 'tlutic, nud th •t h · hnd fuccvcdcd in eLi ring thrm, by ufing the remedies f<11· rhc fc Llrvy. , (:r.) Syd~ nh am aflirms in one of his l e tte r~ , th at the French evil is :)8 foreign to Amcric~1 as to Eu rope, and th at it was brought th c1;c l•y the Moo1s from Guinea; but i1 is not tru e, that the MriMs brought it to 1\nicrica, for the di!lcmpcr was known before they were brought to Hif. -iJ:Inir>l.,, (n) ~a: pcOis (ita cnim vi fa t:O . \ prirno c·1 HiG>ania in Jtaliam allat~ ~d fiifpanos ex tf.thio~ pia, brevi tot;1p1 terrarum o.l'h 111 ~omprc h c,ndir . l~u lg·o. Dia. !'acton1mqlH) l\1emprab. lib. i. cap . 4. · • f J t~ PI I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0~ thiopi:l into Spain. Ail:ruc pretends that Fulgolio means America, under the name of Ethiopia. This is .a curious method of folving a difficulty. But who ev.er called Ethiopia America? We know, on the contrary, that it was common among the authors of that century, to give the name of thiopia to any country inhabited by bl;1dc .men, and to call fuch men Ethiopians; fo that the natural fenfe of the words of Fulgolio is, that the French evil was. brought from the equi. nottial countries of Africa into Lqfitani. n Spain, or Portugal; bur.· this we dare not take upon U·S to m1intain, unlcfs we had made more; enq~~·ies, and obtained ft.rong·er proofs from. authors of faith and..: authenticity. N . I: s. ' . . • 463· DISSERT. IX. "-_.J • |