OCR Text |
Show 394 ACCLIMA'l'ION; OR, TIIE INFLUENCE OF "Mexico is divided, as respects climnto, into tho tierras caliente8, or hot regions, tho tierras templadas, or tompornto regions, nnd tho lierra8 frias, or cold regions. '].'he first include tho low grounds, or those und6r 2000 foot of elevation. Tho mean tempo1·alut·o of the fit·st region, between tho Tropics, is about 77° Fahr.; being 14.o to 1Go above tho mean temperature of Naples. Tho tierras templadas, which nrc of compnmtivoly limited oxtout, occupy tho slope of the mountnin chnins, and extend from 2500 to 6000 feet of elevation. Tho menn hor1t of tho year is from 08° to 70° Fnhr.; nnd tho oxtt·emes of heat and cold arc here oqurLIIy unkuown. Tho tierras frias, or cold regions, include all tho vast plnins elovat~d 6000 foot and upwrwds above tbo lovol of tho son. In tho city of Mexico, at an olo~ntton of 74~0 feet, tho thermomotcl' bas sometimes fl\llon below tho ft·oozing point. Thts, however, IS of rare occutTcnco; nnd the winters thoro arc usually ns mild as in Naples. In the coldest season, tho mean hont of tho dny vnrios from 66o to 70o. 'l'ho moan tomperttture of tho city is about 04.0 , and that of the table-lands gonornlly about 62o; boin noa1·ly equal to that of Rome." 28 g With regard to tho gt·cat susceptibility of Mexicans of tho tablelands, and even those of Matamoras, and other places in tho lowlands, when for tho first time exposed, wo nood only refer tho reader to tho "llepo1·t of tlte Sanita1·y Commission of New 01·leans on tlte .Epidemic Yellow Fever of 1853," where ample tostimo11Y will b~ found. Tbo report of Dr. McWilliam, on the celebrated epid mic of yellow~ ver at B~a Vista, in 1845, will bo found interesting, in this conncctLOn; and 1s remarkable for its minute detail and accuracy. lle says: . "Tl~o inhabitants consist chiefly of dark mulattoes, of various grades of Em·opean mtcrmtxture; free and enslaved nogroos; with a small proportion of Europeans rinoi-pally Por~uguoso and English. ' p "Rate of Mortality fr·om Yellow Fever in Porto Sal Ray. FlUIIOl'EANS. Portugue&e.-Number exposed to the fever ................................ 68 attacked with fever ................................. 4.7 died 25 Rn.tio of deaths in the popul~;;~~::::::::: :::::::::::::::::: ." . . " number attacked ................ .. Englttll, mcluchng two Amoric11ns, exposed to tho fovor .............. .. " Number attnoked ... ············································ died .................................................... .. Ratio of deaths in populntion .............................. .. 1 in 2·1 1 " 1·8 11 8 " number nttaoked... .. .. . 1 " 1·1 Jirencli.-Numbot.exposcd to fever ... ...... ...... 2 1 in 1·6 ." " attaokod by fov~~:::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 2 Spamardt.-Number oxposod, and not attacked........ ........ ......... 2 28 McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary. CLIMATE AND DISEASES ON MAN. 3!)[) NATIVE POPULATION. Free .......................................................................... 606 Slaves ........................................................................ 249 l'otal.. .................................................. 916 Died, 66 free nod 8 slnvos.. ... ......... ......... ......... ...... ......... 68 Ratio of deaths in native population................................. 1 in 18·4" In this table, it will be seen that tho ratio of deaths increased as the complexion darkened. Most of tho d aths among tho native population were among the mulattoes, and not blacks. The Spanish and Portuguese pop11lation, who arc dark compared with Anglo-Saxons, suffer sovol'cly from yellow fever; but do not, it seems, of those attacked, die in as great a ratio as the fail·or races. They are very generally attacked in their towns, in consequence of crowded population, bad ventilation, and filthy habits. One of the ablest statisticians of tho day shows, by figures, that yellow fever, in the Antilles (whore English and French arc tho principal fair races), docs not attack so largo a portion of the population; but is much more fatal there than in Spain. In the lattol' country, on tho other hand, he says, almost tho whole population of towns arc attacked; but the mortality is much less, in proportion to tho number of cases. IIe attributes this univer. ality of attack to the crowded population aud filth of the Spanish towns, and to there being no acclimated population where the disease has boc!1 most fatal. Y cllow fever is endemic in tho Antilles, and only occasional in Spain.29 It is remarkable that those circumstances make no difforoncc in the susceptibility of the nogl'o: he always sleeps in badly vontilatell apartments; is always filthy; and, in the hottest weather, will lio down and sloop, with a tropical sun pouring down upon his bare 29 Mo~t~-:Au D}l JONNi'ls, IJ(onograplte de la Ji1iavrc Jaune, &c. pp. 312- 18. In those now questions of tho liability to, or oxompt.ion from, local morbific influence, of distinct types of man, wo possess as yet but fow stntistics. Every authentic oxn.mplo, thoroforo, booomcs int,crcsting. I find the following in Du~ION~' D'U1wruE (Voyage de lfl Corvette L' Astrolabe, exect•tle pendanl lea armtea 1820-9, Paris, 1830, "lliatoire du Voyage," V., pp. 120 soqq.). 1-'ho island of Vnnikoro, "Archipol do ln. Perouao," whore tbis gron.t nnvigator porishocl, is inhn.bited oxclusivoly by blaclc Ocon.nians, who tho1·o enjoy pol'foot health. Yet, so dot1dly is tho climate, that tho rmtives of tho adjn.cent island of' 1'ikopia, who belong to tho cinnamon-colored and distinct Polyne&ian moe, tn.ken thither as intcJ'proters by D'Urvillc, never ventured to sloop ashore, in dread of tho mn.larit1l poison which over proved fatal to tltomselvos, however congenial to tho blacks. Capt. Dillon's crow, previously, as well as D'Urvillo's French crow, suffered terribly from tho olfocts of tltoir short ttnchorngo there. This pathological ftlct is another to the many proofs, oollocted in our volume, that the black race of Oconnica is n.bsolutely unconnected by blood with tho Polyneaiana proper. Soc portrnits of "Vanikoro-islnntler" nnd "Tikopin.-islnndcr" (Nos. 89, 4.0, of our Ethnographic Tableau, infra), for evidence of their absolute diO'cronoo of type. |