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Show 31,4 ACCLili!A'riON; OR, TITE IN~'LUENOE OF rcmiLLcnt fevers, how .1 aflccLions, and all Corms of malarial or marl"lh dis as s: fewer would die than of those in tho ·ity, but a largo pt·oporLion would come out wiLh broken-down conatituLions. Yellow fever som Lim s extends !or two r three miles around the city; but if it do ·s, it always c mmenc s in th laLLct'. II rc, then, we have thrc dil:lLinct m •<.lical climat s actually within flight of each othct·. This is by no moans a p culiarity of one locn.lity, hut thousall(]s of similar examples may be cited in warm climat s. ln1.d ston, oulh Carolina, its subllrbK, and ullivan's Island, in th harbor 11 ar tho city, give us another cxan:1pl quit as pertinent as that of Mobile. In our otton-growiug Latos, tho malarial clinutL is by no moans confin d to tho low and. marBhy diflLrictl:!; on tho ontmry, in tl1c biO'h, undulating lands tlll'oughout this extensive r gion, wh rover th r is jM·tility of soil, tho population is subjc ·ted more or less to malarial diseases. TJ1csc r mat·kK apply, as will be l:lOCn furL11 t' on, more particularly to th wllitc popu.lation, the n g roos b in()' comparativ •ly exempt from all th nd mic <lis ascfl of Ll10 Sonth.0 Tho tropicaL climate of Mri ·a, so fh.r as known to us, diftct·s wi<loly from tho same parallel~ in otl1 L' pat·ts of the globe: it has n non-malat·ial climat . Dr. I.ivin()'sLon "l1as been struck down by ACl'ican fever upwar<ls of thirty Lim ·s," in sixteen y ars. 10 But let us go a liW mor·o into <1 tails, an l examine a ~ w of the rae s of mau, in conn ction with non-mo.l:tl'ial ·lirna.Lc . 'l'ho Anglo-axon is tho moHL migrating au<l co]oni:r.iug mea of tho pr s nt day, and rnay be sol ctod for illustt·ation. ] lac an Entrlislrmall in the mo t l1o£dtlif'nl part of Bengal or Jamai ·a, wl1 ro malat·ial iov rs aro unknown, and although he may be subjected to no aLta •1 of a utc di~:~ as , may, as we ar told, bccom acclimated, and. may live with a tolerable dc()'roc of h aHh his thr score and ten y at·s; yet, lto soon ceases to be th Aamc individual, and bis d sccndantf; u generate. Tic omplaius bitterly of tho h at, becomes tann d; his plump, pl thoric fram is att 'nuato<l; his l>lood loses fibl'iu and. r d globule~;; both body and mind b come sluggish; gray hait'l:! and otl1cr marks of premature age app ar- a man of 40 looks fifty y are old- tl1c avcrarre duration of life is shortened (as slJOwn by li (' -insnran ·o tables); and Lho race in time would. be extormimtLcd if ut ofr' from fresh 1;upplics of immigrants. 'l'he same iacts hold in our Southern • 1 ~ mcdiol\l frlend (D1t. GonooN) who luta had m110h oxporionoo in tho disoasca of tho mterJOr of Al11bu.mtt, South Cttrolina, nod Louiaiantt, b])a been so kind as to look over these sheola for ~no, 11nd assures me tlmt l httve used language much too strong with rognrd to the exon~phon o~ neg1·ocs. He sttya they arc quito as liable as tho whites, nccot·ding to his observahons, to 1ntormittents and dys1mtory. 10 "London Ohrouicle," Dec. l(i, 1806. CLIMATE AND DISRASES ON 1t!AN. 3f>G S~atcs, thourrh in a less dcgrc~; and tho off' ct is in proportion to the ]Jt rrb ranO'C of t mpcmlur·e. We h rc have sho t't tointer8 which do not cxil:!t in th Tropics; and the wear and tear of Ion: summers m·e hy them, to a gr a_t, oxt?nt, countcrbalanc d. Tho English army surg one t ll us that Enghshm n do not become acclimated in India: lcnO'th. of r sidcnco ~fTords no immunity, but, on tho contrary, tho morta.ltty amonO' ofl:icors and troops is greatest amono- those who t·cmain long st in th climatc.u 0 'l'hcr is no r aflon to believe tl1at tho Anglo-Saxon can ever bo transformed into ~ llindo~. We h~vo already g iv n r asons why Jews be omo acc ltmat d, m hot latttudc!:!, with mora facility than m~ ~ ftuih r north; but oven these cannot be chang d from their ortgtnal typo by aO'CS of residence in forciO'n clim s. Thoro is a little colony of Jcwl:l at OranO'anor, in Malabar, ncar Co hin, who have r sided tl1crc rnor than 1000 years, and who l1avo prcsel've<l tho JcwiFlb typo um:h:wgcd. Thot·c is in tho same nciO'hbol'l10od a Rcttl mont of what aro called black Jews, bllt who arc of Irincloo hloo<l. 12 'I' hero at·c also .in India tho Parsecs, who have boon almost ns long in tho otmtt·y as th J ewfl, and sti II do not approximate to the Tiin<loos in typo. Nay, more, in India ils If we s e, in tho <li'fl:or nt castes, the most oppo. ito complexions, whi ·h have remained ind 1 nc1cnt of limato several thousand y ars. Unlike tho AngloBaxont~, th .Jews seem to bear up well a()'ainst that climate. The colonists of warm countri s nowhere present the same vigoz of constitution as tho popnlation of Groat 13riLain or Germany; and althotwh tl1oy may escape attacks of fever, tl1oy ai'O at1uoycd by mauy minor illl:l, which make th n1 a physic-taking anclshol'Lcr-livcd people. Knox af::!s l'ts tl1at the G rma11ic races woul<l die out in America if I ft alone; and tl1ongh I am not dir;J; oscd to go to his xtt' mea, I clo not bclicv th~1.t oven our New l~ngland tate~; arc so well adapted to those races as tho temperate zone of Europe, from whicl1 history derives them. Thor is, unquestionably, an acclimation, though imperfect, against moderately high tompcmtur ; and it is cqnal ly true, that pon;oJtS who have gone through this I l'Occss, alHl more Cf:lpo ·ially their eltildron, when grown up, arc 1 ss Jiahlo to violent atta ·ks of our mat·sh ·~ vcl'l:;, wl1 ll xp s d to thom, tl1~Hl ft·c!:!lt immigt·ants from the north. Tho Jatt 'J' ar more I loLhof'ic, their systems mora inflammable; and although not more liable to be attacked by these endemic than natives, Lhoy cxpcl·icnco them, wl1cn attacked, in a II JonNSON on Tropical Olimate8, London, 1841, p. 66. 12 Sec, for details, "1'ype8 of .1fankind," by No·rT & 0LIDDON, Cllaptcr "Physical m~t.ory of tho Jews." |