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Show • iEI 1! S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I ·C 0. :DJSSERT. cachexia might have been prodaced without contagis>q, in. other in.di.,. "'' .z,,..x_. ,, viduals of the human fpecies. This is true, fays Afiruc 'in Amer.ica, .. or anotker fuch country, but not in Europe. · Bu,t wherefore exempt Europe? Becaufe, fays this author, the caufes which could at firfr ·.have occafioned this evil .in America, do m~t .take pJac.e · there; and what nre thofe caufes ? Let us examine them. In the fidl: place DrA Afimc fays (p') that the air ought not to be .numbe-red among the canfes, as although it might occafion other difor. ders in .tl~e ifland of Hifpaniola, it could not caufe the venereal dif. eaf~, bc:c:m(e the Europeans who for two hundred years and upward$ .iJlhabited th_at i!land have not ,contratl:ed th~t di{temper but by means ,of contagion .; and the air i& not at ,prefen~ 4iiferent to what it was ,three hundred y~ars ago: and if it fhould be .different at prcfent, at leaft it was not fo in the beginning of the fifteenth century. W ~ .ought, · therefore, ·to ·make no ·condufi0ns f.rom the air in treating of · the origin of thi$ evil. Al.though Dr. Afiruc excl~des the air fro~ the number .pf .the caufes of the French evil, he h~s recourfe to it jq. .Dpen con.t~ditti9n ~o l).imfdf, in another place. Two caufes alone are affigned by J?r. Aftruc; thefe are food ant! heat. As to food, 'he fays, that tae inhabitan~s of Bifp,aniola, ~hen ttheir maize, cafava, &c. was fcarce, fed on frogs, worms, bats, anq fuch .like Jinall aoima·ls.. With re1petl: to heat he ,affirms, that th~ women -of hot countries are much afflicted with acrid, and, as it were; ·virulent courfes, particularly if they .ea.t .unwholefome food. On that fuppofition the author.fpeaks thus: "Multis ergo & graviffimis ~norbis ~~ indigen:r inful~ Hait! affi~i olim ~ebuerunt, ubi ncmo a menfiruatis " .mulieribus fe contincbat: ubj viri libidine impotentes in venerem " obviam 'belluarum ritu agebantur ~ ubi mulieres, qure .impudentiffirnre ·" erant, viros promifcl.ie admittebant, ut tefi:atur Confalvus de Oviedo '" !-lift. Indit\r. lib. v. Ca_l;). 3· imrno eofdem & p!ures impudentius ' 11 provocabant menftruationis .tempore, Cl,lm tunc incalefcente utero (p) \ illctur f1Uidem e n~tmero cauf:\rUtn expungcndus acr·, <]Ui in Hifpaniola morbos alios ~o~fnn in.fQrre poruit, a.t vero luem vener:am minimc . Uti<jliC corllht. Ii:uropceos, C]Ui earn ·m{ulam Jam a 200 annts (immo ptnc 300) mcolunt luem ven cream ibidem n\rnquam contrnxiffe nifi conr a~iene. Europa:i tam en aerem ibid~m .duc1.1nt & eundem, quem olim duccbaut indige· ,n:1:, & dub1o proc1.1l eodc;m;nodo ,tcml\eratum & conllitutum. Aflruc :Oe Morbi1 Venereis, lib. i. C• I 2. .I .t.w lihi- .. • fl I S· T' 0 It Y 0 F' M E. X r c· 0. •~' llbidtn·e magis infanirent pe.Cudum mo're. Ql!id· igitur mirum . v~tri<1, ,.. heterogenea, acria. multoru.tn v·irorum femina una confu[a, . cum at- l' cd·rrirno & vitttlento menfi:mo·fanguine;mi"ta intm ulternm· re.fl:uantem . " ' &. olidum fpu.rdffimar.um rnu1ierum-coercita, mora,. heterogeneitate; .. 4 ~' calore loci brevi ootnp.utruitfe,. ac prima motbi venerei feminia con- · n · fi:ituiife,. q~~· in~ alios,. 1i q!li fortt: cohtin'erltiorcs erant, .. dimana-· H v~re ·?•' This is the whole· difcourfe of Dt. Ail:ruc on: the origin of the venereal diftemper, and is full from. beginning to· end. of falfity, as we fl1al~· _prefcntly demonfl:rate: but allowing that it was· true what he faysh~ ppened in Hi(paniola, the fume thing might hav~ happened in EUrope r 11ecaufe as· thofe Americans- when· rhey were in want of. maize and other food fed en frogs, worms, &c. in like manner the·; Europeans, when they were in want of wheat and other good aliment,. haV'e Been ob1iged to eat rats, lizards,. flnd fuch little: animals, the excrements of other animafs, an·d even bread' mad~ o£ human bones,. which brought them various diforders. It is· fufficient to call to· mind the horrid famine formerly fuffered in Europe, partly. by feverc- weather, partly by war. The~e have bee11 men too• there who· have like bea!lis, allowed themfelves· to be led. away. by intemperate luft to the mo.ft execrable exceffes. There hav.e always· been abandcmed and filthy women. too,. and what Plautus [aid might be affirmed with refpefr to them, Plus jcortorum ibi eji, quam mufcarumtum, cum ca!..etur maxum~.. Extreme acr:id·feminal fluids,. uteri e:ftuanfes and virulent ' courfes,. have never been wanting either. Such. caufes-ther-efore could have produced the French evil. in.Eurdpe,.as· they: produced, it• accord-ing to Afi:ruc,.. in America. . . "''No;" a:nfwers this author; "'they could not;. becaufe:the atr bemg ;., more temperate in Europe, (he has recourfe to the air ,,after he had ex ... · "'eluded it.from the numberofcaufes oftheFrench·evil)'non·ado/1 eadem. ''' in vi'rorum flmirte acrimonia., .eadem in m·en.flruo Janguine vt'rulentia, · t'dem· " in utero m'Niierumfervor, quales in injula Haitijuijfe pr.obatum ~jt : (the '"' proofs of D'r. Ail:ruc are no others than thofe above fet forth whe~ce.: '' he adds,) that thofe fymptoms cannot be produced there from..a fimdar· " coacourfe of cau.fes. Of difeafes, and their caufes alfo, we ought to, "judge, as of the generation of animals qnd plants. As lions are noli. bred: 4'55 DISSERT.Ix •. "-v--1· |