Part 6 (1/2)
”For the industrious and temperate of this cla.s.s, our country holds forth inducements which are not generally known or understood.
”The language of indiscriminate panegyric, which has been bestowed on its climate and soil, has conveyed little information, and is the source of many fears and suspicions in the minds of people at a distance. Other accounts have described the western country as uniformly sickly; but the habit of exaggeration in its favor has been most prevalent; neither need we wonder, when much of the information communicated, has been afforded by interested landholders, or speculators, and by travellers, whose views have been superficial, and whose journeys have been performed generally, either on the rivers or by post roads.
”The first inquiry of a substantial farmer, from one of the old settled states, is mostly, for good land in the vicinity of a market; and afterwards, whether the situation be healthy. It is true that there are many places in the western country, affording the qualities expressed in this description, but they are perhaps all occupied; and it would be, in several respects, more advisable for a farmer, possessing even a considerable sum of money in hand, to inquire first for a healthy situation, and then good land.
”The spirit of improvement throughout the United States, especially evidenced in ca.n.a.lling, and rail-roads, will, it is hoped, in a few years, open modes of communication, which as yet are wanting, with the markets.
”The same remarks will apply to the poorer cla.s.s of emigrants. If they value their own health, and that of their families, the main object of their attention will be to secure, if possible, a situation remote from the fogs that hover over the channels of large rivers, which become partly dry in summer, and from the neighborhood of swamps, marshes, ponds, and small lakes.
”Every person, on coming from beyond the mountains, and especially from the eastern States, or Europe, will have to undergo some degree of change in his const.i.tution, before it becomes naturalized to the climate; and all who move from a cold to a considerably warmer part of the western country will experience the same alteration; it will, therefore, be wisdom for the individual brought up in a more rigorous climate, that he seek a situation where the circulation of the air is unimpeded and free, and that he avoid those flat and marshy districts, which have been already described.
”Those who settle in new countries are almost universally exposed to inconveniences which have an unfavorable influence on health. They are seldom able for a length of time to erect comfortable places of residence; and indeed, many postpone this important object of attention, even after their circ.u.mstances will permit them to build comfortable dwelling houses.
”Wool is mostly a scarce article in new settlements, so that cotton and linen garments are too frequently worn in winter. There is another circ.u.mstance, which no doubt has an unfavorable influence on health, especially among the poorer cla.s.s: it is the want, during the summer season particularly, of substantial food. This is sometimes owing to indolence or improvidence; but perhaps oftener, to the circ.u.mstances in which a few families are placed, at a distance from any established or opulent settlement.
”Erroneous views are too generally entertained in relation to hardening the human system; and the a.n.a.logies drawn from savage life, are altogether inconclusive. The manners of the North American Indians are essentially different from those of the whites. It is true, there is a portion of the latter, especially in Illinois and Missouri, who from infancy are educated almost in the habits of the aborigines.
”We have frequently heard the example of savages referred to, as an argument in favor of attempting to strengthen the const.i.tution by exposure.[6] There is plausibility in this; but might not the example of the negroes in the lower parts of South Carolina and Georgia, be also quoted as evidencing the propriety of living on corn meal and sweet potatoes, and working every day in the water of a rice field during the sickly season? They are generally more healthy than the whites who own them, and who reside on the plantations in the summer. The civilized man may turn to savage life perhaps with safety, as regards health; but then he must plunge with the Indian into the depths of the forest, and observe consistency in all his habits. These pages are not written, however, for such as are disposed to consider themselves beyond the pale of civilized society; but for the reflecting part of the community, who can estimate the advantages to be derived from a prudent care of health.
”Much disease, especially in the more recently settled parts of this country, is consequent to neglecting simple and comfortable precautionary means; sometimes this neglect is owing to misdirected industry, and at others to laziness or evil habits.
”To have a dry house, if it be a log one, with the openings between the logs well filled up, so that it may be kept warm in winter; to fill up all the holes in its vicinity which may contain stagnant water; to have a good clean spring or well, sufficient clothing, and a reasonable supply of provisions, should be the first object of a settler's attention: but frequently a little, wet, smoky cabin or hovel is erected, with the floor scarcely separated from the ground, and admitting the damp and unwholesome air. All hands that can work, are impelled, by the father's example, to labor beyond their strength, and more land is cleared and planted with corn than is well tended; for over-exertion, change in the manner of living, and the influence of other debilitating causes, which have been mentioned, bring sickness on at least a part of the family, before the summer is half over.
”It is unnecessary for even the poorest emigrant to encounter these causes of distress, unless seduced by the misrepresentations of some interested landholder, or by the fantasies of his own brain, to an unhealthy and desolate situation, where he can neither help himself, nor be a.s.sisted by others.
”Many persons on moving into the _back woods_, who have been accustomed to the decencies of life, think it little matter how they live, because _no one sees them_. Thus we have known a family of some opulence to reside for years in a cabin unfit for the abode of any human being, because they could not find time to build a house; and whenever it rained hard, the females were necessarily engaged in rolling the beds from one corner of the room to another, in order to save them from the water that poured in through the roof. This cabin was intended at first as only a very temporary residence, and was erected on the edge of a swamp, for the convenience of being near to a spring. How unreasonable must such people be, if they expect health!
”Clothing for winter should be prepared in summer. It is a common, but very incorrect practice among many farmers, both west and east of the Alleghany mountains, to postpone wearing winter clothing until the weather has become extremely cold: this is a fruitful source of pulmonary diseases, of rheumatisms, and of fevers.
”With regard to providing a sufficiency of nouris.h.i.+ng food, no specific directions can be given, further than to recommend, what is much neglected--particular attention to a good garden spot; and to remark, that those who devote undivided attention to cultivating the soil, receive more uniform supplies of suitable nourishment than the more indolent, who spend a considerable portion of their time in hunting.
”New settlers are not unfrequently troubled with diseases of the skin, which are often supposed to be the itch: for these eruptions they generally use repellant external applications; this plan of treatment is prejudicial.
”The most proper time for the removal of families to this country from the Atlantic states, is early in the spring, while the rivers are full; or if the journey be made by land, as soon as the roads are sufficiently settled, and the waters abated.
”Persons unaccustomed to the climate of the lower Mississippi country, are necessarily exposed, whilst there in the summer season, to many causes of disease. It will be advisable for such to have a prudent care of their health, and yet, a care distinct from that finical timidity which renders them liable to early attacks of sickness.
”There is one important consideration, which perhaps has been somewhat overlooked by medical men, who have written on this subject. Natives of colder and healthier regions, when exposed in southern and sickly climates, experience, if they remain any length of time without evident and violent disease, an alteration in the condition of the liver, and of the secreted bile itself; when it pa.s.ses through the bowels, its color being much darker than usual. Sometimes, indeed, it appears to be ”locked up in the liver,” the stools having an ashen appearance. This state of the biliary secretion is frequently accompanied, although the patient is otherwise apparently in tolerable health, by a pain over the eye-b.a.l.l.s, particularly when the eyes are rolled upward.
”The proper mode of treatment for such symptoms is, to take without delay, not less than twenty grains of calomel, and in eight hours a wine gla.s.s full of castor oil. The tone of the stomach should not be suffered to sink too much after the operation of the medicine, which, if necessary, may be repeated in twenty-four hours. Sulphate of quinine, or other tonics, with nutritive food, which is easy of digestion, should also be taken in moderate portions at a time.
”Where diseases are rapid in their progress, and dangerous, no time is to be lost. The practice of taking salts and other aperients, when in exposed situations, and for the purpose of preventing disease, is injurious. It is sufficient, that the bowels be kept in a natural and healthy state; for all cathartics, even the mildest, have a tendency to nauseate the stomach, create debility, and weaken the digestive faculty.
A reduction of tone in the system, which is always advantageous, will be more safely effected by using somewhat less than usual of animal food, and of spirituous, strong vinous, or fermented liquors. The robust will derive benefit from losing a little blood.
”It ought to be well understood, that as we approximate tropical climates, the doses of medicine, when taken, should be increased in quant.i.ty, and repeated with less delay than is admissible in colder countries. Exposure to the night air is certainly prejudicial; so also is the intense heat of the sun, in the middle of the day. Violent exercise should also be avoided. Bathing daily in water of a comfortable temperature, is a very commendable practice; and cotton worn next the skin is preferable to linen.
”It is impossible to prevent the influence of an atmosphere pregnant with the causes of disease; but the operation of those causes may generally be counteracted by attention to the rules laid down; and it is no small consolation to be aware, that on recovery from the first attack, the system is better adapted to meet and sustain a second of a similar nature. The reader will understand that we do not allude to relapses, occurring while the system is enfeebled by the consequences of disease.”
To the foregoing remarks, I add the following, from an address of Judge Hall to the ”Antiquarian and Historical Society of Illinois,” December 10, 1827.