Note 87 — Chapter VII

I have, in general, observed, that the small-pox are malignant where the body, in order to prevent perspiration, is frequently rubbed over with fat or oily substances. Dirtiness, immoderation, or luxury in eating and drinking, and particularly the use of heating things, greatly increase the malignity of the disease. A confirmation of what I have here asserted, may be found in America, at the Cape of Good Hope, in Africa among the Negroes, and among the Calmucks in Russia. Among people who employ the warm bath, as the Russians, Turks, Persians, &c. the small-pox are less malignant. F.