48. “Could any thing increase the Pleasure I have in a literary Intercourse with you, it would be to find that it answered your End in promoting the public Good. The _Vis-inertiæ_ of Mankind is not the only Difficulty you have had to encounter, but their Ignorance and Prejudices, which are almost insuperable. It is to your Perseverance and Resolution, that the little Progress you have made is due: Indeed I ought not to say little; for it is a great Step to have found the few that have Hearts good enough to relish your Plan, and Heads sufficiently clear to discern the most effectual Method of advancing it. It does Honour to those noble and other worthy Personages that join you in Acts of such extensive Humanity, as the Introduction of Ventilators to Hospitals, Prisons, Ships of War and Transport, _&c._ as they must necessarily render the Miseries of the first more supportable, and the close and constant Confinement of the others less prejudicial and fatal to their Health and Life. It is to be lamented that they are not more generally made use of; for, notwithstanding their Advantage is apparent and incontestable, it is scarce credible how few are to be found among the vast Number of Ships daily employed in carrying Passengers, Slaves, Cattle, and other perishable Commodities. Those of your Invention, which I had, were of singular Service to us; they kept the Inside of the Ship cool, sweet, dry, and healthy: The Number of Slaves I buried was only six, and not one white Man of our Crew, (which was thirty-four) during a Voyage of 15 Months; an Instance very uncommon. The 340 Negroes were very sensible of the Benefits of a constant Ventilation, and were always displeased when it was omitted: Even the Exercise had Advantages not to be despised among People so much confined. I must not, however, forget that Ventilation alone is insufficient to keep Disorders out of Ships; for often Infections are brought aboard by the Slaves, or others; and frequently Diseases are produced by feeding on bad or decayed Food, but oftener still by Insobriety; for I have ever remarked that the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors in warm Climates, is more pernicious and fatal even than the Malignancy of the Air itself. In cold Countries too, where I have had Experience, those Sailors, or others, who accustomed themselves to hard drinking, especially of Drams, had the Scurvy in a terrible Degree; whereas those who were temperate or sober, either escaped it entirely, or had it but moderately. The Effects of Drunkenness was still more discernable among the Indians adjoining our Settlements in _Hudson’s-Bay_, who are a feeble, diminutive, chilly, indolent Set of People. On the contrary, those who come from the inland Parts (who are unused to drink Brandy) are brave, active, robust, and industrious. The same Difference is observable in the _Africans_, and perhaps among the Inhabitants of most other Nations, did we attend to it.