What was such an inspection but a philosophical inquiry into the salubrity of the district, and the purity of the waters by which it was supplied?—for it is well known that in unwholesome situations, especially if swampy, the viscera of the cattle will universally present an appearance of disease, which an eye experienced in such dissections, would easily distinguish. But, in order to shew the universality, as well as the antiquity, of the policy which we are endeavouring to establish, we propose to furnish the reader with an illustration, afforded by the superstitions of an uncivilized race of modern times. The pearl-diver in the East-Indian fisheries is constantly exposed, during his dangerous occupation, to the attack of the _Ground-Shark_, a common and terrible inhabitant of all the seas in those latitudes. In order to avoid falling in with this foe, the adventurous Indian seeks for safety in supernatural means. Before he begins diving, the priest, or conjurer, or, as he is termed in the Malabar language, the _Pillal Karras_, or _Binder of Sharks_, is always consulted, whose directions upon these occasions are received with confidence, and followed with the most implicit obedience. The advice which is given them, under the imposing weight of a religious ordinance, has, for its sole object, the maintenance of the health of the diver, and the adaptation of his body for the arduous occupation in which he is engaged; and it is not a little curious to observe that in the performance of this duty, the _Pillal Karras_ appears to display a judgment, which the most enlightened views of modern physiology could not improve. The diver, for instance, is enjoined to abstain from all food for some time previous to his descent; a practice, the value of which will be duly appreciated by those who read our chapter on the physiology of Suffocation, vol. ii. p. 34. In those countries, where it becomes necessary to check the increase of population, we again find that ecclesiastical institutes are made subservient to state policy; thus the religion of the Island of Formosa[5] prohibits women becoming mothers before the age of thirty-five years; and, should they become pregnant before that time, the priestess procures abortion by violence[6]. In the book of sacred law of the Hindus,[7] the rules for the choice of a wife are formally and minutely detailed, and will be found remarkably conformable with our physiological notions respecting the transmission of disease and deformity.