There are certain precautions necessary to be attended to by those who are unavoidably exposed to contagion, particularly in the first instance. Those who can afford a full diet, and a liberal use of wine, have been observed to resist infection better than those who use food and drink that is meagre and watery. It is also a good rule not to go among the sick, nor otherwise to expose one’s self to infectious air, with an empty stomach; for whether it is that the body is then more susceptible, or that the pores of the skin and lungs are in a more highly absorbing state, so as with greater readiness to inhale the poison of disease, it is certain that a person in that situation is more apt to catch harm from foul air of any kind. Whatever else weakens and exhausts the body, renders it also more susceptible of noxious impressions. Under the head of weakening powers, I comprehend not only what empties the body of its fluids, such as loss of blood, or a diarrhœa, but intoxication, fatigue, fasting, watching, and certain affections of the mind, such as care and grief. Cold and moisture may also be enumerated among the causes that invite the attack of infectious diseases. They are of themselves simply productive of catarrhs, rheumatisms, and the like disorders; but if an infection should be accidentally present when the body is exposed to them, then instead of these complaints, the disease peculiar to that infection will be produced[62]. This was illustrated in the last reinforcement we had from England; for while bad fevers were breaking out in most of the other ships, the [63]Union was affected with those complaints only which are simply the effects of cold and moisture. It would be more proper, perhaps, to say, _exposure to the air_, than to call it _cold_; for exposing the naked body to the open air, even in the warmest climate, is prejudicial to health. This holds at least with regard to Europeans who are accustomed to clothing, however the natives of hot climates who are naked, may expose themselves with impunity.