An essay on the more common West-India diseases and the remedies which that country itself produces : to which are added some hints on the management, &c. of Negroes / by James Grainger, M.D.

  • Grainger, James, 1721?-1766.
Date:
1802
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the more common West-India diseases and the remedies which that country itself produces : to which are added some hints on the management, &c. of Negroes / by James Grainger, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    [ ] palm oil, they fliould be permitted to anoint their bodies therewith, after waQiing them clean in fomc running water. I am perfuaded, that anointing and bathing, if. more common, would not only render Negroes more fturdy, but preferve them from colds, and many other infirmities. This falutary pra($tice prevailed among the Ro- mans. Many nations in the eaft ufe it at this day 5 as do mofl: of the Negroes on the coaft of Africa. No doubt, fweating is a highly healthful eva- cuation in warm climates, by preferving the juices from putrefa6lion, &c. &c. but perfpira- tion there is often too profufe, and of courfe mull weaken the conftitution. Anointing would lef, fen that wafte. New Negroes fhould have a comfortable blan- ket, or bamboo as it is called, given them to fleep in; and they fhould never be permitted to fleep on the ground without a mat under them. The not attending to thefe minute circumftances ha^ proved fatal to many Negroes. The Negroes bought in crop-time are much more likely to do well than thofe who are pur- chafed in the rainy months; for Negroes fhould not only be allowed to drink what quantity of the cane juice they think proper, but even obji^ ged to drink it.