every now and then went in for a "burst up," and then returned to steady habits for a while – hardly ever escaped, and hardly ever recovered.
The habitual topers not only did not take the fever, but they seemed to have an instinctive knowledge that they were quite safe from it. Not one of them evinced the least apprehension when every one else was panic-stricken; not one of them condescended to make the slightest alteration in his copious and fiery potations. They fearlessly performed for the sick and dead offices which sober men were not very eager about undertaking; and they seemed rather proud that a time had arrived when they became of some importance, for ordinarily they were reputed, and treated as, besotted, useless rascals. It is an unpleasant truth for the blue-ribbons, but it seems to be a truth nevertheless, that to keep well saturated with alcohol is a safeguard against yellow fever.
There is no great difficulty in the way of understanding why men given to occasional fits of excess should fare badly in a time of pestilence. They weakened their powers of repelling or resisting disease without attaining that thoroughly cured condition which could set fever at defiance. And they had rather a fatal time of it.
As to the general mass of society, it was hard to name any particular class which escaped attack, or any which seemed especially open to it. Strong men were stricken and succumbed; delicate men escaped or recovered. Almost every one who had not been a patient in previous visitations suffered now. Convalescence was generally tedious; but after a few months, all souvenirs of the fever in the shape of bodily ailments disappeared. I have reason to believe that scientific opinion is much divided as to the origin of, and the best method of dealing with, this pestilence. There are a few instances on record – I know of two myself – of patients having recovered after having had black-vomit, which is looked upon as a fatal occurrence. As to the tendency of reckless habits to induce or to intensify the diseases incidental to warm climates, I remember to have heard it said by a military surgeon who had been long in Jamaica, that he thought the intemperate habits of soldiers warded off as much disease as they induced. Soldiers commit such gross errors as to eating unwholesome things, and as to going into and even sleeping in marshes, thickets, and other places known to be dangerous to health, that the excitement of alcohol probably often saves them from the ill effects of poisons. The mention of thickets reminds me of a case which I once knew of, where a soldier, sleeping in the bush, drew a fly of some sort into his nostrils, which bred with great rapidity in his head. The doctors knew what was wrong, but were altogether unable to check the progress of the insects into his brain, by penetrating to which they killed him in great agony.
We are apt to connect intemperate habits with hot climates, but "we never need leave our own dear isle" for some pretty examples of what may be done in the way of consuming alcohol. As I have touched on the subject of hard drinking abroad, I will now give two examples (which I believe to be quite genuine) of home achievements. The hero of the first was an old yeoman whose first name was Steeve; his surname I need not mention. Old Steeve was at work one day, fork in hand, in a field overlooking a
