Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

Ch. VI.

THROUGH ITALY.

265

be any difference between ancient and modern
Rome in point of healthiness, I am inclined to
think that the latter must have the advantage,
as the site of the modern city is considerably rais-
ed by the ruins ; and consequently the inunda-
tions of the Tiber are less frequent and less mis-
chievous, and the quantity of stagnant water is
much diminished. In fine, whatever the air of
Rome may be for infants and youth, it is now
considered as peculiarly favorable to riper age,
and is said to be, as anciently, highly conducive
to longevity.

Campagna is frightful and disgusting; bloated bellies, dis-
torted features, dark yellow complexion, livid eyes and lips ;
in short, all the symptoms of dropsy, jaundice, and ague,
seem united in their persons. But though I am far from
maintaining that the qualities of the air have no share in the
production of these deformities, yet I am inclined to attri-
bute them in some degree also to bad water and bad diet.
The first of these causes produces similar appearances in se-
veral mountainous countries, particularly in Switzerland, and
the latter disposes the constitution to receive with tenfold ef-
fect the action of the air, and the impression of noxious exha-
lations.