and of the best quality, from the neighbouring valley of Sta. Ulaya. The pine-apple does not ripen spontaneously in Lima, though attempts are now making near the Callao gate of the city to cultivate it. The pine-apple eaten in Lima is usually brought from the eastern side of Peru, from the Montaña of Tarma and Guancayo, &c. Sometimes, also, a few pine-apples are carried from about Moro on the coast to the northward; but these often decay before they arrive in Lima.
CHAPTER IV.
Remarks explanatory of certain Dietetic maxims, and established notions or prejudices, illustrative of the physical constitution and domestic habits of the Limenians.
In Lima there are certain opinions and rules, relating to the nature and cure of diseases, so very popular and well received among the vulgar, and at the same time so habitually countenanced by many of the native practitioners, that, for any one who proposes to practise in that part of the world, and hopes to be honourably acquitted by the jury of nurses and attendants who are always numerous about the sick, it may be worth while to consider the tenor of the following remarks:
I. No conoce nuestro clima.—It is affirmed by native doctors, but not always acceded to by the vulgar, that there is something occult in the climate of Lima, which only a Limenian or Creole physician can sufficiently comprehend. Hence the prejudiced objection, “No conoce nuestro clima,”—that is, “he knows not our climate,”—is sanctioned by high professional authority; and this much hackneyed caveat is usually laid at the threshold of every European doctor who desires to make himself professionally useful in Lima.
Every one, we think, will admit that the practice of medicine must be modified, or considerably altered, according to the topography of any particular country; for it is observed, that difference of locality affects not only man, but plants and animals, in a striking degree as we extend from the Equator towards latitudes far to the north or south of it. Yet, if there be any who understand either the botany or zoology of Peru, or who endeavour to illustrate these subjects by their science and diligence, they are not Peruvians.
The only lover of natural history we have the honour to be acquainted with in that country is Don Mariano Rivero of Arequipa; and, though their tranquil sky might be imagined to allure Limenians of a philosophic turn of mind to the contemplation and study of the heavenly bodies, yet to Dr. Gregorio Paredes alone belongs, in the present day, the merit and high distinction of keeping the sublime vigils of the astronomer. Now this dearth of native science is not confined to these general branches of natural history and philosophy, but affects very sensibly the practice of medicine. The very manuals of primary medical instruction put into the hands of medical students in the capital of Peru are foreign and European. And thus it is plain that they have no peculiar and national digest of medical knowledge—no local and partial medical code, such as charlatans and public impostors would desire to insinuate when they talk of their own practice of physic, or what they call Medicina del pais.
It is indeed to be hoped that no respectable physician in Peru will hereafter indulge in the folly of maintaining that Europeans are neither fit to practise in that country, nor able to comprehend the peculiar influences of the climate of Lima. This climate, like every other on the known face of the globe, is open to the investigations of the meteorological observer, whether he be a native of the Old or New World.
The laws of physiology, we may further observe, like those of gravitation, are the same in Peru as in other parts of the world; and the aphorisms of Hippocrates, generally founded on accurate observations made more than two thousand years ago, are at this day equally true as when first embodied, and applicable to man’s physical constitution all over the globe. The medical treatment of diseases, whether conducted at home or abroad, must be conducted in conformity with the common and immutable laws of the animal economy, and with due attention to the constitution and temperament of individuals. The locality of the patient’s birth or residence, the influence of climate, diet, and habits, &c. are mere accidental circumstances, secondary and subordinate considerations, which every physician or medical officer of our fleets and armies, to whatever clime he be transported, should be able to survey and to estimate, like the skilful commander who, as he reconnoitres his ground, perceives the local character of a new field of action.
II. Tomar dulce para bever agua a las horas de la comida.—This is a standing dietetic rule observed at the close of a meal or repast, which means that sugar, or some sweet preserve, is to be taken to give relish to the water that it is customary to drink at this time, whether one feel thirsty or not: they therefore sweeten the palate to enjoy their simple drink.
Should a Limenian in perfect health, who thus drinks water at stated periods, feel thirsty shortly after a meal concluded, as usual, with sugar or some sweet-meat and water, he is taught to endure the inconvenience rather than bring on himself indisposition by indulging his thirst. To understand this, it is requisite to know, that, until three hours have elapsed after the taking of the last meal, no one is supposed to drink even water, which is the most common beverage of the natives; for to commit such an irregularity would, it is believed, be to occasion a fit of indigestion or to hazard health.
This may appear a ridiculous prejudice to those who are accustomed to quench their thirst, as often as it naturally arises, without regard to rules; but, on the coast of Peru, the neglect of this prophylactic rule of only drinking at stated periods, when it violates the established habits of an individual trained up in the observance of it, may be allowed to be injurious to the health, as it certainly disturbs the digestive functions. This strict attention to measured periods of drinking water is also countenanced in the hill-land of the interior, where digestion is usually so vigorous as not to require such nice precaution: but it is patronised by custom; and this, no doubt, the majority hold as a sufficient reason for the continuance of the practice.
When a person suffers from acute febrile disease, and is only allowed very spare and tenuous diet, such as chicken soup, panada, tapioca, or arrow-root, &c.; then, from one meal to another, the regular interval is five hours; three hours after each meal, water, or some medicated drink, is given; and, two hours after this drink, the allotted aliment, of whatever simple sort it may be, is again repeated. Thus food and drink are regularly alternated till the patient is considered to be in a state which requires the supply of solid food; and then, as when in ordinary health, the interval from meal to meal is understood to be seven hours. The solid food given to the convalescent generally consists of chicken, which, of all the items in the list of Limenian dietary, is that in most general requisition. Now, for the proper digestion of the chicken, five hours are allowed before any medicated drink is ordered after it; and the principle recognised in this method is, that drink, which too much dilutes and weakens the gastric juice in the stomach, cannot with propriety be taken before chymification is complete.
Nurses, and very kind and obliging friends, usually attend so strictly to the above order in giving food and drink, that, though the poor patient be burning with thirst, he can only have permission to quench it at the fixed and assigned hours; and, through a feeling of pure benevolence towards the sick, they interrupt a salutary sleep rather than fail in punctually giving either drink, nutriment, or medicine at the corresponding hours. Under the influence of an amiable sense of duty, the anxious mother is often heard to assure the doctor that she herself was attentive to give her child its drink or medicine at exact time, as announced from the nearest church spire by the striking of the clock; though it grieved her to interrupt its gentle slumber.
During the exacerbations of intermittent fevers, so prevalent in Peru, the state of the stomach is usually much disturbed; and in such circumstances, instead of alternating food and drink without regard to the condition of the digestive functions, we have taken pains to persuade the sick to deviate from the order established by custom, and allowed our patients the inexpressible
