Shut your mouth and save your life / by George Catlin.

  • Catlin, George, 1796-1872.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Shut your mouth and save your life / by George Catlin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    During my Ethnographic labours amongst those wild people I have visited 150 Tribes, containing more than two millions of souls ; and therefore have had, in all probability, more extensive opportunities than any other man living, of examining their sanitary system ; and if from those examinations I have arrived at results of importance to the health and existence of mankind, I shall have achieved a double object in a devoted and toilsome life, and shall enjoy a twofold satisfaction in making them known to the world; and particularly to the Medical Faculty, who may perhaps turn them to good account.* Man is known to be the most perfectly constructed of all the animals, and consequently he can endure more : he can out-travel the Horse, the Dog, the Ox, or any other animal; he can fast longer; his natural life is said to be ‘threescore and ten years/ while its real average length, in civilized communities, is but half equal to that of the brutes whose natural term is not one-third as long ! This enormous disproportion might be attributed to some natural physical deficiency in the construction of * As the information contained in this little work is believed to be of equal importance to all classes of society, and of all Nations, the Author has endeavoured to render it in the simplest possible form, free from ambiguity of expression and professional technicality of language, that all may be able alike to appreciate it; and if the work contains several brief repetitions, they are only those which were intended, and such as always allowed, and even difficult to be avoided, in conveying important advice.