lthiest situations. Fourth--To live temperately. Fifth--To preserve a
regular habit. Lastly--To avoid the heat of the sun from 10 in the
morning till 4 in the afternoon, and above all the night air. By a
strict attention to these rules, many would escape the diseases of the
climate, who annually sink under its baleful influence."

Those states and territories to which this work is intended more
immediately as a GUIDE, do not differ very materially in
salubrity. The same general features are found in each. There is but
little diversity in climate,--their geological and physical structure
coincide, and the experience of years shows that there is no great
difference. Where autumnal fevers are common they are usually of similar
character. The same causes for disease exist in Ohio as in Missouri, in
Michigan as in Illinois, in Kentucky and Tennessee as in Indiana. All
these states are much more infested with the maladies which depend on
variations of temperature, than the states farther south. All have
localities where intermittents and agues are found, and all possess
extensive districts of country where health is enjoyed by a very large
proportion of emigrants. There is some difference between a heavily
timbered and a prairie country, in favor of the latter; other
circumstances being equal. Changes favorable to continued health are
produced by the settlement and cultivation of any particular portion of
country. Of one fact I have long since satisfied my mind, that ordinary
fevers are not caused by the use of the water of the West.

Exceptions may be made in some few cases, where a vein of water is
impregnated with some deleterious mineral substance. The use of a well,
dug in the vicinity of a coal bed in Illinois, was supposed to have
caused sickness in a family for two seasons. Any offensive property in
water is readily detected by the taste. Cool, refreshing water is a
great preservative of health. It is common for families, (who are too
indifferent to their comfort to dig a well,) to use the tepid, muddy
water of the small streams in the frontier states, during the summer, or
to dig a shallow well and wall it with timber, which soon imparts an
offensive taste to the water. Water of excellent quality may be found in
springs, or by digging from 20 to 30 feet, throughout the western
states. Most of the water thus obtained is hard water, from its
limestone qualities, but it is most unquestionably healthy. Those
persons who