Dr. G. _Erric Barnstorff_, Physician to the Duke of
_Brunswick_, who served five Campaigns with the _Brunswick_
and _Lunenburg_ Troops in _Hungary_, told him, that the Camp
Diseases, particularly the Malignant Fever and Dysentery,
took their Rise from the Troops remaining long encamped on
the same Ground, and being exposed to the corrupted Steams of
the Bodies of dead Men, Horses, and other Animals, which lay
unburied; and of Excrements, which were not covered with
Earth. And these Causes have since been particularly taken
notice of by Dr. _Pringle_, in his _Observation on the
Diseases of the Army_.
Many have imputed the Cause of this Disorder to the eating of
Fruit in excess, because it generally appears about the
Middle of Summer, the Time the Fruit begins to be in Season,
and continues through the Autumn. But from later Observations
this should seem to be a vulgar Error. Dr. _Pringle_ (part i.
ch. iii. p. 20.) tells us, that, in the Year 1743, this
Sickness began and raged before any Fruit was in Season,
except Strawberries, (which from their high Price the Men
never tasted) and ended about the Time the Grapes were ripe;
which growing in open Vineyards were freely eat by every
body. And Dr. _Tissot_, in a Treatise which he published,
called _Avis au Peuple sur la Sante_, in his Chapter on the
_Dysentery_, Sec. 320, says, that ripe Fruit, especially the
Summer-Fruits, are so far from being the Cause of the
Disorder, that they are the great Preservatives against it:
he says, that, in the Years which the Fruit is most
plentiful, the Dysentery is least frequent; and he relates
several Instances where the Use of ripe Grapes proved a Cure
for the Disorder. Eleven People were attacked by the
Dysentery, nine eat Fruit, and all recovered; the other two,
a Grandmother and Child, from Prejudice, eat none, and both
died. A Regiment of _Swiss_ Soldiers, in Garrison in the
South of _France_, had the Dysentery very frequent among
them. The Captains purchased some Acres of a Vineyard, and
carried the sick Soldiers to the Field, and gave them the
Grapes to eat; and ordered the Men in Health to live upon
them chiefly. After this not one Person died, nor was any one
seized with the Distemper.--In an Account of a Treatise on
the Dysentery, published at _Hamburg_ in 1753, whi
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