19

I have visited many sections of our country, and in no part
of it have I seen the mass of population looking more heal-
thy, or having more of all the signs of health manifested in
their appearance, than in Maryland, I have seen some of the
largest gatherings of men that have ever taken place in our
Unioa, and with any of them, the assemblages of farmers
that I have met in my professional tours will favorably com»
pare. Going through every part of each of the counties dur-
ing all seasons of the year, I have had an opportunity of
knowing whatever amount of sickness might exist, and I have
in the same extent of population, found as much in those sec-
tions of our Union accounted the most healthy, as I have found
in this Tide Water division. The only diseases at all
prevalent are intermittent and remittent fevers, at some
seasons. These only prevail during a portion of the
year, and seem to be the best preventatives against
the numerous and fatal class of diseases of the chest,
which are so fearfully present in other parts of the country.
Consumption so prevalent in many parts, is here almost un-
known. My own observation, and the experience of its resi-
dent physicians, fully sustain this assertion. The people,
then, of this part of our State suffer for a brief period of the
year under a class of maladies, which, with proper treats
ment, are speedily and easily cured, and have almost a total
exemption from a numerous class of always dangerous and
frequently incurable diseases.

This is what I wrote more than fifteen years since, and
with that amount of years of experience added, I am to-day
fully satisfied of the truth of every word uttered.

But let this question be settled in another manner, by care-
ful examination and analysis of the Health Report in the
census of 1860, which, when properly sifted, will confirm all
that I have said of the superior health of Maryland, all that
I shall say of the particular healthiness of the Tide-
Water section. This Report, unless properly explained,
will do this section great injustice.

In the Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, page 25^
is a table giving the natural divisions of the United States
and the rates of mortality in each. In Division 1, "Low
lands on the Atlantic Coast," and on the next page, we have
the following : "The First Division, comprising the Great
Atlantic Plain, was remarked by the early explorers in
America on account of its uniform level over a length of a
thousand miles along the coast, and extending from fifty to
one hundred miles inland. The sea and shore meet, for the
most part, in a mingled series of bays, estuaries, and small
islands rising just above the tide. The low grounds in sum-
mer abound in miasm, and a single night's exposure in the
rice-fields of Carolina, is said to be very dangerous, and care-
fully avoided. But, away from the cypress swamps and mat-
shes, there is generally a sandy soil; and the aggregate mor-