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60 YON TROIL’S LETTERS ON ICELAND:
LETTER XI—rTo CHEVALIER BACH.
Of the Difeafes in Iceland.
Stockholm, O&. 1, 1776.
You require, Sir, that I fhould give you fome account of the difeafes common in Ice-
land. I will obey your commands, though it is more the province of a phyfician to
undertake the fubjeét, as it requires fo much exaétnefs and penetration.
As I have been fo happy as to be unacquainted with any difeafe from my own ex-
perience, I have as little endeavoured to gain any knowledge by reading fuch books as
treat of them ; you will therefore pardon me if my account is not very perfect.
The climate of the country, and the purity of the air, contribute very much to make
the Icelanders ftrong and healthy, though their food and way of life frequently pro-
duce the contrary effect. Young children, for example, are not fuckled more than two
or three days, and afterwards brought up with cows milk, which, in times of dearth,
is mixed with flour and water.
I remember to have heard, that this is alfo cuftomary in fome parts of Finland ; but
a different manner of living may render that unwholefome in Iceland, which is lefs dan-
gerousin another place: and I think I may fafely venture to affirm, that the food and
mode of living in Iceland do not contribute to the ftrength of the inhabitants. One
feldom meets with any of them above fifty or fixty years of age, and the greater part
are attacked in their middle age by many grievous complaints.
It is remarkable that among the female fex, who there, as almoft every where elfe,
live to a greater age than the men, thofe particularly attain to an advanced life who
have had many children. There are a great many of this clafs, as the women are com-
monly very fruitful; and itis no rare thing to meet with a mother who has had twelve
or fifteen children.
Among the difeafes that are moft prevalent, the fcurvy (Skyrbvigar) is the moft
common. In fome, it makes its appearance in the fame manner as with us, butin
others it produces the moft dreadful fymptoms, and is then called /iktraad, or leprofy,
which, however, differs from that horrid difeafe fo common in the Eaft. Its firft ap-
pearances are, fwellings in the hands and feet, and fometimes alfo in other parts of the
body ; the fkin becomes fhining and of a bluifh caft, the hair falls off, the fight, tafte,
{mell, and feeling are weakened, and often quite loft; biles appear on the arms, legs,
and face ; refpiration becomes difficult, and the breath foetid ; aching pains are felt in
all the joints, a breaking-out fpreads over the whole body, and is at laft converted into
wounds, which generally terminate in death.
The Icelanders make ufe of antifcorbutic decodtions, likewife baths, with turnips
boiled inthem ; but chiefly mercurial remedies, by means of which the difeafe may be
removed in its beginning. ‘This difeafe is not contagious, but very obftinate ; and it is
remarkable, that two generations may be entirely free from it, when it fhall appear in
the third. It does not always prove mortal, though many are tormented with it twenty
or thirty years. s
The gout (torvark) moft men have in their hands who go out a-fifhing probably be-
caufe they are obliged to handle and manage the wet fifhing tackle in cold weather.
The .
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