HEALTH  PRECAUTIONS  373
Oranges,  bananas,  limes  and  the  many  other
delicious  tropical  fruits  need  not  be  feared.
You  will  meet  persons  who  will  warn  you
against  them,  but  they  do  no  harm  when  eaten
in  moderation.
Whiskey,  wines  and  beer,  especially  in  the
warm  climates  are  to  be  eschewed.  They  heat
the  blood  and  are  over-stimulating.  Every
doctor  will  tell  you  that  the  possibilities  of
recovery  from  disease  are  always  against  the
person  who  uses  alcohol,  and  nowhere  in  the
world  is  the  truth  of  this  more  exemplified
than  in  Latin  America.  In  one  hospital  of
which  I  was  in  charge  in  one  of  these  lands,
out  of  47  cases  of  yellow  fever,  among  foreigners, ­
  during  an  epidemic,  44  succumbed.
Each  man  who  died  was  an  extreme  user  of
alcohol  in  some  form.  Of  the  three  recoveries ­
  one  man  was  a  teetotaler,  the  other  two
being  occasional  drinkers.
The  old  doctor’s  advice  to  keep  your  head
cool,  your  feet  warm  and  your  bowels  normal
in  order  to  avoid  sickness  is  as  appropriate
for  Latin  America  as  for  anywhere  else.