It follows from this that there are very often many drawbacks to transporting a religion from one country into another.

“The pig,” says Mr. de Boulainvilliers, “must be very rare in Arabia, where there are hardly any woods, [1] and almost nothing fit for these animals to eat ; moreover, the saltiness of the water and food makes people very susceptible to skin diseases.” [2] This local law could not be good for other countries [3] where the hog is an almost universal food, and in a sense necessary.

I will offer a reflection here. Santorio has observed that there is little transpiration of the hog flesh we eat, [4] and that this food even largely prevents the transpiration of other foods ; he has found that the reduction came to one-third. [5] We know, moreover, that the lack of transpiration causes or irritates skin diseases ; consumption of the pig must therefore be forbidden in climates where people are subject to these diseases, as in the climates of Palestine, Arabia, Egypt and Libya.