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CHAP. XXV.: The Inconveniency of transplanting a Religion from one Country to another. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 2 The Spirit of Laws [1748]

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The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 2.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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CHAP. XXV.

The Inconveniency of transplanting a Religion from one Country to another.

IT follows from hence, that there are frequently many inconveniencies attending the transplanting a religion from one country to any other.

“The hog,” says Mr. de Boulainvilliers , “must be very scarce in Arabia, where there are almost no woods, and hardly any thing fit for the nourishment of these animals: besides, the saltness of the water and food renders the people most susceptible of cutaneous disorders.” This local law could not be good in other countries, where the hog is almost an universal, and in some sort a necessary nourishment.

I shall here make a reflection. Sanctorius has observed that pork transpires but little , and that this kind of meat greatly hinders the transpiration of other food; he has found that this diminution amounts to a third§ . Besides, it is known that the want of transpiration forms or increases the disorders of the skin. The feeding on pork ought rather to be prohibited in climates where the people are subject to these disorders, as in Palestine, Arabia, Ægypt, and Lybia.

[]Life of Mahomet.

[]As in China.

[]Medicina Statica, sect. iii. aphor. 23.

[§ ]Ibid.