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diff --git a/old/60338-0.txt b/old/60338-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5435e57..0000000 --- a/old/60338-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4889 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Enquiry Into the Origin and Intimate -Nature of Malaria, by Thomas Wilson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: An Enquiry Into the Origin and Intimate Nature of Malaria - -Author: Thomas Wilson - -Release Date: September 22, 2019 [EBook #60338] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MALARIA *** - - - - -Produced by Thiers Halliwell, Bryan Ness and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - -Transcriber’s notes: - -The text of this e-book has been preserved in its original form -apart from correction of a few typographic errors (omposition → -composition, recal → recall, gives → give, bloodvessels → blood -vessels), and insertion of some missing quotation marks. Inconsistent -hyphenation and inconsistent spelling (Scheld/Scheldt/Sheldt) -has not been altered. Footnotes have been numbered and positioned below -the relevant paragraphs. - - - - AN ENQUIRY - - INTO THE - - ORIGIN AND INTIMATE NATURE - - OF - - MALARIA. - - - By THOMAS WILSON, - CHEVALIER DE L’ORDRE DU LION NEERLANDAIS. - - - LONDON: - HENRY RENSHAW, 356, STRAND. - 1858. - - - LONDON: - SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, - COVENT GARDEN. - - - - -TO - -M. ROCHUSSEN, - -MINISTER OF COLONIES AT THE HAGUE. - - -SIR,-- - -I have taken the liberty of dedicating this little work to you. -It treats of a subject on which I have made many experiments and -collected many observations in Belgium and in Holland. I have carefully -weighed the conflicting evidence of some distinguished observers, and -the conclusion arrived at is, that this conflict has arisen partly -from a want of due care in making the observations, partly from the -extreme difficulty accompanying all inquiries in which physiology and -pathology, health and disease, are necessarily involved. - -In the course of my memoir I have endeavoured to do justice to -Holland, esteeming it to be the most remarkable country in the -world. I cannot find in the history of any other nation proofs so -clear of the beneficial effects of indomitable industry, directed by -intelligence, over the welfare and destinies of a people; nowhere do -I find evidence so convincing of the great results flowing from the -application of practical science to the wants of a people; nowhere do -I find to the same extent a sound commercial and political economy, -first developed and acted on in Holland, lead so directly to the -civilization and welfare of a nation. Those great principles which -other nations and other races discussed theoretically and elaborated -into systems, the nation of which you are a distinguished citizen, -discovered, adopted, applied, and enforced. To Holland, as a nation, -belongs eminently the character of practical. Whilst other nations left -uncultivated as they found them, or rendered unproductive, the most -fertile territories, seemingly unable to turn them to account, the -country and people to which you belong compelled the ocean to retire -from a barren, unprofitable, and untillable soil, which they converted -into a garden; and if ever the great problem of rendering the whole -earth habitable for man be solved, I may venture to predict--with -all due respect for other nations and other races--that the solution -must come from Holland. As it would be presumptuous in me--a humble -individual--directly to address a nation, I have ventured to do so -indirectly through you. Permit me, therefore, to dedicate this little -work to you, as the expression of my personal regard and friendship, -and of my deep respect for the nation to which you belong. - - I am, SIR, - - Most respectfully yours, - - THE AUTHOR. - - - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS. - - - INTRODUCTION. - - Epidemics--Their mysterious character--Distinction between endemics - and epidemics--Malaria, where chiefly met with--Is it of one kind - or several?--Author’s long residence in a _malaria_-producing - country pp. 1–3 - - - CHAPTER I. - - The question as to there being several kinds of malaria, further - examined--Theory of Macculloch, tracing to a malaria, chiefly - generated by man himself, all forms of disease, from the plague to - a common neuralgia--This theory now accepted, and to a certain - extent acted on by the British Government--Experiments of the - Board of Health--Results to be seen at Luton, Birmingham, and - London pp. 4, 5 - - - CHAPTER II. - - The history of epidemics adverse to the theory of Macculloch--Results - of confounding drains with sewers, and of converting drains into - drain-sewers--Influence of the external world (earth, air, and water) - over man, first examined by Hippocrates in his celebrated treatise, - “_De aere, aquis et locis_,”[1] but with other views--Influence of - modern chemistry over physiology--Men now expect from chemistry a - solution of some of the great problems of physiology and pathology - still unsolved pp. 6–14 - - [1] Περι αερον, ὑδατων καὶ τοπων. Cary’s edition. Paris. 1806. - - - CHAPTER III. - - The great plague in the time of Justinian--View as to its African - origin, and strictly contagious nature, adopted by Gibbon--Admits, - however, the necessity for an insalubrious condition of the atmosphere, - in addition to the presence of the poison--Its reappearance at present - in Northern Africa (Bengazzi)--Modern theories as to its origin and - mode of propagation, refuted by the histories of plague, cholera, and - typhus--Murrains pp. 15–25 - - - CHAPTER IV. - - View of nature acted on by the Hollander and Brabanter--Their struggle - to overcome the difficulties of their position--Rise of the Dutch - Republic, and of the School of Mechanical and Practical Science of - Holland--Its influence over Europe and the world--Drainage of the Lake - of Haarlem--Practical instances of the truth of the principle, that - “when man interferes with nature, he must carry through the work to an - issue”--How to convert a peat-bog into a healthy meadow, a dreary waste - into a profitable, cheerful farm pp. 26–30 - - - CHAPTER V. - - Sources of malaria--Various medical hypotheses refuted by Colonel - Tulloch--Intermittents and remittents as they appear on the Western - Coast of Africa and in Canada pp. 31–43 - - - CHAPTER VI. - - Extent of life on the globe as proved by the microscope--Theory of - Cuvier as to the nutrition of plants and animals--Vast extent of - the microscopic living world--The “blooming of plants”--Results of - disturbing the muddy banks of rivers--Sources of the bad odours of - certain marshes and rivers--Remarkable influence of a change in - temperature over the products of fermentation--Parasite theory of - putrefaction, fermentation, and disease, refuted by Liebig, pp. 44–54 - - - CHAPTER VII. - - Decomposition and metamorphosis of animal beings--Influence they - exercise over the soil as a habitation for man--Disposal of the - excreta and remains of animals and vegetables--Danger of these when - accumulated--Immunity of savage tribes--Scurvy amongst the white - troops at the Cape of Good Hope, the healthiest climate in the - world--Metamorphoses of organic remains--Influence of oxygen, of - nitrogen, and ammonia--Source of the inorganic principles--Fluate of - lime in fossil bones--Danger to man of putrescent sea-water--Man’s - incessant struggle with nature--Fatality of the climate of Rio - pp. 55–65 - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Earth, air, and water, in relation to man--How modified by - him--Results of that modification--Action and reaction--Antagonism - of man to nature--Effects of human labour on the soil--How man - protects his dwelling--Distinction between a drain and a sewer, a - distinction first practically denied in England--Chemical elements - of animal bodies--Nourishment of plants--Exhaustion of the soil in - Virginia--Value of farm-yard manure--Agriculture in China--Effects of - clearing the primæval forests of America--Causes of the hay-fever, - typhus and typhoid fevers--Effects of bad ventilation--Importance - of the infusoria in nature’s great scheme--Origin and action - of _humus_--Functions of the _humus_ and of the leaves--Means - adopted in Holland for the conversion of a bog or morass into a - polder--Antediluvian vegetation--Elements which require being restored - to the soil--Belgian agriculturists--Statistics of Quetelet pp. 66–88 - - - CHAPTER IX. - - On poisons, miasms, and contagions--Difficulties besetting the - questions as to their essential nature and origin--Poison of typhus, - of yellow fever, and of the remittent fevers of hot countries--Their - appearance at uncertain and distant periods in an aggravated - form--Statistics of the recurrence of remittents in the West - Indies--Light thrown by chemistry on the subject--Fermentation and - putrefaction--Peculiar poisons--Distinction between a miasm and a - contagion--Odour perceptible in sick chambers--Ozone, pp. 89–98 - - - CHAPTER X. - - On the servitude of rivers--Practical knowledge of the ancients--Early - Roman history a fable--The great social problems of _race_ and - _climate_ in some measure unknown to the Romans--First mooted in the - reign of Justinian--Present phases of human society--How affected by - these two problems--Influence of civilization over the earth - pp. 99–110 - - - CONCLUDING CHAPTER. - - Author’s theory of malaria--Has malaria a real existence?--Action of - ferments on the blood--A malarious air not dislodged by storms--Quality - of the air over ditches, &c.--Experiments by the Author on microscopic - mollusca--Influence of chemistry over physiology--Ammonia--Its - volatility and universal prevalence in the air--Its sources and action - on living bodies--Danger of drainage-works during summer--Spread - of plants through the air--Appearance of strange plants in a - country--Conclusion--Various phases of sanitary science--laws of - decomposition and composition--Results to man of a false position in - nature pp. 111–128 - - - APPENDIX pp. 129–136 - - - - - ERRATUM. - - Page 98, line 2 (note), _should read_ “Hydrogen is the lightest known - substance; its specific gravity is to that of air 732 to 10,000.” - - - - -AN INQUIRY - -INTO - -THE ORIGIN AND INTIMATE NATURE - -OF - -MALARIA. - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -In addition to the wide-spread desolating epidemics which appear from -time to time, mysterious in their origin, progress, and cessation -or disappearance--such, for example, as the plague of Athens, the -plague of London in the time of Charles the Second of happy memory, -the Indian or Asiatic cholera of modern times, and the disease called -influenza, a frequent visitor to Western Europe during the last -half-century--there exist localities unceasingly under the influence -of a poison inimical to human life. This poison, since it may be so -called, is known to haunt the deltas of large rivers, and seems to be -always present there; but it is found also, if we may determine its -identity by the identity of its deleterious influence on men, in other -and very various localities: sometimes it shows itself--and this most -commonly--in marshy and fenny countries, where no large rivers exist, -at other times by the banks of fresh-water lakes; now it haunts the -forest, and now the open plain, where marsh and fen, swamp and decaying -vegetation, seem all but absent. As the inhabitants of such localities -are especially afflicted with the fevers called intermittent and -remittent, it is the most natural thing in the world to ascribe to the -locality itself the origin of these diseases. When, however, we attempt -to generalize and assign to the same cause in a more concentrated form -those terrible fevers which render tropical countries the graves of -Europeans, great difficulties arise, and numerous objections, which the -best of statisticians, not to mention the simply medical observer, have -failed to elucidate and remove. Thus physicians are not agreed as to -the identity of the poison under all circumstances, or in other words, -demonstrative evidence is still wanting to prove that the cause of -fever on the western coasts of Africa is identical with that which has -so often in the Antilles destroyed England’s chosen troops, decimated -her fleets, crippled her power, annihilated her army, as at Walcheren, -and broken up the health of many a sturdy yeoman by the banks of the -Scheldt, of the Thames and its tributaries. - -To this poison the term malaria has been applied--a word borrowed -from the Italian. This malaria is presumed, whatever it may be, to be -the cause (though not exclusively), on evidence almost amounting to a -certainty, of the fevers marked by intermissions and remissions; it -may also be the cause of the more terrible febrile diseases called the -yellow fever, the black vomit, &c., of tropical countries. On this I do -not insist. As regards intermitting and remitting febrile affections, -we are all but certain that to such localities as I have just alluded -to, their origin may be traced, however they may originate elsewhere. -A long residence in Holland and Belgium (countries supposed by many to -be in an especial manner the hot-bed and active parent of malaria) -has enabled me to observe, I trust in an unprejudiced manner, some -facts which may have escaped the observation of others. Long resident -in that land, on which perished miserably the best equipped army (an -army composed of veterans) which ever, perhaps, quitted England for -foreign aggression; in that land on which perished the chosen garrisons -of the mighty Napoleon; on that spot where they dragged on a miserable -existence, or perished in the prime of life; the writer of this -essay enjoyed the best of health. Even admitting the full influence -of a vigorous constitution, and an innate vitality equal to the -neutralization of all malaria, a something must still be ascribed to -observation leading him to avoid the hurtful and insalubrious agencies -at work around him--agencies ever active, ever seeking to destroy. This -information the author has thought might be useful to others, and with -this view he submits it to the public.[2] - - [2] Medical authors of the highest repute are exceedingly vague in - their ideas respecting the nature of malaria; nor will it ever be - otherwise until the question be taken up by the strictly scientific. - Thus, Sir John Forbes says, in his “Holiday:”--“As the unknown - thing which we term malaria or miasma of marshes, under certain - circumstances gives rise at one time to simple ague, at another - to a fatal remittent fever, &c.; and produces at times a morbid - enlargement of the spleen, at others diseases of the liver, &c.; so I - can imagine that some other _malaria_, or unknown thing or influence - of local origin, may be the cause of ordinary bronchocele, of goitre - of the Alps, and also of cretinism.” - - From the 1st of August to December the author hunted and waded - through the marshes of Belgium and Holland in quest of water-fowl; - his impunity from fever may be in part ascribed to a hardy training - in early life. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -MALARIA--ITS SUPPOSED ORIGIN. - - -Thus stood the question of malaria towards the close of the last -century, and for some years afterwards; its existence in certain -localities was never questioned--no one pretended to say that the fens -of Lincolnshire and of Cambridgeshire, the lowlands of Essex and Kent, -the muddy shores of the Scheldt and the Lower Rhine, the delta through -which the rapid Rhone finds its way to the Mediterranean, were healthy -countries. No one questioned the presence of malaria there, or its -power to inflict the plague of intermittent or remittent fever on most -strangers and on not a few natives who happened, unfortunately for -themselves, to be susceptible of its influence. The poison gave to the -Pontine Marshes a world-wide celebrity. - -Again, of the more terrible febrile diseases of tropical climates, it -was suspected by many and boldly asserted by most medical men, that -to a malaria identical with that of Europe, but more concentrated by -high temperature, they owed their origin. Yet no one up to the period -I allude to--no physician, at least--had ascribed to neglected drains, -ill-conditioned sewers, imperfectly trapped cesspools, overflowing -dead-wells, &c., the origin of a malaria much more destructive than the -celebrated malaria of fenny or marshy countries, the malaria, if such -it really be, equal to the production of that plague, never absent, at -times most destructive--the dreadful typhus[3] of Western Europe. - - [3] Typhus, now subdivided into two--namely, the true typhus and - typhoid fever. - -At last one man, a shrewd, intelligent, and influential observer, a -man of genius, gave to the whole question a new phasis. Since his day -his hypothesis (for we shall presently find that as yet it deserves -no better name) has undergone a variety of modifications, as was to -be expected, in no way, however, affecting the practical deductions -originally drawn from it by its author. A brief history of this curious -episode in medicine, honoured by some with the pompous title of “a -revolution in sanitary science,” will fitly precede the inquiry on -which I am about to enter. Like the small white cloud warning the -navigator of the approaching tornado, this hypothesis, from its first -appearance as a humble essay in a monthly journal, has repeatedly -assumed, by force of circumstances, gigantic dimensions. Of it, as -of Rumour, it may be truly said, _Vires acquirit eundo_: it gathers -strength from motion. As is usual in England, a machinery has been -tacked to it of a character most heterogeneous, but withal so heavy -as already to threaten to surpass endurance--of the truth of which -remark no further evidence need be adduced than the modest demand of -six millions sterling to depurate or cleanse the Thames of those very -materials which, as a first experiment, and by no means an unprofitable -one, the Sanitary Board ordered and compelled the inhabitants of London -to throw into it. A brief history of this remarkable phasis of sanitary -science, as it is called, may prove acceptable to my readers. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THEORIES OF MACCULLOCH. - - -About thirty years ago, as I have already remarked, one of the most -distinguished practical geologists of this or any other country -directed his attention to a subject of much greater difficulty than the -classification of rocks, and their subdivision into primary, secondary, -volcanic, and transition. His object was to discover the origin -or cause of those fatal diseases which, under the names of fever, -dysentery, plague, rheumatism, &c., render the position of man on the -globe so precarious, his life at times so brief, valueless to himself -or to others, his prospects so gloomy; in brief, by tracing to its -origin, if possible, the active agent of such woes to man, to destroy -its fatal influence by practical hygienic measures. In a word, Dr. -Macculloch hoped, by discovering the cause, to devise the means either -of effectually destroying malaria--using the term, however, in a sense -at that time peculiar to himself--or so to mitigate its effects as to -render it less destructive to mankind. - -He, an acute and original observer, statistician, and scientific -man, properly so called, did not require to be instructed as to the -lamentable results which the premature death of millions causes to the -surviving relatives--results so eloquently and so correctly depicted -by the illustrious Quetelet in his work on Man.[4] Of all this he was -well aware, and a consciousness of such a condition of humanity, and -a firm belief in the opinion that the cause lay in some defect in our -social system, remediable by human means, led to those inquiries on -which the late Dr. Macculloch based his theory of a universal malaria -the cause of most diseases--a theory now adopted in its entirety by a -large section of the medical faculty, and by the English Government of -the present date. - - [4] Quetelet, “Sur l’Homme.” - -The theory or theories of Macculloch,[5] as expounded by himself, -amounted in fact to this--that a poison, which may be called malaria, -is generated by vegetable and animal substances whilst undergoing -decomposition or putrefaction, and that to the presence of this poison -may be traced most of the diseases afflicting civilized man. In a -neglected drain or sewer he saw the cause of typhus, of agues, of skin -disease, neuralgias, &c. - - [5] The late Dr. Macculloch was a distinguished geologist in the - employment of Government, representing in himself the department - which has now swelled out into the Metropolitan School of Practical - Geology, the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn-street, the - geological department in connexion with the Ordnance, &c. &c. He - resided mostly in London, and moved in the best circles. Though a - strictly scientific man, he was a professor also of the conjectural - art, having been educated as a medical man. Soon after publishing his - first essays on malaria, thrown out as feelers to the profession and - the public, he had his misgivings as to the safety of the course he - was pursuing. To denounce open sewers, undrained streets, untrapped - cesspools, and overflowing dead-wells, was clearly an attack on - the proprietors of London houses; and he called one morning in - great haste on a distinguished barrister, to consult him as to the - possibility of a passage in one of his essays being construed into - a ground for an action for libel! How changed now are the views of - society in respect of all such matters. - -These views of Macculloch respecting the origin of malaria and its -effects on man, were, when first published, and indeed for many -years afterwards, looked on with suspicion by the physicians of that -day; they were viewed, in truth, as wildly speculative, and wholly -unsupported by facts. This opinion still prevails with many, but they -are being rapidly borne down by a host of writers--many, it must not -be overlooked, enjoying lucrative official appointments, and who thus -have a deep and touching interest in supporting and maintaining the -theories of Macculloch. An opportunity will occur in the course of -this work of tracing briefly the progress of the mania--for such, to -a certain extent, it speedily became--and of assigning the merit or -demerit of the movement to those to whom it may be due. Here it is only -necessary to allude to it as being in fact the source of all those -visionary and Utopian schemes for the entire renovation of the social -state of man, alternately advocated or deprecated by a press naturally -chiming in with the prevailing public feeling. At times the discussion -acquires an almost feverish character--as when, for example, during -the present summer, “the river” exhaled an odour more than usually -unpleasant; at times it cools down in the presence of a proposal to -expend many millions of the public money on some wild, untried scheme, -under the superintendence of the very men who deliberately, and despite -many warnings, reduced “the river” to its present sad condition--of -men who had not the candour or the honesty to admit that, proceeding -on the conjectures of Macculloch, they hazarded one of the coarsest -experiments ever devised on the health of millions.[6] These were -the men whose course of action the Registrar-General endeavoured to -palliate, on the plausible ground that, although they poisoned the -river, the doing so was much less injurious to the inhabitants of -London than to suffer the cesspools to continue any longer buried -in the earth, although for the most part hermetically sealed! Thus -were they permitted in open day to pollute the surface-drains of the -metropolis, converting them into sewers--to render the streets and -squares impassable--and finally to convert the river itself into a kind -of elongated cesspool! This, says the Registrar-General, is an evil -of less magnitude than the permitting the cesspools and dead-wells to -remain as they were until gradually and cautiously disposed of by other -means. - - [6] See the admirable speech of Mr. Disraeli in his place in - Parliament, on the condition of the Thames. - -It were easy to show, were it worth while--1st. How the persons to whom -I here allude suffered to be withdrawn from the Thames nearly a half of -its natural waters before reaching London; 2nd. How next they converted -the healthy surface drains of London and of its environs into odious -sewers, ignoring the distinction between drain and sewer, a distinction -which the most ignorant of day labourers perfectly understands, and -heretofore had uniformly respected; 3rd. How they refused to suffer the -suicidal act to proceed gradually and slowly, whereby the river, out of -its own natural resources, might and would in time have accomplished -its own depuration, but as best suiting their ultimate views, issued -compulsory edicts on the inhabitants of this great city to empty into -the river, and almost at once, the accumulated _excreta_ of a quarter -of a century, such being at least the average age of the contents of -the cesspools. Thus was demanded of the river a depurative force at -the least twenty times greater than under another system would have -been required of it. Lastly, to complete a series of experiments -so injurious to the public, but so profitable to individuals, the -same party proposes further to deprive the stream of all aid in the -purification of its waters, by pouring into the German Ocean the -entirety of the water which the natural drainage of London, and the -valley in which it stands, contribute to it, together with one-half the -waters of the river itself, taken from it above the tide-way for the -supply of the capital. - -Thus, by a series of manœuvres, transparent enough to those who -have carefully watched the movements for the last twenty years, its -inhabitants are now called on at their own expense to remedy the clumsy -experiments of those who occupy positions they could not fill in any -country but England.[7] - - [7] It is right to observe that the unpleasant odour from the Thames, - which during the month of June and part of July of the present year - so disturbed the olfactory nerves of the Londoners, ceased at once - so soon as the Bill for the purification of the Thames passed both - Houses of Parliament. What connexion this had with the causes of the - odour, and how these odours were so opportunely called forth and so - quietly dismissed, I leave to be conjectured by the thoughtful of - all classes. At this moment--August, 1858--during the most intense - heat, the river is as sweet and fresh as a mountain stream, and has - continued so ever since. Some are disposed to ascribe the cessation - of the odours (for the stream is not in any way purified) to the - throwing of quick-lime into the lower sections of the principal - sewers; but if a remedy so simple as this was to be found in such - a process, why was it not employed in June and July? It is only - the unobserving who are surprised at such things, and who have not - happened to observe what follows the spreading of an ancient cesspool - over the fields by the road-side, or pouring its contents into a - comparatively small river. The Thames is a comparatively small river, - and the effects of pouring into it, at a convenient and suitable time - (the dog-days, Parliament sitting, &c.), the contents of half-a-dozen - cesspools of fifty years’ standing, undiluted and at once, would - most assuredly give rise to results such as took place in London in - June and July. The plot was a very nasty one--it might easily have - been traced and the plotters detected: the sewer-makers, under the - direction, no doubt, of the various boards, were very active in - various quarters; and, not to mention other places, the main street - of Hackney, for instance, for nearly a whole day, was by such means - rendered quite unbearable. - -Four-and-twenty centuries ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, -gave to the world his celebrated treatise, _de aere, aquis et locis_ -περι ὑδατων αερον και τοπων, having for its object an inquiry into the -influence of the external world on man’s physical structure and moral -nature. To trace the origin of disease to these circumstances, does not -seem to have fallen within the scope of his argument; accordingly, -it can scarcely be said that any author prior to Macculloch ever -considered this matter from a philosophical or physiological point of -view, a reason for which may be found, I think, in the absence of a -minutely accurate chemical analysis of natural and artificial products. -No Ehrenberg had taught mankind the wonders of the living microscopic -world of life; even the geology of Macculloch was much behind the -profound analyses of the present day. Sober thinking men had rejected -the bold speculations of Buffon as to the antiquity of life on the -globe, and the demonstrations of the immortal Cuvier were as yet but -partially admitted; whilst the theories of Lamark, respecting the vast -influence of life in the construction of the crust of the globe, had -been suffered quietly to fall into abeyance. Life was thought to be but -a recent acquisition by the earth; the Silurian and Cambrian systems of -fossils were either unknown or misunderstood. These fossils, at present -called “the first stages of this grand and long series of former -accumulations,” must, in the nature of things, yield their claims to -others which geology will no doubt soon discover, thus rendering more -than probable the theory that life and the globe are coeval. - -Placed accidentally in a country usually considered as a focus or -centre of that malaria or influence, whatever it may be, which man, -correctly, perhaps, esteems as the source and cause of remittent and -intermittent fevers, I have thought it might prove a labour of some -utility to mankind to test the theoretical opinions to which I have -alluded, by an appeal to facts submitted to more refined analyses than -were known at the period of their promulgation. Time can only show in -how far the views I venture to substitute for those now in vogue fairly -represent the truth. A power of nature, invisible and impalpable, -harasses mankind, destroys armies,[8] desolates districts and -countries, slays adult man at the moment when his native land expects -from him a suitable return for all the labour, trouble, and expense -bestowed on him: to inquire into the nature of this poison is the -object, or at least the main object, of this work. If we would rightly -understand its essence and properties, it may be admitted that we -ought to study carefully in the first instance its manifestations and -effects; now these are tolerably well known. The most difficult part -of the inquiry remains, that is, the demonstration of the essential -nature of the poison or miasm giving rise to such disastrous results. -All modern science leads to the conclusion that malaria, whether it -originate in circumstances over which man has no control, despite -every hygienic effort, or emanate from a combination of circumstances -mainly caused by man himself, or be only effectual when it meets with -individuals living in contempt of common sanitary precautions, must, by -its material nature, be within the range of philosophical research. To -Schonbein, a distinguished chemist now alive, we owe the discovery of -ozone. Major Tulloch had already hinted at the doctrine that the cause -of the frightful mortality in tropical countries was to be looked for -in electrical conditions of the atmosphere, of whose nature we as yet -are ignorant.[9] Other discoveries in this direction are sure to follow -at no distant period. What so obscure a short time ago as electricity? -Now look at its position, at least, as a science of application! Life, -it is true, is the mystery of mysteries, equally so in its origin and -extinction; yet granting this to be a truth, and foreseeing in it all -the difficulties of every inquiry directed to elucidate its essential -nature, every reflecting mind must be struck with the remarkable -discoveries of modern times, all tending to show the close alliance -between the chemical and vital phenomena, an alliance wholly unknown to -the most gifted of antiquity. The modern world, right or wrong, looks -to chemistry for the solution of many great and important problems, the -most elevated of which unquestionably is the discovery of the causes -rendering certain wide-spread localities of this earth unfit for the -habitation of those at least who may not claim them as their natal -soil; of which they are not the aborigines.[10] - - [8] The Walcheren expedition. - - [9] Rapid changes in the barometric pressure of the atmosphere - strongly affect some persons, but the _malaise_ caused does not seem - to be of a permanent character. In the spring, in Britain, when - north-easterly winds prevail, the amount of skin disease, rheumatism, - neuralgia, &c., is sufficiently remarkable, and the blights they - cause in plants is a fact known to all. In a work published by - Mulder (“Water en Miht,” Amsterdam, p. 181), we find it mentioned - that Van Swinden investigated the mutations of atmospheric pressure - as a cause of sickness, and arrived at the conclusion that a low - pressure was not the cause of sickness and fever. He remarked that - although there had been many years in which much sickness prevailed, - seemingly connected with hot and dry weather, the barometer had - varied but little. Thus, at Haarlem, in the period between 1755 and - 1780, the maximum was 30·9, the minimum or lowest, 28·0. The summer - of 1779 was extremely hot, and a fever epidemic appeared which - continued for three years. It was ascribed to the draining of several - polders. Several learned societies made reports on the subject of - this fever, but they elicited no new facts. It was generally agreed - that the deeper the mud and turf containing vegetable matter were - under water, the less was the sickness resulting from the draining. - A Mynheer Driessen called public attention to the circumstance that - on the coasts of Holland there were many places where animal and - vegetable matter had accumulated and was in a state of rottenness - or fermentation; and in this state he suggested that being carried - inland by strong westerly winds, it might give rise to sickness. - It is remarkable, however, that both the influenza and cholera - progressed against the prevailing westerly winds. - - [10] Men in a state of nature seem to resist malaria. Thus the - natives of Newfoundland and of Canada generally, and indeed of all - America, withstood readily the malaria of their native land, but - perished when brought within the influence of European domesticity. - We must allow, however, for the power of race. On the other hand, - it seems almost certain that the old Roman armies withstood the - influence of climate much more effectually than modern armies do. - They lived generally in camps, which they themselves fortified. Of - their sanitary regulations we know nothing, but of their camps we - know that no English or French soldiers could possibly stand their - ground for any length of time similarly encamped. A legion (about - 12,000 men) encamped on a space of 700 yards square; what became - of the refuse of the camp, and how was it disposed of? No Crimean - disasters ever happened to Cæsar; he could not afford to lose his - veteran Legions as we lost the Guards. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE ORIENTAL PLAGUE--QUESTION OF CONTAGION. - - -A very few years ago it was the general opinion, even of the best -informed, that epidemic diseases originate in atmospheric influences -over which man has no control. A reservation seems, however, to have -been made in respect of the Oriental, or as some term it, the African, -plague, a malady the most frightful to which man is liable. Writers of -the highest order traced to a damp, hot, and stagnating air, generated -from the putrefaction of animal substances, and especially from the -swarms of locusts, not less destructive to mankind in their death than -in their lives, the fatal disease which depopulated the earth in the -time of Justinian and his successors. The disease was reported to have -first appeared in the neighbourhood of Pelusium, between the Serbonian -bog and the eastern channel of the Nile. Thence tracing a double path -it spread to the east, over Syria, Persia, and India, and penetrated -to the west, along the coast of Africa, and thence to the continent -of Europe. But in order to explain how it spread, it was necessary -to invent another theory and add it to the first; the disease once -generated, was said to spread by contagion. It is related in “The -Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,”[11] that in the spring of the -second year (after its first appearance), Constantinople, during three -or four months, was visited by the pestilence. It did not reach the -capital of the empire at once, but travelled slowly and irregularly, -after the manner of modern cholera. In the admirable descriptions of -the immortal historian, we can trace all the symptoms of the true -Oriental plague, identical in its phenomena and effects with the -sufficiently numerous visitations which have since occurred, and with -that no doubt which, lately originating at Bengazzi, and spreading to -Tripoli, once more threatens the European family of nations. In a damp, -hot, stagnating air, observes the historian, who in his account follows -Procopius, this African fever is generated from the putrefaction of -animal substances, and especially from the swarms of locusts, “not -less destructive to mankind in their death than in their lives.” But -the ferment and putrefaction thus created scarcely accounts for the -origin of the disease, and its extension north-wards into the coldest -regions of Europe is inexplicable on such a hypothesis, though aided -by the modern hypothesis that its propagation is due simply to the -neglect of sanitary regulations, a theory now happily extended to all -zymotic diseases. Passing over the question as to the contagious nature -of plague, typhus, cholera, scarlatina, measles, a question still -undecided, and adhering simply to facts, we are assured by Procopius, -the fidelity of whose descriptions the great historian seems disposed -to vouch for, that the disease always spread “from the sea coast to -the inland country; the most sequestered islands and mountains were -successively visited; the places which had escaped the fury of its -first passage were alone exposed to the contagion of the ensuing year. -The winds might diffuse that subtle venom; but unless the atmosphere -be previously disposed for its reception, the plague would soon expire -in the cold and temperate climates of the earth. Such was the universal -corruption of the air, that the pestilence which burst forth in the -fifteenth of Justinian, was not checked or alleviated by any difference -of the seasons. In time, its first malignity was abated and dispersed; -the disease alternately languished and revived; but it was not till the -end of a calamitous period of fifty-two years that mankind recovered -their health, or the air resumed its pure and salubrious quality. No -facts have been preserved to sustain an account, or even a conjecture, -of the numbers that perished in this extraordinary mortality. I only -find that during three months, five, and at length ten thousand persons -died each day in Constantinople; that many cities of the East were left -vacant, and that in several districts of Italy the harvest and the -vintage withered on the ground. The triple scourge of war, pestilence, -and famine afflicted the subjects of Justinian; and his reign is -disgraced by a visible decrease of the human species, which has never -been repaired, in some of the fairest countries of the globe.” - - [11] Gibbon, vol. vii., p. 421, Milman’s edition. - -The plague of the time of Justinian is known to us only through the -medium of the Greek and Roman writers. We know nothing as to how -it affected the remote East, or whether that portion of the earth -escaped. No record exists to prove or disprove the passage across the -Atlantic, in ancient times, of plagues and pestilences, such as we -know now overleap with ease that seemingly impassable barrier. The -history of cholera in its progress from the East, though drawn up by -skilful official writers, tells us as little of its real nature as -Procopius did of the plague. It resembles in some respects the history -of ancient Egypt, each discovery merely adding another enigma to the -already existing and unexplained. Its propagation by contagion is still -denied by the first of medical authorities, and yet it must be admitted -that it pursues in a mysterious manner the paths of commerce, as if -by the abuse of trade, plagues, which would otherwise become extinct -in the land of their origin, are diffused over the continents of the -world.[12] - - [12] The cholera, in so far as I know, has not as yet penetrated - beyond the tropic into the southern hemisphere. - -The propagation of the plague by contagion was, as we have already -seen, distinctly denied by Procopius, and in this opinion he seems, -as in modern times, to have been backed by a majority of the people. -The immortal historian of “The Decline and Fall” did not partake -of Procopius’ doubts. “Contagion,” he remarks, “is the inseparable -symptom of the plague, which, by mutual respiration, is transfused from -the infected persons to the lungs and stomach of those who approach -them. While the philosophers believe and tremble, it is singular that -the existence of a real danger should have been denied by a people -most prone to vain and imaginary terrors. Yet the fellow-citizens of -Procopius were satisfied, by some short and partial experience, that -the infection could not be gained by the closest conversation; and -this persuasion might support the assiduity of friends or physicians -in the care of the sick, whom inhuman prudence would have condemned to -solitude and despair. But the fatal security, like the predestination -of the Turks, must have aided the progress of the contagion; and those -salutary precautions to which Europe is indebted for her safety, were -unknown to the government of Justinian. No restraints were imposed on -the free and frequent intercourse of the Roman provinces. From Persia -to France the nations were mingled and infected by wars and emigration, -and the pestilential odour which lurks for years in a bale of cotton -was imported by the abuse of trade into the most distant regions.”[13] - - [13] In the _Times_ of to-day (September 8th), the contagious - character of the plague is stoutly denied by one who seems to write - from authority, or who at least is evidently well backed by a strong - party. The writer is evidently one of the Commissioners who met in - Paris some years ago to inquire into the working of the quarantine - laws. I offer no opinion on the subject,--though “one-idea” men, - they have a show of truth on their side, and especially in this, - that they adopt the popular view of the subject when they deny the - contagious nature of the plague. They boldly affirm that plague - only spreads in places where sanitary regulations are despised--a - consoling and useful theory, even if it were not true. They made - the same assertions of cholera--their hypothesis proved sadly at - fault. The pump-well water-drinking theory is the latest expression - of medical theorists in respect of the origin of the cholera: there - never was a greater delusion. It does not merit a refutation, and is - quite unworthy the professors of even a conjectural art. That the - symptoms of cholera strongly resemble the action of a violent poison - taken into the stomach, is not to be questioned, and that water may - have been the vehicle of such a poison is neither impossible nor - even improbable. The iced-water drinking population of Paris, of - Palermo, and of many Sicilian and Italian towns, suffered terribly - from cholera. Nor does it spare the temperate Mahometan, upon whom - cleanliness is enjoined as an article of his faith. Still, the wholly - inexplicable facts in the spread of cholera (and the same may be said - of plague, typhus, and yellow fever) are far too numerous to admit of - any generalization. Whilst the cholera spared Birmingham--at the time - neither properly drained nor sewered, it nearly depopulated Bilston, - a healthy town situated only a few miles from Birmingham, hundreds in - the meantime travelling between the two places every hour of the day. - It swept off the inhabitants of one side of a street in Deptford, - leaving those on the other side unscathed. All drank of the same - waters. The theory merits no attention. - -Thus has been bandied about from the earliest times to the present -day, the great question of the origin of the pestilential diseases, -and their contagious properties when once produced. The question still -remains unsettled, nor has the advent of the cholera in modern times -contributed in the slightest degree to bring the disputation to a -demonstrative issue. - -Are they of terrestrial or atmospheric origin properly, or do both -contribute their share towards the production of pestilences? How -originated the cholera, and how does it spread? These questions may -still be asked, and when asked must remain unanswered. The share -ascribed to man in the production and propagation of this and similar -diseases is mainly the object of this inquiry, and to that I shall -adhere as much as possible. - -Men, ever anxious to discover the causes of events, ascribed the origin -of the plague in the reign of Justinian to the putrefaction of locusts; -but the same event may and has happened without being productive of -similar results--without, indeed, causing any disease whatever, as if -the poison, though present, were ineffectual unless aided by other -circumstances at present unknown to man. Those who have seen cholera -only as it prevails on the rotten banks of the Ganges, ascribe its -origin to heat and putrefaction, its extension to the habits of a -densely-congregated people. They forget, or choose not to remember, -that it raged in the depth of winter in the cold regions of Russia and -of Scotland, in thinly-populated villages, in hamlets, and insulated -cottages, scattered over the elevated yet cultivated estates of noble -and wealthy proprietors.[14] Those who have studied the phenomena of -typhus only in the horrid slums of Glasgow, in the wynds and closes of -cold and bleak Edinburgh--from which it is never absent, occasionally -raging with something like the virulence of a plague--ascribe the -origin and extension of the disease to cold and hunger, to a deficiency -of animal food, and to a contempt for all sanitary arrangements; but -they do not choose to remember that a few years ago typhus in its -worst form appeared in the south-eastern angle of England, spreading -thence through the midland counties, deeply affecting the population of -hamlets and villages the salubrity of whose site was unquestioned. And -if negative evidence be held sufficient to refute Procopius’ theory of -the origin of the true plague, we have but to look into the pages of a -modern traveller, whose official position naturally adds to the value -of his testimony. Mr. Barrow, in describing a visitation of locusts to -the Cape of Good Hope, makes the following curious remark:--“Their last -departure was rather singular. All the full-grown insects were driven -into the sea by a tempestuous north-west wind, and were afterwards -cast upon the beach, where it is said they formed a bank of three or -four feet high, which extended from the mouth of the Bosjesman river -to that of the Becca, a distance of nearly fifty English miles; and -it is asserted that when this mass became putrid, and the wind was -at south-east, the stench was sensibly felt in several parts of the -Sneuwberg.” The distance over which the stench was felt must have been -at least a hundred miles, the range of the Sneuwbergen being at about -this distance from the coast. - - [14] It raged most severely in Scotland, in the remarkably healthy - village of Prestonpans and Fisher-row; in the highest and healthiest - parts of Edinburgh; amongst the peasantry and miners scattered over - the high grounds of Midlothian, belonging to the Marquis of Lothian. - These people lived comfortably in detached cottages amongst the - fields. - -It is hardly necessary for me to observe, that no disease followed the -destruction and putrefaction of these locusts. The colony of South -Africa still continues free from plague and cholera, and many other -diseases afflicting the most favoured of European lands; consumption, -scrofula, and fever are all but unknown. I am not aware that the -inhabitants are in any way remarkable for their sanitary arrangements, -whilst of the Hottentots it may with truth be said, that they are at -once the healthiest and dirtiest people in the world. - -Thus, after the lapse of many centuries, the great questions debated -in the time of Justinian--may we not rather say in the days of -Thucydides?--surge up again whenever a new plague appears on the earth. -The professors of “the conjectural art,” anxious to vindicate their -claim to activity, and to share in the laudations bestowed on the -superior intelligence of the present day, offer at present a highly -consolatory view, not only as to the origin of these diseases, but as -to their speedy suppression. They argue that, but for the neglect of -hygienic measures, such influences or poisons would either not arise, -or would pass on their course, leaving the nations unscathed. In the -meantime, it is prudent to recall to the recollection of those who -arrive rashly at conclusions such as these--who theorize on narrow -local ground--who are sanguine enough to look forward to the speedy -extinction of all zymotic diseases, that pestilential and destructive -epidemics are not confined to man; that, under the form of murrains, -they destroy the beasts of the field. In the murrain of 1747, it is -stated on authority that 30,000 cattle died in Cheshire in the course -of half a year. The marsh districts suffered most; and it has even -been conjectured that such epizootic diseases usually originate amidst -swamps and malarious districts; but of this we have no proofs. Even -the harvests to which man looks for sustenance are not spared--nor -the vine; the life-destroying principle, attacking these lower forms -of life, cannot well be traced to the neglect of hygienic measures on -the part of man, or of the animals or plants themselves; and yet in -the midst of these bogs and marshes which undeniably give origin to -some forms of fever, the buffalo, the ox, the camel, the elephant, -and the wild of all species, live and thrive. Thus the question of -the origin of disease is complicated _ab origine_; the origin of -typhus--that scourge and pest of the nations inhabiting the temperate -regions, more especially of Western Europe, and of the British Isles -in particular--is absolutely unknown. To affect to trace it to a foul -drain, an uncleansed sewer, an untrapped cesspool, a laystall, a -collection of neglected rubbish, is clearly against the evidence and -the daily experience of thousands; but all are agreed that in certain -fenny and marshy countries fevers prevail--intermittent in temperate, -remittent in ardent climes nearer the tropic; whilst within the tropics -the life of the European stranger can scarcely be valued at a week’s -purchase.[15] To this destructive influence, most commonly connected -with a marshy soil, the Italian first gave the name of malaria--a -useful appellation, universally accepted as implying no theory; and had -such fevers been found only in such localities, the inference must have -followed, that a something, open to the chemist to discover, emanating -or produced by these marshes, was solely and distinctly the cause of -all such fevers. But now a more careful and extended inquiry shows -that such fevers are not confined to those districts, but infest even -the hay-field, are not unfrequent in or near woods growing on soils -where marshes have ever been unknown; whilst as regards the more ardent -remittents of Eastern countries, the statistics of Major Tulloch have -all but destroyed the theory which would trace to marshes exclusively -the fevers which in such countries set all medical treatment and all -human precautions at defiance.[16] - - [15] This question, in so far as regards a military life, has been - handled in a masterly manner by Major Tulloch. - - [16] In the expedition to St. Domingo, the English army forming the - expedition landed 10,000 strong; they withdrew in five weeks, without - striking a blow or seeing an enemy. Their numbers were reduced to - 1100. See “History of the Expedition to St. Domingo,” by Dr. Maclean. - -This uncertainty of life from the effects of malaria must ever, I -think, remain whilst the true nature of the poison is unknown; and -it is with a view to discover, if possible, the circumstances under -which it originates, that I undertook this difficult inquiry. Long -resident in a country supposed to be an ague-producing land, I watched -with much interest the social condition of a sagacious, prudent, and -industrious race of men, who could thus, at one and the same time, -preserve their liberty and life from the hostile assaults of furious, -implacable tyrants from without, and of an insidious, invisible enemy -within, walking stealthily around the habitations of men, poisoning the -air of his house, his fields, and gardens. It was in Holland that a -French general, writing to the great Napoleon, and complaining of the -destruction of the garrisons by fever, received from him the only reply -which at the time the necessities of the mighty conqueror permitted -him to give--“_L’homme meurt partout_.” “Man dies everywhere,” was the -only answer, if answer it could be called, to a kind-hearted commander, -more touched by the calamity around him than by the exigencies of the -State. - -But how was it that whilst French and English soldiers perished so -unaccountably in the prime of life, the inhabitants of these countries -lived seemingly unaware of the pestilence walking around and amongst -them? This problem may, I think, be solved; and as not foreign to -the matter in hand, I may be permitted to glance at the character, -position, and social condition of a race and a nation so distinct from -all other branches of the great European family. My remarks will bear -mainly on the influence they exercise over the portion of the earth -they inhabit, and on the modifications which man’s industry, guided by -prudence and science, may imprint on “the earth, the air, and water” -of the territory which, under the circumstances I now describe, may -especially be called their own. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -HOLLAND AND BELGIUM, THE LAND OF MARSHES AND OF FEVER, RECLAIMED AND -RENDERED SALUBRIOUS BY THE ENERGIES OF A FREE PEOPLE. - - -Necessity is the mother of invention. “Quis psittacum loqui docuit? -Venter: Magister artium.”[17] A constant struggle with Nature for -existence taught the Hollander and Brabanter a practical philosophy in -respect of the management of river mouths, tidal rivers, low levels, -freshwater and seawater floods, unmatched by any other nation. It -required the unceasing vigilance of the most experienced scientific -men to combat the adverse circumstances under which their country was -placed. An error of calculation laid waste a province; a breach in a -sea-wall let in upon the land not only the ocean, but famine, followed -by its sure accompaniment--fever, and a wide-spread mortality. - - [17] Persius, Sat. Napoleon expressed the same idea when he said, - “The stomach governs Europe.” - -In this land there was no room for experimental jobbery. To have -placed a linendraper at the head of the great hydraulic works on -which depended the salubrity and prosperity of Amsterdam or Rotterdam -would have roused the indignation of the country, and brought the -matter to a speedy issue. But it was not until the rise of the Dutch -Republic that there sprung up, as a natural result, a school of -philosophy--of natural philosophy, and of the sciences of observation -and application--hitherto unmatched, a parallel to which can only be -found in the era immediately preceding Alexander the Great. Freedom -of thought and action produced Muschenbroek and Leuwenhoek, De Ruyter -and Van Tromp: then flourished the Elzevir press, and Scaliger was -invited by the traders of Holland to pass his days in peace and plenty -with them, that his presence amongst them might throw a lustre on -their country. In this land flourished Camper and Boerhaave; Albinus -and Ruisch taught anatomy; Swammerdam discovered the globules of the -blood. In the meantime Tasman and Van Diemen explored the ocean, -immortalizing their names and their country by the grandeur of their -geographical discoveries. The views of the traders of this the most -celebrated of all republics, were universal, and included mankind: with -them originated sound political economy. The civilization, peculiarly -human, which overcomes all natural obstacles, reached its height in -this free land; security of life and property, equality before the -law, a contempt for all sinister hereditary influences, a respect -for the natural rights of man, and an appreciation of man’s innate -worth, uninfluenced by all extrinsic circumstances, characterized in -the Netherlands a period standing out in bold relief, and in striking -contrast with the history of all other European nations.[18] In this -forward movement Haarlem was conspicuous, proofs of which may be found -in the Transactions of the society established in that city. About -1771 there was offered a prize for an essay on the Waters of Holland, -as to the existence of any matters injurious to man or beast, and to -describe such, if existing. An unsuccessful candidate for the prize (M. -Vander Wild) advanced in his essay this remarkable principle--that the -sap of plants consists of living beings, in a liquid element.[19] - - [18] It has been asserted on good authority, and not contradicted, - that the “Natural Theology” of the celebrated Paley is a mere - translation of a Dutch work. - - [19] This principle, so fertile in ideas, will one day, no doubt, be - fully elaborated and studied to its results. These living beings may - prove to be the syphons of perfume and the messengers of colour. - -As the nation was free to think and to express their thoughts, nothing -practical or useful escaped them: the question as to the influence -of the drainage of lakes on the health of the inhabitants was ably -discussed during the last century, more especially as to the result -of draining the lowlands of Biensten, de Wonner, &c. M. Ungo Waard -and others describe the sickness which took place on the drainage of -Bleewyksthe. In Haarlem, in 1779, the deaths exceeded those of the -previous year by 396; in Amsterdam, by 1727; in Groningen, by 752. The -previous summer had been hot and dry, offering another proof that the -vegetable humus thus exposed to the air, fermenting and rotting, was -the cause of the sickness and increased mortality. In this land there -was no room--no margin, to use a commercial phrase--for experiments on -the pockets and the health of its citizens; they were citizens, not -subjects--far-seeing men, who calculated everything _d’avance_. And now -the draining of the lake of Haarlem shows that the race has lost little -of its ancient spirit of enterprise and industry, of that applicative -invention to the wants of civilized man which gives to Holland and -to her colonies an aspect to which no other country bears any -resemblance. The poisoning of rivers and streams by any combination of -adventurers could never happen there, and the scenes we have witnessed -lately in England would be wholly unintelligible in Holland. It is -here that vast morasses, seemingly valueless, are being converted into -fertile meadows, by processes of which the natives of other countries -have not the slightest knowledge. In this land it is the law that, -before any one be permitted to convert a peat bog into a lake by the -abstraction of the peat, security is demanded of him as to his means -to drain the lake about to be formed, to embank the excavation, and to -convert it into a healthy fertile meadow; in England, on the contrary, -such cautious procedure is held in the most sovereign contempt, as -wholly unworthy that fine chivalrous character for pluck, daring, and -exciting enterprise and speculation which marks the free-born Briton. - -“Break up the cesspools,” shout the interested, “the receptacles of the -filth of millions for a quarter of a century, and pour them at once -into the Thames.” “It will poison the river and the adjoining country -for a lengthened period,” suggests the prudent observer of passing -events. “Persevere,” exclaims the go-ahead party; “have we not proofs -in Macculloch that nearly all known diseases arise from the cesspools? -Leave the river to take care of itself.” What, in the mean time, is -the course of action of the Mayor and Corporation of the richest city -in the world? Fully occupied with the distribution of their revenues, -they abandon the river and interests of a vast metropolis to a host -of talented and needy adventurers, whose name is legion. The people -in Holland and Belgium think that the refuse and excreta of the -inhabitants of towns, villages, and single houses cannot be too soon -or too effectually buried under or incorporated with the soil; we, in -this country, act evidently from a belief that this refuse, the product -of civilization, cannot be too extensively spread abroad in the open -air, and accordingly a formidable and well-paid staff of more than -2000 persons is organized to carry out the delusion to its conclusion. -Luton, Birmingham, and London, afford hints as to what these delusions -may one day end in: that they will proceed in their course, I doubt -not, for, like Macbeth, they are so far involved, that it were safer -to proceed than to back out from their position. This could only have -happened in the land where the greatest of all railways does not pay -the proprietors one shilling of interest on the enormous capital -expended in its construction. - -Located by the mouths of the Rhine and Scheld, the ancient Batavians -must early have commenced their struggle with nature. We have no -information from early history of how that struggle began; but one -thing is certain--it was of great antiquity, for in the Morini--the -last of men--Cæsar encountered no fever-stricken, wasted, dejected -people: they must already have discovered the existence of that hidden -enemy, malaria, and taken measures for at least a mitigation of the -evil.[20] - - [20] For Note on this subject, see page 54. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -ON THE PRESUMED SOURCES OF MALARIA. - - -§ 1. For all practical purposes, the fevers termed intermittent -and remittent may be held to have their origin in one cause. Thus, -whether on the marshy coasts of Essex and Kent, or the more dreadful -banks of the Gambia and Niger, it is not improbable that the fever -so destructive to European life is of one character--mild in Essex; -fatal in Sierra Leone. But the fact is not to be overlooked, that when -fever assumes an intermittent character, however it may conduce to the -inefficiency of the population, it does not greatly swell the bills of -mortality; on the other hand, the remittent form of fever constitutes -that grand and hitherto insurmountable obstacle which Nature seems to -have placed to the extension of the white man over the earth, excluding -him, seemingly for ever, from the tropical regions of the world. - -A favourite theory with medical men was, that the evil influence which -causes fever, whether in Essex or on the Gambia, by the Scheld or the -Niger, was a certain miasma produced by marshes more or less remote -from human abodes; sometimes it was maintained that to produce the -miasma these marshes must be in a great measure dried up, or in the -process of being so; at other times an opposite opinion was held. These -hypotheses were refuted, or at least much shaken, by Major Tulloch, -in his invaluable “Statistical Report on the Sickness, Mortality, and -Invaliding among Troops on the Western Coast of Africa” (p. 26). “So -long as the fever continued to make its appearance during the rainy -season, excessive moisture was deemed one of the principal causes, -but that theory has been abandoned since it has, on three or four -occasions, appeared and raged with equal violence in the middle of -the dry season. If we attempt to connect it with temperature, the -range of the thermometer offers equally contradictory results, the -disease having originated and prevailed nearly as often when that -was at the minimum as when at the maximum. Variations in atmospheric -pressure afford no clue whatever to the solution of the difficulty, for -here, as in all tropical climates, the fluctuations of the barometer -are exceedingly slight. No definite connexion has ever been traced -between the prevalence of any particular wind and the outbreak of -the disease; the breeze blows over the same district in the healthy -as in the unhealthy season. Besides, it seems entirely to negative -the supposition that any of these can be more, perhaps, than mere -accessories, when we find, from 1830 to 1836, the colony of Sierra -Leone remarkably free from fever, without any perceptible change -in these respects. It does not appear that the composition of the -atmosphere during the prevalence of yellow fever in this command has -ever been examined, to ascertain if it differed from what has usually -been observed at periods comparatively healthy; but this test has been -applied without any satisfactory result in other countries. Unless some -light, therefore, can be thrown on the subject by a careful examination -of the electrical state of the atmosphere at such periods, there seems -little hope of the origin of this disease being ever distinctly traced -to any appreciable agency--a circumstance which, except as regards the -interests of science, is perhaps of less importance, since where the -cause is so exceedingly subtle it would, even if discovered, be in all -probability beyond human control.”[21] - - [21] “Statistical Report on the Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding - among the Troops in the West Indies.” Prepared from the Records of - the Army Medical Department and War-Office Returns. London, 1838. It - has been objected to these Reports that they embrace only one class - of lives. But this does not diminish their value, for the lives they - report on are presumed to be the selected lives of men in the prime - of life. - -In corroboration of the same views, amounting in fact to a rejection -of the favourite hypothesis of the professors of the healing -art--namely, that this fever originated in the miasma of marshes -near the station, this careful and honest observer, whose merits as -such have subsequently been fully tested in the celebrated Crimean -inquiry, makes this further remark:--“The hypothesis that this fever -originates from the miasma of marshes in the immediate vicinity of -the station, as elsewhere it has been supposed to do, is directly -opposed to the fact of the Isles de Loss, Acera, and the peninsula -of Sierra Leone itself, being so subject to it, though all are in a -certain degree remote from the operation of any such agency. If it -be referred to similar exhalations wafted to the distance of several -miles, how is its prevalence to be accounted for at Fernando Po, a -mountainous region, and bordering on a mainland still more so, and -where, so far as can be ascertained, no such agency is in operation? -Instances of disease having raged with the same violence on the rocky -Isles de Loss and the sandy wastes of Senegal, as in those parts of the -coasts where vegetation is most dense, preclude the likelihood of it -originating in a superabundance of that agency. In every description -of situation along the coast has this scourge of Europeans been -found to prevail. The low, swampy Gambia, the barren Isles de Loss, -the beautifully-diversified features of Sierra Leone, the open and -park-like territory around Acera, the lone, jungle-covered hills of -Cape Coast Castle, and the rugged, mountainous island of Fernando Po, -however different in aspect, have all exhibited the same remarkable -uniformity in giving birth to the disease.” - -It may, indeed, be objected that the fevers of Western Africa differ -essentially from those traceable to the deltas of rivers, and to the -lowlands alternately inundated and exposed to a high temperature, of -more temperate climates; but I see no good reason in favour of such an -opinion. The tables of sickness and mortality distinctly state that -the fevers were intermittents and remittents, but mainly remittents, -and that continued or ardent fever was scarcely present; whilst in -Canada precisely the reverse is the case, intermittents prevailing to -a great extent, remittents being comparatively rare. It would seem, -however, that whether or not these fevers spring from a common cause, -the temperature of the locality greatly influences the character of the -disease. - -It is impossible to deny the influence humidity has in engendering -malarious tendencies, but it is not necessary that the humidity be to -any great extent. Water is essential to life, it is essential also to -the production of fermentation, of putrefaction; the absolute desert, -as I have already remarked, is always healthy; so is the surface of -the great ocean, which although it abounds with life, never putrefies, -never exhales unpleasant odours. Countries, like some districts of -Southern Africa and of Australia, where it seldom rains, are the -healthiest countries in the world; there fevers of all types are nearly -unknown, and the sufferers from such coming from unhealthy climates, -recover speedily from the sad condition to which a residence in a -tropical country and frequent attacks of fever may have reduced them. -The Royal African Regiment, composed mainly of deserters, left the west -coast of Africa for the Cape of Good Hope in 1817; many of them were so -reduced in health as to be obviously unfit for service in any country -where fevers of an intermittent or remittent character prevailed. -Now, a residence on the frontiers of the colony of the Cape not only -cured these fevers, but seems also to have been equal to the removal -of those sequelæ of fever and dysentery which haunt those who have -greatly suffered from them, bringing them in the end to an untimely -grave. Nothing of the kind occurred in this remarkable country; all, or -nearly all, recovered, and the mortality and sickness of this shattered -corps, removed from Sierra Leone and the Gambia to the frontier -districts of the Cape of Good Hope, fell considerably below what it is -amongst the same class in Britain. These facts merit the attention of -all interested in the welfare of the army of Britain, an army exposed -more than any other to the effects of climate in all regions of the -world.[22] - - [22] The army of England is, and perhaps has at all times been, an - aggressive army, maintained to intimidate foreign races and nations. - It resembles in many of its main features the army of ancient - Carthage. - -§ 2. The statistics I have just referred to may seem to some to shake -all modern theories of malaria that have ever yet been offered to the -public. I admit this to be the case; but I trust to be able to show -that in the remains of animal and vegetable life, elements collected -in the greatest abundance by the banks of rivers and lakes in marshy -countries, near shores alternately exposed and covered by the tide, and -especially in tidal rivers, but not exclusively in such localities, we -have the source of that poison whose terrible effects on human life -need not be enumerated here. - -The result of Major Tulloch’s report in regard to the relative -prevalence at different stations in British America of remittent and -intermittent fevers, shows in a still stronger light the difficulty -of establishing any uniform connexion between the presence of marshy -ground and the existence of these febrile diseases, to which the -exhalations from it are supposed to give rise; but they do not -refute the view I take,[23] which is based on the researches of the -profoundest chemists. As it was formerly shown that in some of the -Ionian Islands, totally destitute of marsh and comparatively barren -of vegetation, more remittent and intermittent fevers have been under -treatment among the troops, than in others where these alleged sources -of disease existed in the greatest abundance; so in the present Report -we find it established, that yellow fever of the most aggravated form -has repeatedly made its appearance in Ireland Island in the Bermudas, a -rocky barren spot only a few hundred yards in breadth, “containing no -marsh, and with little or no vegetation except a few cedar trees.” - - [23] Report: Section, Mediterranean. - -“Conversely, again, we find that these diseases prevail to a remarkable -extent along the banks of the lakes and the margin of the streams in -Upper Canada, while they are comparatively rare in similar situations -in the Lower Province; that among the troops at Fredericton, living on -the marshy banks of a river, surrounded by a dense vegetation, scarcely -a case of them is ever known; and that a similar exemption is enjoyed -even by those at Annapolis and Windsor in Nova Scotia, though quartered -at the _embouchure_ of rivers daily subject to extensive inundations, -and of which the banks, for the distance of several miles, exhibit that -combination of mud, marsh, and decayed vegetation which is generally -supposed a most prolific source of such diseases. - -“When in subsequent reports we come to investigate the operation of -these diseases on the west coast of Africa and other colonies, we shall -be able to adduce still more satisfactory evidence on this subject; -in the meantime we have felt it our duty to place the preceding facts -in a prominent point of view, not for the purpose of establishing any -particular theory, but to show how inadequate in many instances is -the supposed influence of emanations from a marshy soil to account -for the origin of these diseases. All the evidence obtained seems -only to warrant the inference that a morbific agency of some kind -is occasionally present in the atmosphere, which, under certain -circumstances, gives rise to fevers of the remittent and intermittent -type; and that though the vicinity of marshy and swampy ground appears -to favour the development of that agency, it does not necessarily -prevail in such localities, nor are they by any means essential either -to its existence or operation. - -“Notwithstanding the doubt in which this branch of the investigation -is still involved, we may venture, from the facts adduced in all the -reports hitherto submitted, also to draw the conclusion, that when -this morbific agency manifests itself in the epidemic form, its -influence is frequently confined to so limited a space as to afford a -fair prospect of securing the troops from its ravages by removing to a -short distance from the locality where it originated. The history of -the epidemic fevers at Gibraltar furnishes several remarkable instances -of this kind, and we have also shown that, both in the West Indies and -Ionian Islands, one station has frequently suffered to a great extent -from yellow fever, while others within the distance of a few miles have -been entirely exempt. - -“In the epidemic cholera at Montreal and Halifax, which seems to have -been in this respect somewhat analogous in its operation, we have also -had occasion to remark the sudden cessation of the disease immediately -on the removal of the troops to a short distance.”[24] - - [24] It may be asked, Why not inquire into the statistics of fever - in Essex? The truth is, that no such exist. The conjectures and - recollections of civil practitioners are valueless. - -The discordance prevailing between observers, equally honest, equally -intelligent, arises, no doubt, from this, that all the elements of -the problem to be solved are not yet discovered; nor could this be -expected until a refined chemistry had more fully developed the -relation between chemical and physiological phenomena. The very -essence of the affinities between the soil and vegetable and animal -life was a complete mystery until lately, whilst the relations of the -superambient atmosphere to the organic remains of what had ceased -to live, were wholly misunderstood. The cause of the potato blight, -which produced a famine in Ireland, is still a mystery; so also is -that of the vine. A disease very fatal to horses, called Paard-sick, -from its only attacking the horse, is endemic in some districts of -the Cape; that is, in the healthiest country in the world. The nature -of the Paard-sick has never been discovered. It spares the _wilde_ of -the horse genus--the quagga, zebra, &c.--but is fatal to the domestic -breed. Man’s interference, then, proves at times fatal to his protegée. -It is everywhere the same, unless his interference be guided by all the -lights which the highest reasoning powers, the shrewdest observation, -and oft-repeated experience can afford. The two Canadas are in an -especial manner the land of rivers, lakes, marshy forests, swampy -meadows, and a soil into which the plough never penetrated until the -white man appeared. As a natural result, it might be conjectured and -presumed that intermittents and remittents, under at least certain -of their forms, would be equally frequent and universally diffused. -Statistics prove it to be directly the reverse, Upper Canada being to -Lower Canada, in respect of these fevers, as 178 intermittents is to -26 remittents; whilst even of these 26 it is affirmed that the greater -number of them came from the Upper Province. To show that I do not -exaggerate this singular fact, I quote the remarkable statistics of -Major Tulloch. - -“Taking the results of these ten years as the basis of our deductions, -then, the prevalence of intermittent fevers in Upper compared with -Lower Canada is as 178 to 26. It is necessary, however, to keep in -view that all the admissions (amounting only to 26) from intermittent -fever in Lower Canada did not originate there, by far the greater -proportion of them having occurred among soldiers who came from the -Upper Province while labouring under that disease, or who had acquired -a predisposition to it during a previous residence there. Indeed, -except at Isle aux Naix and the other small stations along the banks -of the Richelieu, fevers of the intermittent type are rarely indigenous -in Lower Canada; at Quebec they are said to be unknown, and at Montreal -nearly so. - -“In Upper Canada these diseases prevail most among the troops stationed -along the course of the great lakes from Kingston to Amherstberg, they -are almost unknown at Penetanguishene and By Town. The settlers who -reside even at the distance of a few miles inland rarely suffer from -them; yet the districts enjoying this exemption are in many parts -covered with lakes, intersected by streams, and abound in marshy -ground, decayed vegetation, and all the other agencies to which the -origin of this type of fever is generally attributed. A reference to -the report on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will also show that though -the same agencies exist to a similar extent at some of the stations in -that command, intermittent fevers are almost unknown. - -“These diseases, too, are said to be comparatively rare wherever the -surface is covered with dense forests, even though the ground is wet -and marshy. The vicinity of lands recently cleared is most subject -to them, particularly meadows or open patches of the forest, which, -though denuded of trees, have not been brought under cultivation. -It would appear, too, that their prevalence is diminishing with the -progress of agricultural improvement; for it will be observed, on -reference to the Abstract of Diseases, No. III. of Appendix, that since -1831--a period during which this province has been rapidly advancing -in wealth and population, and many important changes have taken place -in the vicinity and stations occupied by the troops--intermittents -have become comparatively rare, the proportion attacked having been -scarcely one-tenth part so high as the average previous to that -period. Intermittents most frequently occur from July to September, -when a high temperature prevails; but they are also to be met with, -though more rarely, in spring, when that agency could only operate -in a trifling degree to induce them. Though a source of inefficiency -among the troops, they add but little to the mortality, as not one -case in a thousand proves fatal. A person who has been once attacked -is exceedingly apt to suffer from them again; but this susceptibility -is easily removed by change of residence to the northern parts of the -province, or to Lower Canada. - -“In some years, fever also manifests itself along the borders of the -lakes in the remittent form, but not of so fatal a character as in the -West Indies or the Mediterranean; for only one case in sixteen is found -to have proved fatal among the troops. - -“The febrile diseases of Upper Canada are by no means uniform in their -prevalence. Even in years when the degree of temperature, fall of -rain, or extent of vegetation have been much the same, the proportion -of cases, particularly of intermittents, is very different. A general -impression exists, that their prevalence is in some measure dependent -on the height of the waters in Lake Ontario, which attain their maximum -in June or July. If, from the quantity of snow or moisture in the -course of the year, this is found to be greater than usual, febrile -diseases are expected to abound, and the reverse if the maximum has -been under the average. As Lake Ontario is the reservoir into which all -the waters of Upper Canada are drained off before finding their way -to the ocean, this theory, if accurately substantiated, would tend to -show how far the origin of these diseases depended on moisture, and we -therefore instituted the following comparison between the height of -the waters in the lake, as measured at Kingston for a series of years, -and the prevalence of fever in Upper Canada during the same period: - - +-----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ - | |1818.|1819.|1820.|1821.|1822.|1823.|1824.|1825.|1826.|1827.|1828.| - +-----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ - |Average height of| | | | | | | | | | | | - |lake in Kingston | | | | | | | | | | | | - |Harbour in each | 14 9| 13 3| 12 3|11 11| 12 1| 13 5|13 11| 12 5|12 10| 14 3| 15 7| - |year | | | | | | | | | | | | - |(feet and inches)| | | | | | | | | | | | - +-----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ - |Cases of inter- | | | | | | | | | | | | - |mittent fever | 110 | 319 | 509 | 348 | 222 | 143 | 171 | 135 | 111 | 220 | 489 | - |in Upper Canada | | | | | | | | | | | | - +-----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ - |Cases of other | 109 | 54 | 150 | 152 | 132 | 69 | 168 | 190 | 155 | 185 | 300 | - |fevers | | | | | | | | | | | | - +-----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ - -“Here we find that, though in the last of these years the maximum -height of water in the lake happened to correspond with the greatest -prevalence of fever, the latter can by no means be looked upon as a -consequence of, or in any way connected with, the former; since in -1818, when the water rose to within a few inches of the same level, -there was less fever than in any of the years under observation; -whereas in 1820 and 1821, when the waters of the lake appear to have -been at the minimum, there was more than in any of the years prior to -1828. - -“This supposition seems to have originated in the circumstance of -fevers being generally most prevalent from June to October, which -happens to correspond with the period when the waters of the lake -are at the greatest height; but the wide sphere over which these -statistical investigations now extend, has enabled us to show that -febrile diseases always prevail most at that season of the year, even -in countries where no such cause is in operation to produce them; -consequently, the rise of the waters in the lakes can no more be -regarded as the cause of fever in America, than the cessation of the -trade winds about the same period can be deemed a satisfactory reason -for the appearance of that disease in the West Indies. Both are merely -coincidences which, by those who have not a sufficiently extensive -field of observation, are apt to be mistaken for causes.” - -There arises out of all such inquiries one obvious deduction--viz., -that the essential nature of malaria is altogether unknown; and that -unless we choose to remain contented with such vague hypotheses as -those of Macculloch, now adopted by the Medical Board of Health of -Great Britain,[25] other inquiries must be entered on. The assertion -is as easily made as its refutation is difficult, that typhus fever is -caused by a neglected drain or ditch; that scarlet fever, small-pox, -and cholera have for their origin the same cause; that if they do not -immediately produce the poison, they predispose the human frame for -its reception; and that as a necessary result, all such diseases, -and deaths resulting therefrom, and from zymotic forms of disease -generally, are preventible by human agency. Let us leave these Utopian -views to the clever pens skilled in the art of making that seem new -which is not new, and that seem true which is not true, and patiently -inquire into some of the many difficulties besetting all investigations -into Nature’s processes, and man’s interpretation of them.[26] - - [25] As by the Registrar-General: see his Reports. - - [26] The ancient Egyptians seem to me to have long ago settled this - question, practically. On the subsidence of the Nile they, without a - day’s delay, commenced agricultural operations; nothing was allowed - to fall into rottenness or putrefaction. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE LIVING WORLD--ITS EXTENT AS REVEALED BY THE MICROSCOPE--HOW ITS -REMAINS ARE DISPOSED OF WHEN LIFE HAS CEASED. - - -§ 1. It has been often remarked, and with great truth, that the world -abounds with life. In the remains of that which had once lived, which -was at one period organic, the illustrious Cuvier and the great -school to which he belonged saw the materials of life, the food, in -fact, of that which exists; he held that between the inorganic and -organic worlds there was an impassable gulf, or in other words, an -inconvertibility or a metamorphosis, call it by what name you will. -This plausible theory, with many others, is now controverted by modern -chemists, who boldly assert that no organic atoms or molecules, as -such, can serve as food for a plant or an animal. But be this as it -may--for chemists admit that the incombustible constituents or the -salts of the blood, so essential to the nourishment or support of -animal life, must have passed through organic bodies[27]--one thing is -certain, that the extent of life on the globe can scarcely be imagined. -For first, as regards the vegetable kingdom, do we not observe how, as -spring and summer advance, the organic beings which during winter had -lain dormant at the bottom, or deeply entombed in the waters (I speak -not of those to be seen at all times on the surface of the earth), -rise to the surface, bringing with them countless myriads of the ova -of aquatic animals and of those which haunt the surface of the water? -Amongst these stand pre-eminent the infusoria or zoophytes; with these -the atmosphere also becomes loaded. They form, in fact, the substratum -of all animal life, constituting the food not only of animals somewhat -larger than themselves, but of many much larger, as the various species -of the cyprinus. Many valuable gregarious fishes, as the herring, -char, and the finer species of trout, live on entomostraca; they in -their turn become the food of larger and more voracious fishes. Even -the whale lives on food a portion of which is almost microscopic. Now, -withdraw the water by which all this life subsists, and putrescence, or -fermentation and decay, must be the result upon a mass of life of which -the amount may be faintly conjectured by the fact that 4,100,000,000 -millions of infusoria may be found in a square inch. These insects, -when dead, are found in strata extending to some acres, and many of -the fossils thus discovered belong to species of genera now alive. -The principles of life were at least as active in what we call the -old world (though in reality the young world), as in the present; the -researches of Ehrenberg, repeated by many others, have placed these -opinions beyond dispute. - - [27] Liebig. - -Now, it is by no means improbable--nay, it is almost certain--that many -species of these infusoria reside in the vapour of the atmosphere. - -The Austrian physicians came to the conclusion that the Asiatic cholera -was of local or terrestrial origin; the facts mentioned above confirm -this view to a certain extent, by disproving the general epidemic laws -supposed to regulate the progress of cholera and of fever (in which -cholera usually terminates), and by showing that the disease sought -out, as it were, the inhabitants of certain districts favourable -for the production of the deleterious influences I am now about to -consider. When the epidemical influence was superadded to these, the -disease appeared; its independence of changes in temperature may have -been owing to other circumstances not yet investigated. Connected -with this evolution of vegetable life in spring and summer, and with -its effects on man, is what is called the blooming of plants. The -presence of stagnant waters and of foul ditches may be discovered even -at a distance by the odour of gases, especially of the sulphuretted -hydrogen, they emit. Now, oxygen decomposes this gas, and thus it is -not so dangerous as represented to live near waters impregnated with -it; but should mud or vegetable refuse be left exposed by the drying up -of the waters, this gas ascends wherever the decayed matter is renewed -or turned over. Venice, Amsterdam, and other great cities similarly -situated, are not unhealthy, although their canals abound with mud; -but so soon as the traffic ceases or becomes trifling, a mud odour -arises, originating in what the French call _epuration_ or _floraison -d’eau_. In every country where there are ponds, canals, or ditches, -this vegetable growth takes place so soon as the temperature of the -water reaches 60° Fahr. As the quickening of the plants extends from -above downwards, from the leaves and stalk towards the roots, these -expand, and the mud becomes loosened; the plants imbibe carbon and give -out oxygen, and this circulation contributes to the loosening and to -the rising of the mud along with the plant. I have witnessed several -square yards of mud raised in this way from the bottom of the waters. -It subsides, of course, in due time. - -We have seen that the vital force has no influence upon the combination -of the simple elements, as such, into chemical compounds. “No element -of itself is capable of serving for the nutrition and development of -any part of an animal or vegetable organization;” the vital force by -its influence merely combines inferior groups of simple atoms into -atoms of a higher order. - -How stands it with the decomposition of animal and vegetable bodies -when the influence of the vital and conservative power has been -withdrawn? Let us attend to what an illustrious chemist has said on -this subject:--“Universal experience teaches us, that all organized -beings after death suffer a change, in consequence of which their -bodies gradually vanish from the surface of the earth. The mightiest -tree, after it is cut down, disappears, with the exception, perhaps, -of the bark, when exposed to the action of the air for thirty or forty -years. Leaves, young twigs, the straw which is added to the soil, juicy -fruits, &c., disappear much more quickly. In a still much shorter time -animal matters lose their cohesion; they are dissipated in the air, -leaving only the mineral elements which they had derived from the -soil.” “This grand natural process of the dissolution of all compounds -formed in living organisms begins immediately after death, when the -manifold causes no longer act, under the influence of which they were -produced. The compounds formed in the bodies of animals and of plants -undergo in the air, with the aid of moisture, a series of changes, the -last of which are the conversion of their carbon into carbonic acid, -of the hydrogen into water, of their nitrogen into ammonia, of their -sulphur into sulphuric acid. Thus their elements resume the form in -which they can again serve as food for a new generation of plants and -animals. Those elements which had been derived from the atmosphere, -take the gaseous form, and return to the air; those which the earth -had yielded return to the soil. Death, followed by the dissolution of -the dead generation, is the source of life for a new one. The same -atom of carbon which is a constituent of a muscular fibre in the heart -of a man, assists to propel the blood through his frame, was perhaps -a constituent of the heart of one of his ancestors; and any atom of -nitrogen in our brain has perhaps been a part of the brain of an -Egyptian or of a negro. As the intellect of the men of this generation -draws the food required for its development and cultivation from the -products of the intellectual activity of former times, so may the -constituents or elements of the bodies of a former generation pass -into and become part of our own frames.” “The proximate cause of the -changes which occur in organized bodies after death, is the action of -the oxygen of the air on many of their constituents. This action only -takes place when water--that is, moisture--is present, and a certain -temperature is required for its production.” - -Let us not, then, be surprised at the seemingly discordant results -arrived at, and at the contradictory observations which have been -made in the best faith possible, and with every regard to truth in -science. The circumstances which seemed to be identical are merely -analogous, but in point of fact are essentially distinct, as proved -by the results. Changes inappreciable by human sense and as yet by -philosophical instruments, may and no doubt do effect results, to man -seemingly contradictory, simply because he comprehends them not. As -chemical science makes progress, these differences are being reconciled -and understood. Thus, as mere temperature exercises a truly remarkable -influence over the nature of the products of fermentation, may it not -be the efficient cause of the difference we observe between the malaria -of the delta of the Mississippi and that floating near the muddy banks -of the Scheldt? The juice of carrots, beet-root, or onions, which is -rich in sugar, when allowed to ferment at ordinary temperature yields -the same products as grape-sugar, but at a higher temperature the whole -decomposition is changed--there is a much less evolution of gas, and no -alcohol is formed. - -In the fermented liquor there is no longer any sugar, and thus may it -be in the great laboratory of nature; the product of the fermentation -will assume in one locality a character it does not possess in another. -The elements are the same; there is merely a change in temperature. - -Are there facts to prove that certain states of transformation or -putrefaction in a substance, are likewise propagated to parts or -constituents of the living animal body? Such facts exist. On no other -principle but that of assimilation can we explain the phenomena of -poisoning by the puncture of the living hand in dissecting-rooms, the -instrument being impregnated with a fermentescible and putrefactive -substance, there undergoing a decomposition. Similar, unquestionably, -must be the action of animal poisons, such as that of poisonous -substances, whether animal or vegetable, of the poisons giving rise -to zymotic diseases, &c.; and such may be the origin of the fevers -caused by the unknown principle which must still be connected with -the decomposition of organic bodies most frequently found in marshy -countries. But before entering more fully on this important matter, -I shall first weigh the evidence for and against a theory long -fashionable, and which may even now have its supporters--namely, -whether fermentation or the revolution of higher or more complex -organic vegetable into less complex compounds, be the effect of the -vital manifestations of vegetable matters, and whether putrefaction or -the same change in animal substances be determined by the development -or the presence of animal beings. They who maintain this theory, assume -as a natural consequence of the views that the origin of miasmatic or -contagious diseases, in so far as they may be referred to the presence -of putrefactive processes, must be ascribed to the same or to similar -causes. - -§ 2. The refutation of this view by Liebig seems satisfactory, and has -not yet been satisfactorily replied to. The subject is one of much -interest; the theory has furnished a foundation for some unquestionably -entirely fallacious ideas concerning the essence of the vital processes -generally, of many pathological conditions, and the causes of certain -diseases. - -These persons regard fermentation, or the resolution of higher or -more complex organic vegetable atoms into less complex compounds, -as the effect of the vital manifestations of vegetable matters; and -putrefaction, or the same change in animal substances, as being -determined by the development or the presence of animal beings. -They assume as a natural consequence of this view, that the origin -of miasmatic or contagious diseases, in so far as referrible to the -presence of putrefactive processes, must be ascribed to the same or -similar causes. - -The most obvious and important considerations in support of this view -of fermentation, are derived from observations made on the alcoholic -fermentation, and on the yeast of beer and of wine. The microscopic -researches of physiologists and botanists have demonstrated that beer -or wine yeast consists of single globules strung together, which -possess all the properties of living vegetable cells, and resemble very -closely certain of the lower family of plants, such as some fungi and -algæ. - -In fermenting vegetable juices, we observe, after a few days, small -points, which grow from within outwards; and these have a granular -nucleus, surrounded by a transparent envelope. The simultaneous -appearance of the yeast-cells and of the products of decomposition -of the sugar, is the chief argument in support of the opinion that -the fermentation of sugar is an effect caused by the vital process, -a result of the development, growth, and propagation of these low -vegetable structures. But if the development increase, and propagation -of these vegetable cells or tissues be the cause of fermentation, then -in every case where we observe this effect we must suppose that the -causes or conditions--namely, sugar, from which the cell-walls are -produced, and gluten, which yields their contents--are both present. - -Now, the most remarkable fact among the phenomena of fermentation, -and that which must chiefly be kept in view in the explanation of the -process, is this, that the ready-formed cells, after being washed, -effect the conversion of pure cane-sugar into grape-sugar, and its -resolution into a volume of vapour and alcohol, and that the elements -of the sugar are obtained without any loss in these new forms; that -consequently, since three pounds of yeast, considered in the dry state, -decompose two hundred-weight of sugar, a very powerful action takes -place, without any notable consumption of matter for the vital purpose -of forming cells. If the property of exciting fermentation depended on -the development, propagation, and increase of yeast-cells, these cells -would be incapable of causing fermentation in pure solutions of sugar, -in which the other conditions necessary for the manifestation of the -vital properties, and especially the nitrogenous matters necessary for -the production of the contents of the cells, are absent. - -Experiment has proved that in this case the yeast-cells cause -fermentation, not because they propagate their kind, but in consequence -of the decomposition of their nitrogenous contents, which are -resolved into ammonia and other products--that is, in consequence of -a decomposition which is exactly the opposite of an organic formative -process. The yeast, when brought into contact successively with the -new portions of sugar, loses by degrees entirely its power of causing -fermentation, and at last nothing is left in the liquid but its -non-nitrogenous envelopes or cell-walls.[28] - - [28] Liebig: Letters on Chemistry. - -On the other hand, it may be admitted that fungi and agarics, and -all that lives, vegetable and animal, contaminate the air when dead; -they absorb oxygen and give out vapours of which some are clearly -detrimental to human life. The effect of breathing air so contaminated -is in some countries immediate--that is, the incubation of the poison -requires only a few days, in others many months. Waters in a state of -fermentation or putrefaction seem to poison the plants themselves, for -duckweed and other swimming plants die, and the swallow and the marten -disappear. On the wide ocean and over the absolute desert, the air is -always pure, nothing living is decomposing; but watch the mud coasts, -and observe the pestilential effects of sea water when suffered to -evaporate, or still more when confined to a locality and suffered to -decompose. In the ancient world, as in the modern, nature teemed with -life, since a cubic inch of the fossil infusoria, contains 41,000 -millions of individuals. The microscopic shell fish called entomostraca -were equally abundant. - -When the evaporation of sea water is quickened by an elevation of -temperature, as in the South of France, noxious and unpleasant -odours, injurious to vegetable life, are distinctly perceptible. The -putrescence and fermentation caused by heat acting on the remains of -life in sea water left to evaporate, as between Rio and Cape Frio, in -the Brazils, seem to be the cause of, or at least to give terrible -effect to, yellow fever. - -Vegetable life is equally abundant, and it may be as injurious when -decomposing in its effects on human life. Lichens speedily cover the -walls of neglected houses, and cause sickness by their decomposition. -The spore or sporule, which in flowerless plants performs the office -of seeds, floats in the atmosphere, and seems to be the cause of -the hay-fever so frequent in fertile lowlands. Nor need we quote -the recent drainage of the Lake of Haarlem in proof of the sure -results of exposing masses of dead animal and vegetable substances -to putrefaction--namely, ague, various fevers, and other ailments -indicative of a poison or malaria affecting the general mass of the -blood. Of the minuteness of animal life, it is only necessary to remark -that we are acquainted with animals possessing teeth and organs of -motion, which are wholly invisible to the naked eye. Other animals -exist which, when measured, are found to be many thousand times -smaller, and which nevertheless possess the same apparatus. Their ova -must be many hundreds of times still smaller. It is to this invisible -world in all probability, and to its decomposition and putrefaction, -or at least to influences arising therefrom, that the essential cause -of ague, and other febrile diseases of an intermittent and remittent -character may be referred, aggravated, no doubt, by insalubrious -atmospheric constitutions of which we know nothing. These from time to -time affect and lower human vitality--a fact admitted by all physicians. - - * * * * * - -NOTE ON THE QUESTION OF QUARANTINE. (See Chapter IV.) - - The special-pleaders who formed the Council of the late Board of - Health argued that, “as there exists an obvious harmony between our - physical and social constitutions, the necessity of intercourse - between all the members of the human family is one of the final - necessities of our race” (“Report on the Quarantine Laws,” Board of - Health, p. 64); in other words, that “the diseases supposed to be - contagious by our predecessors, _cannot be contagious_, because such - a supposition is at variance with _a theory (of their own invention)_ - that there exists a necessity of intercourse between all the members - of the human family;” and therefore all quarantine laws ought to be - abolished. But are not small-pox, measles, scarlatina, hooping-cough - contagious? And as regards “the necessity of intercourse between all - the members of the human family,” were we to consult the Chinese, - the Hindoo, the Peruvian, the Mexican, the Caffre, the Negro, the - Turk, the Morocene, they would unhesitatingly tell you that such an - intercourse is sure to end in their destruction. Under a Trajan or - an Alexander, an Antonine, or even an Augustus, the world no doubt - was benefited by an universal intercourse between all the members of - the human family _then known_, and such an intercourse was highly - beneficial to humanity; but the kind of intercourse established by - the Clives and Pizarros is of a very different nature from that of - Alexander and Trajan. Civilization is the direct result of artificial - wants, the gratification of which can alone be met by a free and - unrestricted commerce. By violence an empire may be overthrown, - and by rapacity its inhabitants may be deprived, not only of their - land and property, but even of their natural rights as men, as in - India under the administration of England; but all these crusades - have no reference whatever to an ameliorating of the condition of - mankind; they simply form episodes in the history of the human - race, respecting which historians take extremely different views. - The conquests of Mexico and Peru and India form episodes in the - respective histories of Spain and Britain by no means flattering to - the character of these nations. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -ON THE DECOMPOSITION AND METAMORPHOSIS OF ANIMAL BEINGS, AND ON THE -INFLUENCE THEY EXERCISE OVER THE SOIL AS A HABITAT FOR MAN. - - -During life animal bodies undergo continual decomposition and -recomposition; life is in fact a perpetual metamorphosis. Whilst alive, -the products of vitality (_excreta_) are returned to or deposited in or -on the surface of the earth, and carried by drainage and other means -into the nearest water, river, or stream; we have lived to see them -thrown _en masse_ into a tidal river the waters of which serve at the -same time to furnish most of that required for the economy of a vast -capital and many surrounding towns; in the same country the cesspools -and dead-wells constructed to receive the liquid and solid _excreta_ of -dwelling-houses are not unfrequently constructed close to the pump-well -which is to supply the inhabitants with pure water for culinary -purposes. - -To these extraordinary facts I shall shortly return. They show the -extent to which intelligent, talented, shrewd men may suffer themselves -to be deluded and led aside from the path pointed out by common sense, -more especially when crotchets are substituted for principles; when -men fancy that in following out some imperfectly-observed inquiry, -they are imitating nature--that nature which is ever consonant with -herself, which created all animals, and which knows how to dispose of -their excreta when living, and of their remains when dead, without -detriment to the living. The Caffre, the Hottentot, the Bosjieman, the -North-American Indian, the Bedouin, require no sanitary arrangements, -no laws regulating, nor staff to carry out a code of theoretical -Utopian schemes, sure to revert on the heads of those foolish enough to -employ them; the excreta deposited on the earth disappear, so do also -the remains of animal life. We never hear of any pestilence, fever, -scurvy, dysentery, small-pox, hooping-cough, malignant sore-throat, -or other zymotics, originating amongst them. It would, indeed, almost -seem that such evils do actually owe their origin to human agency -and to human civilization; where civilized man makes his highest -endeavours, there his most signal failure occurs; experience teaches -him nothing; the insolence of wealth naturally leads to the contempt of -all knowledge derived from means otherwise than national and native. -In Britain the muddy banks of rivers, which in Holland and Belgium are -covered with vegetation, lie exposed, festering in the sun’s rays, -the fertile source of agues and other diseases; here they are being -continually exposed, or alternately covered with water, which is then -allowed to evaporate; this mud is not suffered to rest, but stirred -up in a variety of ways, as best suits the convenience of the parties -interested. It suits, for example, the proprietor of a long-neglected -drain or sewer, cesspool or filthy stagnant canal, or a common ditch, -which once was a clear rivulet, to cleanse it out. He selects the -warmest weather and the longest day for that special work, or he -spreads the contents of the cesspools of half a century’s collection on -the fields, suffering it to remain there for weeks, thus rendering the -roads all but impassable. The selected lives of the finest men in the -kingdom, petted, fed, clothed, and lodged at the public charge, without -anxiety or a care for to-morrow--the Guards of England--die under his -fostering hand, in the ratio of three to one of the care-worn and -toil-exhausted peasant, miserably fed, scantily clothed, badly lodged, -and full of anxiety for the morrow. Now, how comes this? Simply, I -believe, from this--that man, knowing much better than nature, has -chosen to take her place, to do her work clumsily, and to fancy that he -is doing it well; to interfere, and not to carry through the works he -has undertaken. What other proof can be required than the fact that, on -the frontiers of the Cape of Good Hope, in the healthiest country in -the world--a fact proved not only by the statistics of the celebrated -statistician, Major Tulloch, but by the evidence of all medical men who -have resided there,--where the mortality is not a half of what it is -amongst the most favoured counties of England--in such a country, where -every man might have had a mile square of ground to live on, military -arrangements contrived to break down whole regiments of the healthiest -young men England could produce.[29] - - [29] Report, p. 176. - -The Dutch Boers and Hottentots were astonished, as well they might -be. “Towards the end of June, 1836,” observes Major Tulloch, “very -decided symptoms of scurvy began to manifest themselves among part of -the 75th Regiment at Fort Armstrong, and subsequently extended to most -of the other stations along the frontier. The total number of cases -reported either as scorbutus or purpura, were 134, of which 4 proved -fatal; the others readily yielded to change of air, with improved -diet and accommodation.” As was to be expected, the Hottentot troops, -on the same ground, being left to act generally in accordance with the -dictates of their own common sense, wholly escaped the disease. - -Let us now briefly review the means adopted by nature for the disposal -of those remains so embarrassing to the civilized, so innocuous to -man living in a semi-barbarous or savage state, and which prove to -the former a source of infinite expense, discomfort, and disease. The -problem has reference to the soil, to the air, to the water; to the -condition of all three as regards the preservation of animal life -generally, man included. - -I have already remarked in a preceding chapter, that all organized -beings after death undergo a change, in consequence of which their -bodies, as such, disappear from the surface of the earth. In a short -time after the event, animal matters lose their cohesion; they are -dissipated into the air, leaving only the mineral elements they had -derived from the soil. The change commences immediately after death: -with the aid of moisture and exposure to the air, the bodies of -animals, as well as plants, undergo changes, the last of which are[30] -the conversion of their carbonic acid and of their hydrogen into water, -of their nitrogen into ammonia, of their sulphur into sulphuric acid. -Thus, their elements assume or resume forms in which they can again -serve as food to a new generation of plants and animals. “The same atom -of carbon which, as the constituent of a muscular fibre in the heart -of a man, assists to propel the blood through his frame, was perhaps -a constituent of the heart of one of his ancestors, and any atom of -nitrogen in our brain has perhaps been a part of the brain of an -Egyptian or of a negro. - - [30] Liebig, 1851. - -“As the intellect of the men of this generation draws the food -required for its development and cultivation from the products of the -intellectual activity of former times, so may the constituents or -elements of the bodies of a former generation pass into, and become -parts of, our own frames. The proximate cause of the changes which -occur in organized bodies after death is the action of the oxygen of -the air on many of their constituents. This action only takes place -when water--that is, moisture--is present, and requires a certain -temperature.” - -The great agent in all these changes is oxygen, as has been already -sufficiently explained when speaking of the decomposition of vegetables -after death. I shall first attend to the influence these changes have -on the soil as producing agents, intended to restore to the soil those -vivifying powers which it never seems to lose when man interferes not; -and lastly, to consider briefly its influence on man himself. - -The development of scarcely any plant can be imagined without the -assistance of nitrogen or of azotized materials. Now, under certain -conditions known to all botanists, this azote must come from rain -water, either in the form of atmospheric air, or under that of ammonia. -Chemists have, I think, proved that it originates in the ammonia -contained in the atmosphere, and not in the azote as it naturally -exists in the air. The problem is put and solved in this way by Liebig, -“Let us consider a farm suitably conducted, and of an extent sufficient -to maintain itself, ammonia exists there in a sufficient abundance in -rain water and snow; in the water of most fountains; it exists in the -air in abundance, and is being constantly renewed by the decomposition -of animal and vegetable bodies, and is restored to the soil by the -rain, and then absorbed by the roots of plants, and produces, according -to the organs, albumen, gluten, quinine, morphine, cyanogene, and a -great number of other crystallized combinations.” - -The most decisive proof of the part played by ammonia in the -nourishment of plants is furnished us by the use of manure in the -cultivation of cereals and green forage. According to the distinguished -chemist so often quoted in this essay, animal manure (_fumier_) acts -solely by reason of its production of ammonia. The history of the -Peruvian guano, a substance so highly ammoniacal, proves all these -assertions; this celebrated manure, which fertilizes a soil (the -Peruvian) of the most remarkable sterility, consisting mainly of white -sand and argil, is composed chiefly of urates, urate of ammonia, -oxalate of ammonia, phosphate of ammonia, carbonate of ammonia, and -some other salts. - -Thus did the ancient Peruvian, like the Chinese, stumble on the -solution of problems involving the fate of millions by simple -experience alone, wholly unaided by science, which steps in afterwards -and gives the _rationale_ of the process; teaches us that all wheats -do not equally abound in gluten; that rice is poor in azote; potatoes -equally so. Practical agriculturists still find difficulty in applying -with success the processes recommended by the chemist; but these, no -doubt, will gradually be overcome. - -“Since we find azote[31] in all the lichens which grow on basaltic -rocks; that the fields produce more azote than is brought to them -in the shape of aliment; that we meet with azote in all soils -(_terrains_), even in minerals which happen never to come in contact -with organic matters; that in the atmosphere, in rain-water, and in -that of fountains or springs, in every description of soil we meet -with this azote under the form of ammonia, as a product of the slow -combustion or of the putrefaction of anterior generations; that the -production of azotized principles greatly increases in plants with the -quantity of ammonia presented to them in animal manure,--we may in -all safety conclude that _it is the ammonia of the atmosphere which -furnishes the azote to plants_. - - [31] Traité de Chimie Organique. Par M. J. Liebig. pp. 88. - -“It results from the foregoing[32] that the carbonic acid, the ammonia, -and the water, include in their elements the conditions necessary -for the production of all the principles of living beings. These -three bodies are the ultimate products of the putrefaction and of the -_eremacausis_ (slow combustion) of all animal and vegetable races. All -the products of the vital force, so numerous and so varied--all after -death return to the primitive forms in which they first appeared or -from which they originally sprung. Death, the complete dissolution of a -generation, is always the source of a new generation.” - - [32] Liebig, _loc. cit._ - -Equally curious, but foreign to my present purpose, is the inquiry into -the sources of the inorganic principles in plants and animals. These -sources were inappreciable until a more refined chemistry appeared. -Sea-water contains only the 1/12,400th of its weight of carbonate -of lime, and yet this quantity suffices for the production of the -essential components of the shells of myriads of crustaceans and -corals. Whilst the atmosphere contains but 4/10,000ths to 6/10,000ths -of its volume of carbonic acid, the amount in sea water is more by a -hundred times, and yet in this medium we find another world of animal -and vegetable life, which finds re-united in the ammonia and carbonic -acid the same conditions which enable human beings on the surface of -the solid earth (_terra firma_) to live and to maintain their species. - -It would even seem that the essential constituents of some organs have -altered in the course of ages, without affecting, or being materially -affected by, the principles of life. Thus it would seem that fossil -bones contain the fluate (fluorure de calcium) of calcium in much -larger quantities than the bones of recent animals; and the same remark -has been made in respect of the composition of the crania of men found -at Pompeii. They resemble in this respect the antediluvian fossil -remains. - -Thus, imperceptibly, as it were, proceed the grand operations of -nature, and if accidentally any vast collection of excreta should -happen to be found, as in the guano islands of the dry regions of -America, they seem not to affect the life or health of those animals -which repose on them. It is the same in the dry regions of Southern -Africa, where sheep and cattle, in order to protect them from wild -animals, must, on the approach of evening, be collected into a fold -or kraal, surrounded by a strong fence of the mimosa, and carefully -shut in. On this surface, of no great extent, sheep and oxen stand or -rest for the evening: their excreta accumulate, but do not putrefy, -for the air on the kraal is pure comparatively, and never injurious to -the sheep or cattle; the surface of the kraal is, moreover, generally -dry, even when the soil may be accidentally inundated by rain, which, -when it falls, as it does occasionally, descends in torrents. From the -African soil is thus withdrawn by man the excreta of all the domestic -animals; the semi-barbarous Boer never returns it to the soil, and -thus the loss is permanent; but it would seem that this loss, caused -by man’s interference, in no shape, as far as can be observed, affects -the fertility of the soil, called on to reproduce only the native -pasture, or the wild herbs natural to it. It is otherwise when man -demands from the soil heavier exhausting crops of wheat and hemp, -tobacco, &c.: his interference with nature’s balance must be gone -into, or soon his hopes of a harvest would be in vain. Then comes the -theory of manures, a theory beset with difficulties, and which, besides -involving man in much labour and expense, is productive, or presumed -to be on sufficiently probable grounds the cause, of some, if not of -many, of the diseases which afflict humanity. However this may be, -whatever be the extent to which a dense population and a neglect of the -so-called sanitary regulations subject man to infirmity and disease, -one thing is certain--he has interfered with nature’s balance, and -must take on himself the whole task. If he shuts up a harbour mouth, -refusing entrance to the tide, confining within the harbour a portion -of that ocean water which nature intended should be constantly agitated -by tides and currents, he may expect as results that the shores of -that harbour will soon become uninhabitable by man. All animals -instinctively shun the sick, leaving them apart; man crowds them -together into close, ill-ventilated hospitals, sweeping off in hundreds -those whom the battle had spared. - -It were foreign to the object of this work to enter more fully into -the history of that dissolution of animal structures which forms so -important a part of the materials we call manure, destined to restore -to the soil that which artificial crops had deprived it of. Every part -of animal bodies owes its origin to vegetables or plants, no part being -formed by the vital force, and thus all the remains of animals of -necessity form manures. - -On the management of these, man’s civilization depends; without -agriculture there can be no dense population; without the dense -population there can be no civilization. On these points many -remarkably erroneous opinions have been, and still perhaps are, -maintained even by practical men, who nevertheless are often in -error--merely, it is true, as to the theory on which they fancy they -act, more rarely as to the practice they have from experience adopted. - -In calmly considering this important question--the right management of -manures composed of the excreta or the remains of animal and vegetable -life, it becomes evident that several problems, atmospheric as well -as terrestrial, remain yet to be solved. The surface of the soil, -as modified by man’s labour, presents itself under a very different -aspect to what nature intended it to be. A lake may be drained with -much advantage to a country, but the surface so exposed cannot be too -soon cultivated, to prevent the spread of fevers sure to arise from -the decaying, fermenting, and putrefying of the lower forms of animal -and vegetable life thus brought into existence, especially when aided -by those epidemic constitutions of the atmosphere striking directly at -man’s existence on the earth. - -For civilized man there is, there can be, no repose. There are forces -in nature against which, with all his industry, he may never be able to -prevail. The tropical forest returns upon him the instant, as it were, -that he ceases to hew it down, obliterating in an incredibly short time -all traces of human labour. The lands of Western France can scarcely be -secured from the inroads of the sands driven by western gales towards -the interior; the bog is checked only by constant labour, and the hill -where once the heath grew spontaneously, can only be retained in a -green and grassy condition by the constant watchfulness and labour of -men. Twenty years of neglect suffice to restore the heath, and to sweep -away all vestiges of human culture.[33] - - [33] The “Sunderland Times” gives publicity to the following - frightful narrative, drawn up by Captain Edward Robinson, of - Sunderland, commander of the ship _Raleigh_, of South Shields:--“I - arrived at this place in the beginning of May, 1858, being sent - to bring home a vessel whose captain died of yellow fever; little - did I think, before leaving home, that I should have witnessed the - sufferings of so many of my fellow-creatures that were ill of this - dreadful epidemic. I was told it would be all over before I arrived, - but I found that, so far from that being the case, its ravages were - unmitigated. In the street that I lodged in, five in one family were - buried from the house in one day. The Rio journals were publishing - in their columns, ‘No cases of yellow fever to-day.’ One ship at the - port had seven captains dead before she could be brought out of the - place. The vessel--the _Raleigh_ of South Shields--that I have come - home in command of, had her captain, chief officer, second officer, - and four of her crew stricken down by the disease. On the day before - the Captain died I visited him at the hospital; I there witnessed - such sights as I hope never again to see--poor sailors in the height - of the fearful malady, with the black vomit, vomiting dark fluid - like coffee. I shall never forget the looks they gave me, and how - their poor dull eyes brightened as I gave them a word of comfort, and - told them they would get better. Next day, when I returned to see - them, I found the whole gone--the captain and six of his crew, all - dead and buried. Still, ‘No cases of fever,’ say the Rio journals. - The number carried off by yellow fever from February to May, 1858, - amounted to 1609, upwards of 600 of the deaths being among English - sailors. The presence of a plague fever is not to be wondered at, the - state of the town being a disgrace to civilized people. All manner of - filth is to be met with in most parts of the town. Dead animals and - filth I cannot describe meet your eye and offend your senses almost - everywhere. - - “My brother, now sixty-eight years of age, and who has been - thirty-six years at Rio, informs me that he has often seen Europeans - on ’Change in the morning, who died and were buried on the same - evening. He has seen Rio cleared five times of Europeans. The - pestilence, he believes, comes from the flat marshy land near Rio. - The natives burn tar-barrels to purify the atmosphere.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -EARTH, AIR, AND WATER IN RELATION TO MAN--HOW MODIFIED BY -HIM--RESULTS OF THAT MODIFICATION--ACTION AND REACTION. - - -§ 1. The question of acclimation is not confined merely to man’s -transfer from one country to another, and to his attempts to -accommodate himself to the new locality, to the altered circumstances -of his adopted country. As civilized man traverses the earth in -search of new abodes, he carries with him the arts of social life, -and especially the art of agriculture, by which alone he can exist in -congregated masses: agriculture, which forms indeed the very basis of -civilization. - -Whether we view man as a native of the land or a stranger, he cannot -evade this question; for even as a native and as an individual of a -race whose presence on the soil he may inhabit precedes the records -of authentic history, if he form a portion of civilized society he -receives from his ancestors or predecessors a system he is bound to -improve, or at least to maintain, so that he shall live and thrive, -not as the beasts of the field, but as a member of a civilized people. -When a hunting tribe of North American Indians, a horde of Bedouins, -or Hottentots or Caffres, a Turcoman family, or a gipsy encampment, -a Cape Boer, or an Australian sheep-farmer, sit down by stream, or -valley, or lake, they no more influence the soil than a troop of -antelopes or buffaloes. Nature’s great processes go on unaffected: -they deteriorate, it is true, by respiration, the superincumbent -atmosphere, but not more than any equal amount of animal life. This -deterioration the wild plants around, sown by nature herself, speedily -removes; the oxygen consumed by savage man and the animal life around, -equally wild, is speedily renovated by vegetation, and the oxygen they -remove from the atmosphere and the carbonic acid they pour into it, -rapidly and constantly recover their equilibrium under the influence -of vegetation. Thus, neither the earth (soil), air, nor water, is in -any way influenced by his presence, nor is he in general affected by -these; there is no reciprocal influence for good or bad: he cuts down -no forests, grows no wheat, or but little, makes no canals, drains -no marsh-lands, poisons no rivers; the refuse of his dwellings, the -excreta of such a population, are not sensibly perceived, even if -allowed to rot and waste away on the surface--a practice prevalent with -most if not all wild and uncultivated people; it rapidly disappears, -disintegrated by processes in which the lower forms of animal life take -a part. Now, contemplate the picture civilized man presents, and see -him in direct antagonism with nature! The plants of nature’s sowing are -rudely torn up with the plough and destroyed, the fields are forced to -yield crops by which he lives, and what he takes from the soil must, -to use the language of chemists, “be restored to it:” the excreta of -man and animals, the refuse of dwellings, the deteriorated and poisoned -liquids, the products of manufactories, are collected into heaps, to -rot on the surface of the soil, before being dug into it; or are thrown -into the rivers, to poison, in a certain sense, the waters on which -man lives, rendering their banks, if not pestilential, at least most -unpleasant as human abodes; canals are dug, vast reservoirs are formed, -which in time give rise by mismanagement to fevers, intermittent and -others; the minerals of the earth are quarried and placed on the -soil, mines are dug, and from them waters are discharged into the -neighbouring streams, strongly poisoned with the metallic ores. To -imagine that an influence thus affecting earth, air, and water can -proceed and increase without affecting human life, can be overcome by -habit, does not require to be met by counter-influences originating in -the experience and reasoning of man himself, is a supposition which the -history of large cities refutes. The influence is reciprocal. When man -thus acts on the three elements of nature by which he lives, they react -on him, and it is this reaction he is called on to meet and to overcome -as best he can. It is a question of reason and experiment--that is, of -science and of simple observation; simple observation and experiment -taught the native Peruvians the value of guano, for science had at -that time no standing on the American continent; and now the chemist -steps in and explains why it was that the experiment proved successful. -Whether his explanation be satisfactory or not, touches not the -question; though proved to be erroneous in a single instance, as it -possibly is in regard of this very Peruvian guano, science stands on -too secure a basis to require any defence from me. - -It is one of the conditions of civilization, that man must everywhere -accept the social system within which he lives. Whether a dweller in -detached cottages and farm-houses, or congregated into townships and -villages; collected in masses, as in towns and cities, his endeavour is -to protect his dwelling from all that is offensive and from whatever -may prove injurious to the health of himself and family. An ancient -adage tells us not to act contrary to nature; but as nature reveals -nothing to us, as her intentions can only be read by the lights of -science and reason, or science based on observation and experiment, -whence human reason draws deductions conformable with its power, so -is it most difficult for man to say what is best to be done under all -circumstances. When a man builds a cottage, a house, or a palace, after -duly attending to the surface-drains, he constructs near his dwelling, -sometimes beneath it, a cesspool and a dead-well, the former intended -to receive the more solid excreta, the latter the soil-water of the -kitchen--the water, in fact, used in the domestic economy of the house. -If the dead-well or pit dug to receive the soiled water of the house be -sufficiently deep, it filters through the soil, and thus requires no -clearing out--if not, it overflows the court or garden, and speedily -renders the place uninhabitable. The cesspool, if deep enough and -properly secured, remains for many years unknown and unperceived, until -filled; it may even be forgotten altogether, and its very existence -remain unknown, until disclosed by accident; but whatever be its age -or condition, so soon as its contents are exposed to the air, it is -found to have continued unaltered; and if spread on the fields, as I -have seen done, renders the vicinity for some time unendurable, thus -proving the sagacity of the Jewish legislator in his instructions to -that people to whom he gave laws and regulations to serve them for all -time to come.[34] - - [34] Deuteronomy xxii. 12. - -If the adage I have quoted above be true--namely, that we must not -act contrary to nature--there is another of the truth of which we -feel more assured. It is this: whenever man interferes with nature, he -must take the whole matter on himself, and be prepared to meet every -contingency. Nature gave us streams and rivers more or less pure, whose -banks are more or less salubrious. If man pours into these streams and -rivers the refuse of towns and cities, he must be prepared to meet the -result of the experiment. It may be good--it may be bad to him: this -he cannot know beforehand; but reason tells him that the experiment is -likely to prove injurious. It may be less injurious than burying the -excreta in cesspools under his house, or court, or garden;[35] but this -I doubt. In the meantime, how does civilized man protect himself from a -source of disease respecting which there never was a doubt--the natural -humidity of the soil on which he has erected his dwelling, in which he -sleeps and lives? To meet this evil he forms surface drains around his -house and garden and court. Into these collect the humidity natural to -the soil, as well as rains of heaven. These drains, adulterated by no -intermixture with the refuse of house and stables, terminate in the -nearest streams, and serve to maintain these streams and rivers into -which they flow at their natural standard. - - [35] The Registrar-General consoles the inhabitants of London on the - relative amount of injury, being in favour of the plan of polluting - the Thames rather than of gradually abolishing cesspools. - -Thus, before it was discovered that the best way of dealing with these -difficult questions was to break down the distinction between drain -and sewer (thus poisoning, probably for all time to come, the air of -towns and cities), construct a sewer which soon becomes a cloaca to -receive all, and in open day and above ground throw the contents into -the nearest stream--imitating old Rome, without knowing anything of -Rome’s municipal economy, our forefathers drew a marked and clear -distinction--1st, between drain and sewer; 2nd, between a cesspool -and a dead-well; 3rd, between the excreta of man, which they knew -to be offensive, and that of animals, which all were well aware are -innoxious: the latter they restored to the fields, the former they -disposed of as best they could. - -Society, having rejected in this instance the experience of their -forefathers, enters now on a new phasis. Nature, about which they talk -so much, will not suffer them to rest half way. Bad odours pervade -the streets, courts, and houses: rivers can scarcely be approached. -Chemists affirm that that which is thrown into the sea should be -returned to the land. It is this question, in so far as it bears on the -matter discussed in this chapter, I shall now briefly discuss. - -There lie before me the “Letters on Chemistry” of an illustrious German -chemist.[36] They contain the expression of the latest scientific -results hitherto attained. Whatever view those who follow us may adopt, -we must in the meantime accept, to a certain extent, of those contained -in these “Letters.” A phenomenon must be accepted as a fact until -refuted by another; and the last experiment, until refuted, expresses -the nearest approach to that truth which, up to the moment, man had -been able to attain. Simple observation tells man many truths. It -shows him that out of grass, herbivora, or grass-eating animals of all -kinds--from the timid hare to the swift and powerful horse--from the -fierce buffalo to the sagacious and irresistible elephant--find the -means for forming muscle and bones, viscera and skin. Out of a similar -food man himself, though no doubt omnivorous, can also derive the means -of support. The rice-eating population of India are not deficient in -energy; whilst it is equally certain, though less surprising, no doubt, -that out of that which once was a living animal, man and the carnivora -derive a considerable part of their subsistence. - - [36] “Letters on Chemistry.” By Justus von Liebig. London, 1857. - -No experiments can set aside these simple views, which indeed form the -basis of all inquiry; but civilized man, as I have shown, appeals to -the soil mainly for support. He trusts to the cerealia, and to those -exuberant and abundant crops of legumina and of grains required for the -support of herds of animals, which the uncultivated field could never -maintain. Hence arose agriculture, the most useful of all the practical -arts--not yet a science, but likely in time to become one. - -Chemists assert--and I see no reason to doubt their experiments--that -the ash of the blood of graminivorous animals is identical with that -of the ash of grain; the incombustible constituents of the blood of -men, and of such animals as consume a mixed food, are the constituents -of the ashes of bread, flesh, and vegetables; the carnivorous animal -contains in its blood the constituents of the ash of flesh.[37] All -these substances ought to be found in grass alone. - - [37] Liebig, p. 384. - -In these processes it would seem that phosphoric acid plays a most -important, and, as it would seem, an essential part. To this I -shall return: at present I merely consider man’s influence on the -soil or earth he lives on, what he derives from it, and what he -returns to it, and in what form it is and ought to be returned. -If it be true that without trees there would be no underwood, no -corn, and no crops,--for trees attract the fertilizing rain, and -cause the springs perpetually to flow which diffuse prosperity and -comfort,--then assuredly man ought to be most careful in interfering -with nature. It is the remark, I think of the illustrious Humboldt, -that when the white man took possession of certain districts of North -America, vast forests prevailed everywhere. On taking possession, -experience showed that agues prevailed, and that wheat might be grown -successfully. The forests have been now destroyed, and agues have -disappeared; but phthisis pulmonalis prevails, and wheat no longer -grows to maturity. We interfere with the soil as nature made it when -we force it to produce from one acre the natural produce of ten; we -interfere with the processes of nature when we load the air with the -products of thousands of furnaces, manufactories, and the poison -exhaled from poisonous rivers and brooks; and we interfere with nature -when we alter the constitution of those streams and rivers from a -natural to an artificial state, loading them with the refuse of our -artificially-drained fields, &c. - -Let us listen to Liebig on a matter to which he has given the utmost -possible attention:-- - -“Experience in agriculture shows that the production of vegetables on a -given surface increases with the supply of certain matters, originally -part of the soil which had been taken up from it by plants--the excreta -of man and animals. These are nothing more than matters derived from -vegetable food, which in the vital processes of animals, or after -their death, assume again the form under which they originally existed -as parts of the soil. Now we know that the atmosphere contains none -of those substances, and therefore can replace none; and we know -that their removal from a soil destroys its fertility, which may be -restored and increased by a new supply. Is it possible, after so many -decisive investigations into the origin of the elements of animals -and vegetables, the use of the alkalies of lime and the phosphates, -that any doubt can exist as to the principles upon which a rational -agriculture depends? Can the art of agriculture be based upon anything -but the restitution of a disturbed equilibrium? Can it be imagined that -any country, however rich and fertile, with a flourishing commerce, -which for centuries exports its produce in the shape of grain and -cattle, will maintain its fertility if the same commerce does not -restore, in some form of manure, those elements which have been removed -from the soil, and which cannot be replaced by the atmosphere? Must not -the same fate await every such country, which has actually befallen -the once prolific soil of Virginia, now in many parts no longer able -to grow its former staple productions--wheat and tobacco? In the large -towns of England the produce both of English and foreign agriculture -is largely consumed. Elements of the soil indispensable to plants, -do not return to the fields; contrivances resulting from the manners -and customs of the English people, and peculiar to them, render it -difficult, perhaps impossible, to collect the enormous quantity of -the phosphates which are daily, as solid and liquid excreta, carried -into the rivers. These phosphates, although present in the soil in -the smallest quantity, are its most important mineral constituents. -It was observed that many English fields exhausted in that manner, -immediately doubled their produce as if by a miracle when dressed with -bone earth imported from the Continent. But if the export of bones from -Germany is continued to the extent it has now reached, our soil must -be gradually exhausted, and the extent of our loss may be estimated by -considering that one pound of bones contains as much phosphoric acid as -a hundredweight of grain.” - -Many practical farmers, I am aware, still doubt the facts and theories -of chemistry as applied to agriculture; with them I am free to admit -that agriculture is not a science as yet, but an experimental art. With -this I have nothing to do directly, my object being to show in this -chapter in how far civilized man modifies and influences the soil on -which he lives. He, the practical farmer, clings to farmyard manure, -which he collects in heaps in his farmyard, or by the roadside, exposed -to every change of weather, to drenching rains, to summer heat, and -winter’s cold; from it run in streams over the roads the liquid parts -of the manure, carrying with them the soluble salts; out of what is -left when it has become rotten he hopes to restore to the field what -it lost during the previous crop, and to a certain extent he succeeds; -on the other hand, the chemist argues that the grand object of modern -agriculture is to substitute for farmyard manure, that universal food -of plants, their elements, obtained from other and cheaper sources -retaining its full efficacy; and this can only be done when we shall -have learned, what as yet we know but imperfectly, how to give to an -artificial mixture of the individual ingredients the mechanical form -and chemical qualities essential to their reception, and to their -nutritive action on the plant; for without this form they cannot -perfectly supply the place of farmyard manure. All our labours must be -devoted to the attainment of this important object. - -However this may be, and however it may be explained by the chemists, -it must be admitted that to the accidental discovery of bone manure -England owes many turnip crops, and to the introduction of guano from -Peru and Ichaboe crops of wheat which no other manure as yet known -could have produced. Peruvian guano, the best of all, is the excreta -of a sea bird; these excreta, placed in a clear and perfectly dry -atmosphere, have been exposed for centuries to a tropical sun; no rain -falls on the heaps, trodden down only by the gentle feet of the birds -themselves. - -That out of such a product there should arise so excellent a manure -surpasses all previous reasoning derived from mere science.[38] It is -obvious, then, that much still remains to be discovered. Were any proof -of this required, we might refer to the agriculture of China, where, -as has been reported, human excreta alone are used as manure, and with -a success unequalled in any other part of the world. In that singular -land they have discovered much, or using perhaps the discoveries -of preceding races, have turned them to the best account. Their -agriculture is said to be perfect. - - [38] The guano of sea-birds when exposed to rain is of no value. - -With such a system of manure and such a population one might predicate -a condition of earth, air, and water, incompatible with human life. Now -the very reverse happens, at least, in so far as regards the Chinese -themselves. - -No land so teems with a population strong, active, and in robust -health; true, it does not suit the European constitution; fever and -dysentery sweep off the troops and sailors of European nations who -visit the Celestial Empire for the purpose of trade or of plunder. -There is a something unknown in the climate unsuitable to the -European; the condition of the earth, air, and water of China, is fatal -to him. In which of these does the noxious element reside--in all or in -none? This is possible; but man in the meantime must decide by what he -knows and sees. Here is a land teeming with life; on land, as on its -waters, millions live; but that life, as regards man, is confined to -the Chinese race, and is unsuited to the European; as regards the soil, -manured in so strange a manner, it also is Chinese. Is it that we, -generally speaking, spread the material in a liquid and vastly diluted -form over the fields, whilst they manipulate and remove from it all -moisture? There may be something in this, for it is known that organic -compounds, above all, are most susceptible of change by the least -perceivable alterations in their constituents. Agriculture is both a -science and an art. - -“The clearing of the primeval forests of America, facilitating the -access of the air to that soil, so rich in vegetable remains, alters -gradually, but altogether, its constitution; after the lapse of a -few years no trace of organic remains can be found in it. The soil -of Germany, in the time of Tacitus, was covered with a dense, almost -impenetrable forest; it must at that period have exactly resembled -the soil of America, and have been rich in humus and vegetable -substances; but all the products of vegetable life in those primeval -forests have completely vanished from our perceptions. The innumerable -millions of molluscous and other animals, whose remains form extensive -geological formations and mountains, have after death passed into -a state of fermentation and putrefaction, and subsequently, by the -continuous action of the atmosphere, all their soft parts have been -transposed into gaseous compounds, and their shells and bones, their -indestructible constituents, alone remain to furnish evidence of the -existence of life continually extinguished and continually reproduced.” - -If these facts are to be depended on, they explain much of the -influence which man exercises over the soil, and of its reaction on -himself; the hay ague or fever is the produce of his own hands; when he -leaves _on the surface_ millions of tons of fermentable and putrescible -organic remains, he prepares for himself some at least of the diseases -which are to follow. It is possible that epidemic influence, over which -he neither has nor can have any control, might be greatly modified, and -its evil effects abated by prudent action on his part. Typhus fever, -the scourge of modern Europe, may not originate in any condition of -the soil produced by man, but it sweeps thousands in the prime of -life from the earth when placed in circumstances clearly dependent on -man himself. Ten thousand young men are lodged in a barrack; speedily -hundreds of these are swept off by typhus or consumption of the lungs; -now something causes this, and the cause may rest with man himself. -Pestilence and typhus follow in the train of famine; if they originate -in fermentescible and putrescible substances, all these were present -prior to the famine, and yet were not equal to the production of the -maladies. Next comes famine, and prepares the way for malaria to do -its work. The question, as may be already seen, is not so simple as -chemists supposed it to be. The number of substances occurring in -nature which are truly putrescible is singularly small;[39] but they -are everywhere diffused, and form part of every organized being. To -form an idea of what this amounts to, we have but to reflect on the -life which naturally exists on the earth, and on that which is the -result of man’s social condition. Let but the acre of heath or bog, -even of pasture, which in its natural state supports so little of what -lives, be converted into a garden, a wheat field, a nursery, and see -what an amount of putrescible matter is the result. Let that spot on -which nature has placed a single peasant’s family be converted into a -city, and reflect on the influence man exerts on that soil. It is, I -believe, a fact universally admitted, that all those substances which -destroy the communicability or arrest the propagation of contagions and -miasms, are likewise such as arrest all processes of putrefaction or -fermentation; that under the influence of empyreumatic bodies, such as -pyroligneous acid, which powerfully oppose putrefaction, the diseased -action in malignant suppurating wounds is entirely changed; that in -a number of contagious diseases, especially typhus, ammonia, free or -combined, is found in the exposed air, in the liquid and solid excreta -(in the latter as ammonio-phosphate of magnesia); such being the case, -it seems impossible any longer to entertain a doubt as to the origin -and propagation of many contagious diseases. - - [39] Liebig. - -“Finally, it is an observation universally made, and which may be -regarded as established, ‘that the origin of epidemic diseases may -often be referred to the putrefaction of great masses of animal and -vegetable matters; that miasmic diseases are found epidemic, where -decomposition of organic substances constantly goes on, in marshy and -damp districts. These diseases also become epidemic, under the same -circumstances, after inundations, and also in places where a large -number of persons are crowded together with imperfect ventilation, -as in ships, in prisons, and in besieged fortresses.’[40] But in no -case may we so securely reckon on the occurrence of epidemic diseases, -as when a marshy surface has been dried up by continued heat, or when -extensive inundations are followed by intense heat.” - - [40] Henle, “Untersuchungen,” p. 52; also p. 57. - -If we admit these facts we shall be less surprised at the ravages -committed by fever, when, after great battles, the wounded are placed -in the hospitals of large cities, as in Brussels after Waterloo, in -Bilboa, Vienna, &c. Hospital gangrene, the scourge and terror of -the wounded, soon shows itself, and cannot be arrested by any known -surgical means. Much better were it for the wounded that they had been -left on the field of battle. An erroneous opinion prevails, that it is -to the presence of the infusoria that the evil influences are to be -traced; they, on the contrary, whilst alive, act a beneficial part. -The excreta of man whilst putrifying never exhibit the presence of -microscopic animalculæ, whilst we find abundance of them in the same -matters when in a state of decay. “A wise arrangement of nature has -assigned to the infusoria the dead bodies of higher orders of beings -for their nourishment, and has in these animalculæ created a means of -limiting to the shortest possible period the deleterious influence -which the products of dissolution and decay exercise upon the life of -the higher classes of animals. The recent discoveries which have been -made respecting these creatures are so extraordinary and so admirable, -that they deserve to be made universally known.” - -It is not to that which lives, but to that which has lived and is now -dead, that we must look for the sources of those terrible fevers which -destroy humanity in so many fine countries. Nor is it necessary that -marshes be present, nor recently inundated lands. Egypt, annually -inundated, is healthy at all times, but it is always cultivated; -the desert also, which is never cultivated, and incapable of any -cultivation, is also healthy. The Arabian desert which skirts the -cultivated spots, converting them into so many oases, is perfectly -healthy; on its soil the traveller may sleep securely; but let him -cross the boundary of the water drain or stream forming the oasis, and -sleep within the limits of that vegetation so delightful to look at, -and violent fever is sure to overtake him on the morrow, so powerfully -in this instance does nature react on man, when altering the soil, he -prepares with his own hand the flowery path which leads him to the -grave. - -§ 2. _On the Origin and Action of Humus_.--To Liebig we unquestionably -owe the first philosophical investigation into the history of _humus_. -Innumerable difficulties and prejudices beset the inquiry. It was -he who first showed that all vegetables and all their component -parts, so soon as they cease to live, become liable to two forms -of decomposition,--to putrefaction and to rottenness, that is to -fermentation, and to that slow combustion to which Liebig gave the name -of _eremacausis_, a Greek term, expressing by its original meaning -the fact of slow combustion, to which the illustrious German likened -that process which we commonly express by the term of _pourriture_, or -rottenness. By this last-named process the combustible parts of bodies -in decomposition combine with the oxygen of the air. - -The decomposition of the rotting of the woody fibre is attended with -this peculiarity--when in contact with the air, it converts the oxygen -into an equal volume of carbonic acid; so soon as the supply of the -oxygen ceases the rottenness stops. Now remove this carbonic acid, and -add a fresh supply of oxygen, and the rotting commences, and carbonic -acid reappears. The presence of water is essential to this change; the -substances called antiseptic arrest it at once. Now the woody fibre in -this condition of slow combustion or rottenness is precisely what we -call _humus_ or _ulmine_. - -The functions of this humus are no doubt remarkable, and in respect of -it some agricultural theories have been formed, resting on no solid -basis. What seems to be tolerably well ascertained is, that in a soil -permeable to air, the oxygen of the atmosphere continues to act on -the humus, giving origin to carbonic acid, and thus furnishing an -atmosphere for the roots of plants growing in that soil. The springing -of the roots themselves seems to depend on the presence of this -atmosphere; hence the labour and pains to pulverize the soil, and to -give access by such processes to the atmospheric air. At this period of -their growth the roots perform all the offices of their leaves which -are ultimately to appear; and soon the plant has two sets of nourishing -organs, the roots and the leaves. In hot summers plants derive their -carbonic acid wholly from the air. - -Thus gradually is formed that humus or ulmine to which agriculturists -attach so much importance; that vegetable mould supposed to be the -richest of all soils. But where it forms, a kind of putrefaction -continually goes on; the soil is influenced deeply as a residence for -man. No valetudinarian takes up his abode in the centre of a rich -vegetation in hopes of recovering his health and strength, his elastic -step, and freedom from lassitude and weariness; he, on the contrary, -seeks other regions, where vegetation is scant, humus is not forming, -and the soil is never turned over by human industry. - -When vegetation is purely natural, that is when man does not interfere, -the growth of plants does not in the least exhaust the soil. Look at -the meadow and the virgin forest! Now chemistry explains this, or -nearly so. But so soon as man _interferes_, he must be prepared to -undertake the whole labour; if he acts on the earth, the air, and the -waters, they will react on him, and sometimes with fearful effect. -Beyond the processes she exhibits, and which he may read as best he -can, she reveals nothing; all her secrets must be extracted from her -by science, by philosophy, by the slow procedure of experiment and -observation. A traveller from a distant land prepares to cross deserts -of which he has had no previous _experience_; shortly he discovers an -oasis, which to him seems a paradise, and he proposes resting for the -night within its treacherous circle; but the wild Arab, the native -guide, knows better, and explains to him briefly that the desert alone -is healthy, and to rest a night within that seeming paradise is death. -It is the Homeric tale of the syrens reduced to a reality; gorgeous -decorated plants, sweet-smelling flowers, perfumes of Arabia, invite -you to enter that island destined, should you unhappily accept the -invitation, to prove the resting-place of all your labours. - -It may seem paradoxical to maintain that by cultivation we at times -render the earth insalubrious, at times comparatively the reverse, but -the fact is so. It was Humboldt, as I have already remarked, who said -that when Europeans first emigrated to America, the soil of certain -northern states was found equal to the growth of wheat, and ague -afflicted the population. With the destruction of the forests, the -agues have disappeared, and wheat can no longer be grown; in the place -of agues men are now afflicted with pulmonary consumption. Whoever has -seen the marshy and boggy land, at times a lake, at others a black -tremulous morass, and compared it with the rich drained Polder, its -neat and compact farm-house, exhaustless meadows, herds of cattle, and -the contented air of its well-to-do proprietor, will at once perceive -that whatever might be the evil, unless it were a something truly -grievous, so delightful a metamorphosis of a spot doomed by nature to -eternal sterility, entailed on man, that evil was fully compensated for -by the results obtained towards man’s happiness. There is, there can -be, or at least there never was, any unmixed good on earth: the whole -is a system of comparison and compensation; of profit or loss; of gains -and drawbacks. - -When the English army died off at Walcheren the inhabitants of the -province were perfectly healthy, and could not comprehend the cause of -the calamity. It was the same in the Crimea. Under other arrangements, -those more consonant with common sense and experience, the results -might have been different; still it is certain that masses of young -men of immature years cannot be withdrawn from their native soil and -parents’ hearths without suffering severely the consequence of the -every way unnatural position they are forced to occupy; unnatural -physically and morally. Barrack-rooms are not homes. No varied society -is to be found there; no amusement, no employment for mind and body; -it is man cut off from all human industry and enjoyment; no solace -when ill, no comfort under suffering: that young men with unformed -constitutions should “die off like flies,”[41] need excite no surprise. - - [41] The expression of Lord Raglan when he demanded from England - veteran troops, and not lads of immature age, to be sent to the seat - of war. - -To return: to modern science, above all to Liebig, the practical -chemist _par excellence_, we owe the discovery of the true office of -_ulmine_ or _humus_ in vegetation; it nourishes the plant before it -is in a position to draw its nourishment from the atmosphere. The -vegetation called antediluvian had this peculiar character, that it -enabled the plant to be greatly independent of roots and soil; its -broad-leaved foliage sought everywhere for food in the carbonic acid -of the atmosphere. Accordingly all the plants were remarkable for the -smallness of their roots, which generally have disappeared, and are now -no longer to be found. - -Let me now consider briefly--keeping the same object in view, namely, -its influence on man--what are the sources and results of that amount -of hydrogen or azote which plays so important a part in the economy of -all that lives. - -An agricultural farmer at a distance from markets sufficiently -remunerative, has a large field of turnips which he knows not how to -dispose of. Not having cattle or sheep sufficient to consume these -turnips, he addresses himself to drivers of sheep on the way to the -markets, inviting them to turn their sheep into the field, and there -remain until the turnips are consumed. Thus he hopes to restore -to the field the azotized and other principles removed from it by -previous crops, and to prepare the way for fresh and more productive -and profitable crops. It is on the same principle that in many -leases of farms (those called steel-bow) there is an express clause -that the straw shall not quit the farm, but be consumed on it. The -object of this is simply to restore to the soil what forced crops -have removed from it. Man has taken on himself the task of growing -on one acre the natural produce of many; to feed twenty men instead -of one from off the same extent of soil; to live in crowded cities, -drawing their provisions from the surrounding country, producing -nothing of themselves; to feed millions where nature intended but a -few thousands should exist; he has taken the task on himself and must -carry it through, exposed to destruction at every false step, and at -this moment exposed to the accusation by the medical authorities of -England of deliberately rendering his farm-house, his homestead, his -cottage, his mansion, his palace, a pesthouse, the propagator, if not -the absolute generator, of all the wide-spread plagues and pestilences, -from that which desolated Athens in the time of Thucydides; laid -waste the Roman world when Justinian reigned; smote England in the -most unhappy and disgraceful period of past history;[42] and now, -appearing amidst the tents of an obscure Arab tribe, ignorant of -agriculture, living with their flocks and herds on the desert, happily -remote from the influences of boards of health, officers of health, -and registrars-general, once more threatens Europe; he is accused, in -fact, of being the involuntary but certain slaughterer of his little -babes. So says the eloquent Registrar-General of England in one of -his sanitary reports; he belongs, it is true, and this must not be -forgotten, to the theory-loving fraternity,[43] a professor, in fact, -of that conjectural art which heretofore despised statistics, and -which now, by mistaking figures for facts, threatens to convert true -science into a scheme of fictions anything but brilliant. To the -Chadwicks, the Gavins, and a host of others still more potent, but who -always act through the agency of _employées_, we owe the affair of -Luton and of Birmingham, of the disgraceful condition of the Thames and -of innumerable other localities; the deodorizing schemes of Leicester -and Bristol, the intercepting scheme of the Thames, and the network of -officers of health, amounting to 2600, now spread over England for the -benefit of this tax-loving country. - - [42] Reign of Charles the Second. - - [43] He is, I believe, a physician and an M.D. - -If you hope to raise a crop you must replace in the soil certain -elements which previous crops have removed from it. So says Liebig, and -to some extent the experience of mankind supports the view. - -The refuse of men and urinals which English speculators recommend you -to throw into the nearest river, or into the sea if you can, or at -least to deluge well with water before throwing it over your fields, -the Belgian farmer places as nearly as may be under ground until -required. Of it he forms a compost, seemingly inoffensive as being -in some measure buried, trapped, and mixed with house refuse, and -other materials. This compost, to which he looks in due time for the -restoration to his well-managed farm of that which abundant crops had -removed from it, he spreads at convenient and suitable times on his -ground, into which it is speedily dug; thus at every step he reverses -the theories of the would-be agriculturists of England, and should -it be said that the measures he adopts are injurious to his health, -destructive to his family, sources of pestilence to the country, we -have the sure and trustworthy statistics of a true statistician[44] -to oppose to the wild theories and bold assertions of the needy -adventurers and hired officials who, clamouring so loudly for place and -distinction, have chosen for the field of their tactics broad England -and her colonies. - - [44] Quetelet. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -ON POISONS, MIASMS AND CONTAGIONS. - - -§ 1. Although the amount of disease and mortality traceable to -accidents, to the ordinary atmospheric changes of which the thermometer -gives us due information, to the habits of life and the effects of -hereditary influence, be sufficiently great, it yet seems nothing when -compared with the terrible inflictions occasionally and at uncertain -periods visiting man, whether shut up, as it were, within the confined -haunts of cities, or living apart in the open country, in situations -where it might be reasonably imagined no such influences could reach -him. The poison of typhus, for example, if it be a poison, spares -none: in certain epidemics the citizen and the peasant suffer alike: -the strong robust man in the prime of life is its special victim; -cholera attacked the inhabitants of the remote and isolated cottage as -certainly as the careful wealthy citizen, and with the same results. -No mode of life, nor sex, nor age was security against it; no race, -no locality.[45] An inquiry into the origin of such influences is -the most important to which man’s attention can be directed. These -terrible epidemics appear under various forms; sometimes it is by -typhus or influenza, cholera or plague; even those diseases which -seem to be endemic, or confined to a locality, assume the form of -epidemical raging pestilences, and then disappear for a time. Thus -the remittents and yellow fevers of tropical climates do not always -put out their whole strength; there is a lull, a season of repose, -when man, deluded by the security of a few years, hopes that at last -the evil influence has disappeared for ever. Vain hope! It moves -in cycles, like the typhus of temperate climates, falsifying all -predictions. Thus, in Jamaica, the grave of so many noble English -regiments, the fever, sometimes called remittent, sometimes yellow -fever, exhibited its fitful attacks during eighteen years, in the -following capricious manner, at a station called Port Antonio, about -eighty miles from Kingston. At Stoney Hill Barracks, the disease was -still more capricious.[46] As the poison producing intermittents -and remittents must be presumed to be always present, it is -incomprehensible how it should at times cease its attacks on man, -showing that another influence or element requires to be present to -render its attack successful. Again, we find that within a limited -range, a long residence in a land unhealthy to the stranger seems by -acclimation to diminish if not entirely to eradicate the susceptibility -to disease on the part of the latter; but this opinion must be received -cautiously and with reserve, for the phenomenon may be partly due to -the difference in race, respecting which we as yet know but little. The -banks of the Scheldt, the Polders of Holland, and the mouths of the -Rhine, the Danube, and the Indus, are healthy to the natives of these -districts; graves to foreigners. In all inquiries of this kind, these -well-established facts must not be overlooked. - - [45] Cholera has not, as yet, passed into the southern hemisphere - beyond the tropical line. - - [46] “The town of Port Antonio is situated at the north-eastern - extremity of the island, eighty miles from Kingston, and lies in - a hollow surrounded by an amphitheatre of thickly-wooded hills. - Fort George, in which are the barracks for the troops, is built at - the extremity of a peninsula, nearly surrounded by the sea; and - though possessing no great elevation, it has, from its position, a - tolerably free exposure to the breeze. On each side of the peninsula - are two harbours for the shipping; that on the east side enjoys a - comparatively healthy locality, but that on the west is sheltered - by a thickly-wooded hill, which impedes ventilation; and there is a - considerable space of level ground, generally inundated by the tide, - which at low water is left in a marshy state, and when acted on by - the sun emits exhalations said to be both offensive and unhealthy. - - “The barracks stand about twenty yards from the sea, on a piece of - ground of coralline formation, and consist of a building of two - stories, elevated on brick pillars. The hospital is built on a higher - situation, and raised on arches about seven feet. It contains three - wards for the patients, and has a shaded walk attached to it for - convalescents. Water is supplied to the troops, by contract, from a - river a quarter of a mile distant. - - “There seems to have been no troops at this station in 1825 and 1826, - but the mortality during the other years embraced in the Report has - been as under: - - +--------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ - | | | | Ratio of deaths | - | Years. | Strength. | Deaths. | per 1000 of | - | | | | mean strength. | - +--------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ - | 1817 | 177 | 34 | 192 | - | 1818 | 135 | 12 | 89 | - | 1819 | 130 | 45 | 346 | - | 1820 | 143 | 12 | 84 | - | 1821 | 82 | 18 | 219 | - | 1822 | 194 | 10 | 52 | - | 1823 | 79 | 4 | 51 | - | 1824 | 108 | 21 | 194 | - | 1827 | 32* | 3 | 94 | - | 1828 | 129 | 19 | 147 | - | 1829 | 133 | 31 | 233 | - | 1830 | 155 | 21 | 135 | - | 1831 | 161 | 20 | 124 | - | 1832 | 157 | 29 | 185 | - | 1833 | 164 | 37 | 226 | - | 1834 | 185 | 32 | 173 | - | 1835 | 154 | 18 | 117 | - | 1836 | 160 | 4 | 25 | - +--------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ - | Total | 2478 | 370 | ... | - +--------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ - |Average | 137 | 20 | 149·3 | - +--------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ - - * 127 men were here for one quarter of a year only, - which is equivalent to 32 for a whole year. - -“Thus the local circumstances remaining the same, the mortality from -fever yet varies exceedingly. It is the same with the typhus of -temperate countries, showing that in addition to malaria, presumed to -be ever present, a something more is required, that we must look for in -the constitution of the atmosphere.” - -§ 2. When a chemical substance is applied externally or internally to -the living tissues of an animal sufficiently strong to dissolve the -affinity between them and the vital force, and to substitute for it -other stronger affinities, the explanation of the phenomena is easy, -and the coarsest chemistry offers a solution. The action of caustic -potass, of concentrated sulphuric acid, present the examples of this -kind of dissolution. Other substances alone poisonous when given in -concentrated doses, are known to pass, when sufficiently diluted, -through the blood, and be eliminated by secretion and excretion from -the body: after causing disturbances more or less grave, more or less -important, the combinations they form, if any, with the living organic -molecules are overcome by the vital force, which then resumes its usual -influence. Of such substances some pass off unaltered, others are -decomposed, and the bases only appear in the secretions or excretions. -Whilst passing through the lungs, certain of these vegetable salts -combine with the oxygen of the air, and the respiration in consequence -becomes slower, or in other terms, they diminish the production of -arterial blood.[47] - - [47] I am free to admit, with Liebig, that the lungs are the seat - of the most rapid and powerful chemical action (p. 151), yet some - distinguished physiologists think that the external integuments may - become the seat of disease, and give origin to dangerous affections - by mere stoppage of their secretions and excretions. Certain of - these are held to be poisonous and highly irritating, and cholera - itself has been ascribed to the sudden transfer of the tegumentary - secretions into the general torrent of the blood. This seems to have - been the opinion of the celebrated anatomist and physiologist, De - Blainville. - -Now, these salts[48] when placed in contact with animal and vegetable -substances, perform the same function as in the lungs: they take a part -in the combustion going on, and, as in the living body, are converted -into carbonates. Left to themselves for a time, from their aqueous -solution, the acids composing them finally completely disappear. - - [48] Citrates, tartrates, acetates. - -Mineral acids and nonvolatile vegetable acids, as well as mineral -salts with an alkaline base, have the property, when sufficiently -concentrated, to arrest the whole process of this slow combustion;[49] -common salt, as is well-known, arrests putrefaction: so does alcohol. - - [49] Eremacaasie: Liebig. - -The chemical action of certain other mineral salts is different, such -as the salts of the peroxide of iron, of lead, bismuth, copper, and -mercury. These are inorganic poisons. They combine with the tissues of -the organs, and so destroy life. The mode of action of the poisons of -prussic acid, strychnine, morphine, &c., is as yet unknown. - -“But there exists a class of substances no less fatal than the -preceding, originating in certain decompositions. In a preceding -Chapter (III.) we have inquired into the origin of these poisons, and -shown them to originate in fermentation and putrefaction. Let us apply -the chemical principles regulating these processes to organic matters, -to the products of the animal economy; all the elements of these -matters are derived from the blood, the most complex of all existing -substances. In decomposing, a poison is occasionally produced speedily -mortal when it comes in contact with the blood of the living animal. -The venomous principle produced by decomposing animal bodies is not -always the same: that originating in certain German sausages is quite -peculiar; the person who partakes of this fatal dish dies mummified; -he does not rot or fall to pieces like those who perish from wounds -received in dissecting-rooms; on the contrary, he dries up and withers, -but does not putrify.[50] Liebig, the discoverer of this poison and its -effects on man, states that the venom is destroyed by boiling-water and -alcohol, but that these do not absorb it. - - [50] All constitutions are not equally liable to be affected by - morbid poisons. This has been proved as regards dissecting-room - wounds; and as regards typhus, cholera, plague, ague, &c., the matter - admits of no doubt. - -Similar in the mode of action on the economy are the poisons of -small-pox, plague, &c. The substances which arrest fermentation and -putrefaction, also neutralize the power of these poisons; but the -essence of these poisons has not yet been obtained in an isolated -form, and thus nothing positive is known of its real nature. One thing -seems certain; contagions, poisons and miasms are not living beings -nor animalcules, any more than yeast. They may be, and probably are, -produced by fermentation, but this is neither caused by nor terminates -in the formation of living animalcules, to which all or any of these -phenomena might be attributed. - -A nice distinction has been drawn by a distinguished chemist between a -contagion properly so-called and a miasm. When the disease-producing -matter is the product of a disease, it is a contagion; if it be the -product of putrefaction or of eremacausis of any substance, animal or -vegetable,--does it act by virtue of its chemical character, and not -of its condition (_etat_), in forming a combination, or in causing a -decomposition, it is then a miasm. - -The history of diseases so originating scarcely supports this view. -Typhus, which at times seems to originate in a miasm, at times seems to -assume a contagious character. The same may be said of yellow fever. -But however this may be, the distinction applies to such diseases -as intermittent and remittent fevers, which originating in a miasm, -itself springing from the putrescence of animal or vegetable bodies, -gives rise to disease which does not reproduce the miasm. Now, between -diseases so produced and those arising from contagion properly so -called, there is this remarkable distinction: the blood once altered -is no longer susceptible of the same contagion, whereas against miasms -there is no such security.[51] - - [51] Blood has a _mordant_ given to it which dyes it red; when - this is in excess, the blood becomes black, or very dark. This was - the colour of the blood in cholera. Its crasis seemed to be broken - down, and I have it on sure anatomical testimony, that in dissecting - those who had died of cholera, the larger veins, when once opened, - continued to pour out blood for many days. - -In every contagious disease, and perhaps even in those simply arising -from miasms, there is an odour which fills the chambers of the sick, -and is recognisable at once. Ammonia is very generally present, as it -is wherever animal decompositions are going on, that is, putrefaction. -The foul airs emanating from stagnant and neglected ditches is -composed, as has been long known to chemists, of carbonic acid and -sulphuretted hydrogen gases, and these are viewed by some as amongst -the most dangerous of miasms. These gases may be destroyed by acid -vapours now in common use.[52] From chemistry we also derive another -valuable lesson in respect of substances directly destroying human -life. The materials ready to undergo putrefaction, and thus to generate -miasms, may all be present, and yet no miasms are given out, and man -escapes; this security depends upon the absence of that third principle -requisite to bring the others into activity. - - [52] The various plans for the deodorization of cesspools, - water-closets, dead-wells, sewers, &c., were first introduced into - England from France and Belgium. Under French management Paris - is sweet, and proverbially clean and pleasant; London, under the - management of parties without individual responsibility, notoriously - filthy and full of bad odours. Under certain circumstances, and - especially when limited to small quantities of the matter to be - deodorized, they are successful enough in destroying the unpleasant - odour, but in the experiments made a few years ago on the comparative - merits of various kinds of deodorants, it was obvious that no real - dependence could be placed on them, unless the cesspool was at the - same time flushed or cleansed out with a very strong flow of pure - water poured in along with the deodorant. In how far the various - deodorants recommended are at the same time disinfectants, has never - yet been shown. - - The _excreta_ deodorized have hitherto proved of but small commercial - value, farmers very generally declining their use. It is singular - that the same _guano_ (human) which is said to be so valuable in - China, should prove a failure in Europe, and especially in England, - showing how much still remains to be discovered in practical - agriculture. If human guano really be of such value in China as has - been reported, might it not be worth while to import into Britain - a few Chinese agricultural labourers and gardeners thoroughly - acquainted with the agriculture of their country, and from whom might - be learned the art of preparing the manure? Capitalists have engaged - in many less promising speculations than this. - - From whatever source the Chinese derived their knowledge of the - domestic and fine arts they now possess (for it is impossible to - imagine that they invented them), one thing is certain--that they - were recording eclipses, printing books, building temples, raising - crops equal to the support of a vast population, whilst the great - nations of Western Europe were wandering about in their native woods, - clothed in the skins of animals, ignorant even of agriculture, and - barbarous to the last degree. Nor was the knowledge and taste of the - Chinese confined, in the matter of agriculture and horticulture, to - the merely useful, as is obvious by a passage in Humboldt’s “Kosmos,” - wherein the illustrious savant proves that the ancient Chinese, in - respect of taste in horticulture, and in the composition of park - scenery, excelled all the world. - -Thus it happens that in his extensive and elaborate inquiries, Major -Tulloch was continually met by difficulties which overthrew at once all -existing medical theories, rendering it even probable that the supposed -relation of cause and effect between marshes and miasms, and miasm and -fever, was merely accidental. In what that third element consists, -that immediately exciting power which urges on the decomposition to -an extent it had not before attained, rendering that miasm mortal, or -at least most dangerous, which heretofore the vital force was able to -resist, has not yet been discovered. - -Is it electricity? is it ozone?[53] or does it depend on some unknown -principle in the elements of the atmosphere, for the detection of -which we have no instrument? Does security in such cases depend on the -presence in the atmosphere of some such principle as ozone? Whatever -be the cause, the fact is certain; epidemics follow cycles of increase -and decrease; like comets, they come and disappear at long intervals. -Our business in the mean time lies with what is constantly present, in -a more or less aggravated form--the malaria continually reproduced, -always efficient in certain regions of the earth; in the overcoming of -which, as I have endeavoured to show, well-directed human industry is -far from unavailing.[54] - - [53] Ozone is said to oxidize the poison. It destroys sulphuretted - hydrogen and all oxydable miasms, and is the most powerful - disinfecting agent, but is itself unfit for respiration: it causes - suffocation. Air in its normal state contains one ten-thousandth part - of ozone; when raised to one two-thousandth part it is sufficient to - kill small animals. - - [54] Hydrogen, or inflammable air, is the lightest known substance; - its specific gravity is to that of air as 732 to 1000. The gases, - into the composition of which it enters, rising from these ditches - and banks of mud carry with them dried humus, and even animal matter - in a state of putrefaction, which, being dry or moist, may act as - strongly as variola itself, in respect of its injurious effects on - man, who breathes it either as it rises from ditches, or is driven by - currents of air circulating round watery places covered with humus. - It is even (_onctueux_) so strong that it will sustain seeds and dust - upon water, as I have witnessed at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Verona, - Bologna, Venice, and even in the canals of Lambeth and Deptford. - By means of hydrogen we raise a balloon; can we not imagine it to - be equal to the raising up of humus? It is generally supposed that - sulphuretted hydrogen is amongst the dangerous miasms, but it cannot - be so hurtful, for no boat can go into canals without disturbing it, - and yet we see no evil results from this; but if the water-level - lowers, and leaves vegetable or animal matter upon mud in a state of - slow combustion, then it is that fevers commence--a fact, I think, I - have proved by an appeal to the history of pestilences in ancient and - modern times. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -ON THE SERVITUDE OF RIVERS. - - -If the servitude of rivers be the noblest and most important victory -which man has obtained over the licentiousness of nature,[55] then -assuredly ancient civilizations bear away the palm in this respect from -the modern, and Britain must be permitted to occupy perhaps the lowest -place in the scale of those empires and nations who, by their industry -and knowledge, overcame the difficulties which the right management of -river courses presents to civilized man. - - [55] “Decline and Fall,” vol. iii. p. 391, Milman’s edition. - -More than forty centuries ago the Nile was completely at the service of -the ancient Egyptians, and the prosperity of Babylon and Nineveh leaves -no doubt as to the subjugation of the Tigris and the mighty Euphrates. -To come to later times, the Rhine itself, even in the days of the -early Roman emperors, must have been subjugated by the labours of the -primitive Batavians, and the revolt of Civilis, with his Batavian -legions, testifies as to the energy and intelligence of the race. And -now by the patient industry of their descendants, that land, seemingly -doomed by nature to be wasted on one side by the turbulent ocean, on -the other by the great rivers which traverse it, presents a spectacle -unequalled in the world. Even the despised Oriental race of China, that -unsolved problem in the history of mankind, whose capital the combined -forces of England and France now threaten, seems never to have had a -difficulty in mastering the great problems which the necessity for the -subjugation of rivers forces on civilized man; the Chinese waters have -been turned to the most profitable account; their deltas seem healthy, -and abound with life, with Chinese life, at least. The great rivers of -the Celestial empire give no trouble to its inhabitants; agriculture is -said to be perfect; no one seems to have proposed to throw the refuse -of Pekin into the nearest stream, that stream too, as it might happen -to be, the source from which the inhabitants of the capital obtain the -water required for their manufactures and for the arts of life.[56] - - [56] The idea of employing the drainage of towns, partaking under - all circumstances more or less of the nature of sewage--using the - term in its most extensive sense, as comprising the excreta of the - entire population--seems first to have originated in Scotland, and - especially in the vicinity of the capital. The period is perhaps not - well known, but about the commencement of the present century we find - the system in full force, but limited to the great outlets of the - drainage and soiled water of the town. These great drains were not - strictly speaking sewers, but drains, for at that time there were - but few sewers, properly so called. If cesspools existed, they were - not emptied into the drains, or so-called town-sewers, so that the - matters contained in the two great outlets used for the purposes of - _foul-water irrigation_ bore little or no resemblance to the turbid, - frightful, and most putrescent mass _now_ conveyed into the Thames by - the sewers of London. This essential distinction in the quality of - the material has been ignored or passed over in the Reports of the - Board of Health. Not that the irrigating water was to be considered - as pure; on the contrary, it was extremely filthy; but it did not - _at that time_ contain the sewage of the town, properly speaking. It - probably now does so in consequence of the extension of the system of - water-closets, latrines, &c. The Scotch agriculturists who employed - the water of these vast foul drains, would have much preferred _pure - water_, but they had it not at their command. With this, such as - it was, they irrigated certain tracts of land, some of which were - originally barren wastes, converting them into meadows on which grew - a peculiar kind of grass, which cattle (milch cows) do not reject - after having been accustomed to its use. But the farmers knew well - that the abominable liquid they thus poured over their fields was - wholly unfit for the usual agricultural purposes; and thus in no - instance did they employ it as manure. The Grange drain was used - by one market-gardener only, simply for the purposes of irrigation - during droughts, but not with any view to the manuring of the garden. - By the time that all the cesspools of London have been poured into - the drains, and the system of drainage and sewage completed and - formed into one system, there arises the question as to how the - material is to be disposed of? The pouring it into the Thames at a - point below the influence of the tide is perhaps, after all, the - easiest and least expensive mode of escaping from the dilemma into - which the capital has been brought by the clumsy experiments of the - late Board of Health; but what the ultimate result of this additional - experiment may be, no one can foretel. If transmitted to the fields, - the farmers are sure to reject it as manure; but it might be conveyed - to barren waste lands, mere sandy wastes, the qualities of which no - doubt in time it would beneficially affect, converting them first - into meadows, and possibly afterwards into land favourable for the - growth of certain green crops. The liquid might also be conveyed to - estuaries which it might be desirable to fill up, and the numerous - small tidal harbours which the extension of railways will speedily - render of little or no value to the inhabitants. - - The mud deposited in tidal harbours or on the banks of rivers within - the influence of the tide is of no value as a manure; when spread - over the fields, the result is the loss of the crops for some years. - -Civilization on the banks of the Thames is no doubt very different and -very superior to what it possibly can be on the banks of the Yellow -River, but as, _non omnia possumus_, as different races and nations, -like individuals, have each their peculiar excellences and forms of -civilization, excelling in some, deficient in other qualities of -mind and body, it may undoubtedly happen that even the English of the -present day, the most perfectly civilized nation on the earth, or -that ever lived, might take a hint from some other nations on points -respecting which their otherwise inimitable genius seems to show some -slight deficiencies. As regards art, for example, we owe some hints -to the pitiful States of ancient Athens and Corinth; the despicable -Copt had connected the Mediterranean and Red Sea by a canal--the art -of re-opening which seems now to be lost; even the miserable native -Peruvian and Mexican had carried the arts of mining, of irrigation, and -the use of artificial manures, to an extent which surprises the men of -modern times, who, in Britain at least, think that civilization really -only appeared in the world during the reign of Queen Anne, as in France -the era of the Grand Monarque is universally admitted to be the period -when the French nation first threw off its primitive barbarous and -Celtic form of civilization, assuming the character and social habits -of that race to whom they owe their name, though not their descent. If -we cast our eyes over the surface of the earth, aided by the lights, -somewhat obscure, no doubt, of history, certain facts rising above the -ocean of detail appear as landmarks. The philosophic historian points -to, as peculiarly within his province, the transfer of the seat of -power from nation to nation, from race to race; how before Alexander -appeared there seemed to have been a Sesostris; after the son of Philip -came Julius the Dictator; then Napoleon; and drawing conclusions -as to the future from the past, historians see no improbability, -at least no impossibility, in New Zealand, after the lapse of many -centuries, producing the Hume of the southern hemisphere; whilst a -future capital arising in the desert regions of Siberia or Northern -America, may one day dictate to the world.[57] Ever at variance as -to the rise and fall of empires, they are yet agreed as to certain -facts and circumstances, many of which are still verifiable by the -geographical distribution of the existing rivers and mountain regions -of the globe; and even if man, in the plenitude of his scepticism, -were disposed to doubt, monuments exist, the undeniable work of human -hands, under circumstances implying the existence of a social system -which cannot well be misunderstood. “In the boundless annals of time, -man’s life and labours must equally be measured as a fleeting moment;” -but the Pyramids, and ruins of Karnac survive the Kaliffs and Cæsars, -the Ptolemies and Pharaohs, and countless monarchs and dynasties prior -even to them. Thus, whatever learned disputants may imagine as to -the primitive occupation of the valley of the Nile, the date of its -occupancy, and the race by whom it was first cultivated, we have in the -Pyramids incontestable proofs of a vast antiquity. Whatever historians -may say of the antiquity of ancient Rome, the _Cloaca Maxima_ of -Servius alone refutes the beautiful romance of Virgil--how Lavinius -and Turnus received Æneas ere Rome was; how Romulus and Remus founded -Rome, and were succeeded by seven kings, none of whom ever in reality -existed. But the existence of the _Cloaca Maxima_ and the researches -of the illustrious Niebuhr tell another tale more consonant with what -we know of man’s social and physical nature. In the most remote times, -man early adopted those measures of self-preservation which nature or -simple observation teaches him. History gives but little information -as to the measures adopted by ancient nations to secure public health; -and were it not for the remains of the _Cloaca Maxima_, so called, of -Servius Tullius, we should be as ignorant as Virgil assuredly was of -the ancient condition of Rome prior to the reign of the seven fabulous -kings.[58] Unquestionably the ancient race which preceded those grand -Romans who fill the page of history for nearly twenty centuries, had -discovered such means, and adopted measures for the safety of the -people. Authentic history, it is true, commenced with the Greeks and -Romans, and the history of Germany dates from Cæsar and Tacitus; but -the subjugation of the double-horned Rhine[59] must have commenced -long before “the building of the city.”[60] But the world as known to -the Romans, even during the reign of Trajan, was a contracted world -compared to what it is now. The tropical regions of the East, and -their vast populations, were wholly unknown to them; of Africa they -knew but little, of Asia still less, whilst the New World was as if -it existed not. Thus certain great problems in the history of mankind -were never presented to them, problems having a basis in facts which -men, for obvious reasons, are so unwilling to admit. The periplus of -the Mediterranean might almost be said to form the Roman world; beyond -the Rhine they made no conquests; the Danube formed their north-eastern -boundary; the eastern shores of the Black Sea were but rarely visited -by them; beyond the Euphrates and Tigris they, the Romans, never -gained a footing, whilst from tropical Africa they were entirely -excluded. Thus at no time were they called on to solve the problem as -to the possibility of European life maintaining its ground in tropical -regions; at no period were they called upon to give an opinion on -the momentous question which now agitates the world, the admission, -namely, of the primitive coloured races of men into the bosom of -civilized society.[61] “Wheresoever the Roman conquered, he inhabits;” -a just observation we owe to Seneca, confirmed by the history of that -wonderful people. As their conquests were confined to countries in -which the natives of Italy could at that time live and thrive, the -rapid extension of their empire, language, and forms of civilization, -need not be wondered at. Thus Rome successively became mistress of -many nations and races, but these were races with whom the Romans -could freely amalgamate; at no period of her history were they called -on to contend with the two great questions, the one social the other -physical, involved in the attempt to occupy by a white race a tropical -country, and a land inhabited by a purely savage race of coloured men; -the problems presented by modern history of a European race attempting -to hold India by the sword, to colonize the American world from the -Polar Sea to the Land of Fire, to inhabit, if not to cultivate, the -insalubrious Antilles, the banks of the Oronoco, or of the still more -dreadful Senegal, Gambia, and Niger, nowhere occur in Roman or Grecian -history; so that these are problems towards the solution of which -ancient history offers no assistance. - - [57] Gibbon. - - [58] Niebuhr. - - [59] Extremique hominum, Morini Rhenusque bicornis. _Æneid_ viii. - - [60] “Ab urbe condita;” from the building of the city (Rome), the era - fixed on by the Romans. - - [61] This question was first agitated in the reign of Justinian, on - the occasion of a proposal on his part to form a treaty with the - negroes of Abyssinia. But the Abyssinians were not negroes. - -A historian whose works I have already quoted on several occasions, -and who of all men had perhaps with most profit studied human nature, -has remarked that the aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to -ambition, deeming it more prudent to adopt virtue and merit for her -own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or -barbarians. This sacrifice it was easy for the Italian race to make; -naturally swarthy, and not unfrequently olive-coloured, they met with -no race with whom the Romans might not freely amalgamate. Far different -is it with modern Europe and her races; follow them to tropical India, -Africa, and America, and it will be seen that extinction seems the -sure result of all their efforts, whether they unite with the native -races or not. If they unite, their purer blood, as we may so call -it, soon disappears in the stream of a darker population; if they -spurn the union, climate, or as some would term it, malaria, speedily -exterminates their race and name. - -In the first or second chapter of this Essay I ventured to suggest that -the discovery of the art to modify the earth, air, and waters of all -countries, so as to render them habitable for _all mankind_, was the -grand problem man is now called on to solve. In the construction of the -continents of the globe, nature seems to have had in view the formation -by centres of life of the living inhabitants of the globe. In these -centres she placed forms of life equal to sustain their existence, -occasionally aided, at other times unaided, by human industry. In the -virgin forests of America the aborigines lived and throve; under their -hands the earth underwent no modification; to the negro the deadly -regions of Central Africa are healthful and pleasant, though at times -abandoned to nature, at times deeply modified by human industry. India -and Java, the Malayan peninsula, as well as ancient Mexico and China, -were many of them highly cultivated regions, in which the aborigines -multiplied and enjoyed life; to the European they are premature graves. - -But when it is attempted to transfer these centres of life to other -regions, the attempt has uniformly failed. - -And yet the Romans, admitting that they never encountered a tropical -climate, seem to have colonized and thriven in countries in which the -natives of Western Europe cannot now maintain their ground, cannot -keep an army effective in the field for any length of time. The Roman -legions and citizens occupied the country of Numidia without an effort; -modern France, with an army larger than Rome ever had, can scarcely -maintain its position in Algeria. The young population are cut off in -their infancy, and it would seem that to maintain a Celtic race in -Algeria will test the energies of an empire which it is true formed but -a small province of imperial Rome. When we contrast late history with -the diffusion of Rome’s armies and citizens over the then known world, -we are forced to the conclusion, either that the Italian constitutions -of those days were stronger than those of the present inhabitants of -Europe, or that the form of civilization presented more safeguards for -the protection of health and life. - -Nothing like the disasters of Varna and the Crimea seems ever to have -overtaken the Roman legions who guarded in the time of Trajan the -mouths of the Danube and the coasts of the Euxine, or restrained and -kept in check the barbarous Moors. - -Amongst the arts practised by the ancients, but now lost, we must -include, I think, the knowledge of that discipline and practical -skill by which the Roman, Greek, and even Tartar generals, contrived -to keep their armies in the field in health and efficiency, whether -storming the castles of Jugurtha, or building walls of defence in that -land where English and French troops can neither fight nor march.[62] -Amongst the lost arts, still known it would seem to the Chinese, is -that of rendering salubrious the site of vast cities and camps. If I am -right in the principles I have endeavoured to establish throughout this -Essay, this art must have been based on the practical knowledge that, -generally speaking, the earth, as framed by nature, is not usually -an unhealthy _habitat_ for those races which grow up in her centres -of created life, and it is only when man interferes, and interferes -imperfectly, that the air and waters become pestilential to him. The -secret lies, no doubt, in agriculture, that first of human arts--that -art by which civilization exists. That human life is of as much value -by the banks of the Meuse, the Scheldt, and the Rhine, as in Sussex or -Surrey, is due to the industry of the inhabitants of Brabant and the -islands of the Rhine. On man in a great measure depends the position -which life is to hold in the scale of fate; he may raise it to its -maximum or sink it to zero. Centuries, it is true, may elapse before -human industry can render the banks of the Senegal, the Maranon, or the -Zambeze, a fit abode for civilized European man, but if the European -persist in transporting himself to these haunts, he must discover -the means to do so in safety, or perish in the attempt. Nature did -not make these countries for him, but she gave him reason, judgment, -observation, and the power of generalization, on the right use of -which faculties his safety must ever depend. The celebrated Jefferson -apologizes in one his confidential dispatches to his government for -noticing various political movements in countries seemingly remote -from and devoid of all interest to a citizen of the United States of -America, by remarking, that although such matters seem remote and -foreign to the object of his duties, they may yet at no distant period -swell into relations of sufficient magnitude to shake the world. As in -the political, so in the moral world; whether the empire of the Sultans -stand or fall, may be a matter of little import to an inhabitant of -Western Europe, nor need it distress him that the finest countries in -the world are nearly reduced to deserts under the administration of -the odious Turcoman. But it may be useful to him to be on his guard as -to the condition of countries through which the spirit of commerce now -urges the Western nations. Many of these countries do not improve; to -compare them with what they were in the days of Trajan were merely a -mockery; the low lands of the delta of the Danube are simply foci of -fever and pestilence, and are likely to continue so under their present -government. - - [62] Trajan’s wall, between the Danube and the Euxine, at Kostenjie. - -All history points to the East and to Africa as the seat and source of -plague, and the entanglement of Eastern affairs presses more and more -on the European nations; if we may trust the statistics of commerce, -Western Europe at times draws a large portion of her subsistence from -countries of which we know but little. On this I make no remark, my -object being merely to show that, however distant these lands lie, -their malarious condition has an influence over the European family of -nations, an influence which daily increases socially, and which, though -originating in the obscure and unknown East, has shown itself at times -at Rome and Moscow, London and Paris, in characters compared to which -all other evils appear insignificant. - -All that lives or has lived is doomed to die, to waste away, and to -disappear; as it perishes it is consumed by nature’s processes, in such -a manner as to entail no danger to the living world, unless civilized -man interferes. For civilized man she has made no provision, saving the -bestowing on him a soil more or less fertile, a constitution more or -less equal to toil, a reasoning power, which in things practical must -not be measured by the loftiness of his conceptions and generalizations. - -Whenever and wheresoever he congregates into masses, there “the earth, -the air, and the waters,” receive modifications from him, which, when -injurious, he alone can rectify. The most consolatory view which man -can take of such a condition of things is unquestionably to believe -them to a great extent remediable by his own labour and intelligence; -for even should he fail, there remains to him the consolation that he -has done his best. - - - - -CONCLUDING CHAPTER. - -AUTHOR’S THEORY OF MALARIA. - - -It is easier to pull down than to build up; easier to refute than to -convince; easier to find fault than to suggest a remedy: and this -reflection may occur, and no doubt has occurred, to those, be they few -or many, who have perused the preceding chapters of this work. It may -now be asked of me explicitly, What is your theory? What is your remedy -for the evils complained of? To this I might reply, as the immortal -historian of the “Decline and Fall” is said to have done, “If you have -read certain chapters of my work with sufficient attention, you may -extract from them my meaning and my views;” but as this might imply on -my part either a Teutonic love for obscurity in phraseology, or a fear -to commit myself to any theory, I shall here sum up in a few words the -views I have arrived at after much reflection on the matter, during a -long and active life passed in a country supposed to be a hotbed of -malaria, the great source indeed of malaria in Western Europe, that -land for which nature has done so little and man so much. - -1. There floats in the lower strata of the atmosphere in all regions -of the earth, but in very various proportions, for reasons already -explained, a poison or poisons, generated by the processes which nature -adopts for the destruction of past generations, and the reconstruction -of those to come; the destruction of the aged, the worn-out, the nearly -extinguished; the reconstruction of the organisms springing into life, -to occupy the place of those that were! Whether the poison be one or -many; whether it be a single species or one of a natural family, does -not affect the general conclusions. The diversity of its effects is no -proof of diversity in its essential nature or even origin; the living -principle is supposed to be of one nature everywhere and for ever; -yet see how varied are the results of this principle in moulding the -vegetable and animal worlds; how slight are the modifications even in -organic elements, which, when called into play, give rise to the most -astonishing and unexpected diversity of results. Why should it not -happen, then, with the poison, influence, or thing we call malaria, -which, modified by a chemical action too subtle for the scientific man -to observe, may yet, being so modified, give rise to an intermittent -or a remittent, a plague, a cholera, a diphtherite, a scarlatina, a -typhus, or a small-pox? Where did so many poisons come from? Whence -came the murrains, the vine-plague, the potato-destroying poison, which -was not at all new, neither was it confined to the potato? Whence came -the pestilences which destroyed the ancient world? which exterminated -at once whole species and genera now extinct? Of one thing we may be -assured, they did not die a natural death. - -2. This poison, whatever it may be, floats in the lower regions of the -atmosphere, supported therein by the gaseous products of fermentation, -and more especially by the ammonia now proved to exist everywhere in -the atmosphere. It is the product, in fact, of the slow combustion -perpetually going on in the air, the earth, the waters, wherever, in -fact, animal or vegetable organisms are to be decomposed. We call it -putrefaction; it is in truth a _ferment_, and the fermentable matter, -that which gives rise to the ferment, is the immediate agent as well -as the result (for it is the nature of all ferments to reproduce their -process) of this fermentation, accumulated in the lower regions of the -atmosphere. Increased to the dangerous point by men’s imprudence or -ignorance, quickened by epidemic influences with whose nature we are -of course wholly unacquainted, and absorbed by the living tissues, it -excites that fermentation, that tendency to putrescence in the living -blood to whose results medical men have given so many appellations. At -times it is called ague; at times remittent fever; now it is small-pox; -and now a fatal diphtherite. To the transit of _ferments_ through the -air and to their inhalation by man, I ascribe the diseases usually -called zymotic. In ancient primitive times, when physicians were -rare,[63] and men did not interfere, a poison thus absorbed ran its -course from incubation to specific fermentation, with all its results, -in a given time, terminating in a crisis which might be calculated -and determined; and which might prove fatal or at once remove the -disease. A violent perspiration, a severe diarrhœa, a specific and -contagious eruption on the surface of the body, proved and effected -the elimination of the poison from the system. The ferment had done -its work; it had altered the mass of the blood, and the products of -the slow combustion (_putrescence_, rottenness, _fermentation_) were -discharged by the secretions, according to circumstances peculiar -to the constitution of the individual: as out of the same materials -serpents elaborate poisons of very different powers and qualities, so -the _ferment_, passing through various constitutions, gives rise to -various results. It pervades the air and clings to it, nor can it be -avoided but by a change of place of residence;[64] storms may, and no -doubt do, affect it, but they frequently fail in dislodging the poison; -intervening wide-spread oceans fail to interrupt its course;[65] and as -regards the caprice exhibited in its attacks, we have only to reflect -on the number of elements, vital, atmospheric, social, and chemical, -involved in its full maturescence. Our doubts on all such matters -originate probably in the coarse chemical theories and still coarser -chemical experiments which prevailed about thirty years ago, and from -their influence, from which men’s minds have not as yet escaped. The -atmosphere was declared to contain a few wide-spread gaseous elements, -and to be unalterable; the air of towns, of theatres, of large heated -apartments, crowded with people, was boldly asserted by chemists still -alive to be eudiometrically perfect. - - [63] There were no medical men in Rome for the first five centuries - of her great career; and some have fancied that this fact explains - the astonishing number of armies which the republic found no - difficulty in sending into the field. - - [64] When unassisted by other deleterious influences, the poison, - though all but universal over the locality, may not be destructive. - After the draining the Lake of Haarlem, the principal physician of - the district informed me that in 2000 cases of ague he had not lost a - patient. - - [65] The choleraic ferment traversed in ships, no doubt, the - Atlantic, as typhus had often done before; but there are grounds for - believing that vegetable and animal matters in a state of rottenness - (fermentation), floating about in the air, are not unfrequently - transported to great and almost incredible distances. Ehrenberg and - Humboldt have particularly insisted on this fact, and have spoken of - distances traversed by these fermentable elements, which I hesitate - to quote from memory. Assuredly they were very great, extending to - some hundred miles from the seat of their origin. - -§ 1. _Discovery of foreign bodies, the remains of animal and vegetable -life, and therefore_ FERMENTABLE, _in the air floating over canals, -ditches, marshes, &c._--Scientific chemists, as well as the professors -of the conjectural art, are occasionally behind the knowledge of -the careful, observing, unprejudiced practical men of the day.[66] -Experience taught me, whilst engaged in other inquiries, that the -sulphuretted hydrogen gas arising from the waters of the canals of -Holland is quite sufficient to spoil cottons printed with nitrate of -lead, used for dyeing yellow with the chromate of potass. The waters -of these canals hold this gas in solution in a certain sense, but from -May to September inclusive, the gas escapes during the night in great -abundance. - - [66] England has often paid a high price for the first steps in - science. Mr. Papillion, in 1806, received from Government 10,000_l._ - for the introduction of dyeing Turkey red; and his success was owing - to his knowledge of the water proper for the operation, which must be - void of fermentable bodies. - -At this time vapours arising from the waters and floating over the -adjoining grounds, were found to contain minute portions of aquatic -plants mingled with the spores of fungi in vast abundance, together -with fragments of a membranous and gelatinous substance about to be -mentioned. To these must be added the remains of infusoria not to be -detected in dried specimens. - -The injurious effects of water holding such substances, gaseous and -solid, in solution, we overcome by boiling and passing the steam -through (heated) iron pipes, and re-converting the steam into water. -By this process we get rid of the injurious effects of these foreign -matters, gaseous and solid, held in a kind of solution by the water, in -as far, at least, as they affect the colours used in dyeing. - -During these examinations of the waters themselves, it was distinctly -observed that the infusoria and testaceous mollusca, microscopic and -otherwise, with which such waters abound, were developed in glutinous -membranes attached to the aquatic herbs abounding in these waters; -in short, these membranes seem to be the matrix for the growth, -nourishment, and production (using the term in a limited sense) of -these organized beings; they form an essential condition of their -existence. - -The plants themselves were now washed in distilled water, and the -animal products were the semivalve and bivalve shells of which I -have preserved many specimens. The semivalve belong to the natural -families Buccinum, Lynceus, Helix, and Planorbis; the bivalve to the -Cardiacæ. The semivalves are the most abundant. By filtering the water -which remained after the shells had been removed, innumerable minute -particles like dust were discovered; these particles were ascertained -by the aid of the microscope to be mainly composed of minute fragments -of aquatic plants and of the spores of fungi; to these must, no doubt, -be added, although not visible when dried, the remains of zoophytes, -and of the glutinous membranes forming the matrix of animal aquatic -life. - -I now endeavoured to obtain the glutinous membrane or matrix in which -these testaceous mollusca were obviously developed, apart and distinct -from the animals themselves. To attain this desirable point we filled -a glass receiver with water containing the aquatic plants and shells, -and the gelatinous membrane already spoken of. The receiver was now -inverted upon a plate, and water poured into the plate to the depth of -half an inch. - -In a few days the receiver became filled with gas, forcing the water -downwards into the plate on which the receiver rested; and although -after the first day we could not discover any of the gelatinous -membranes in the lower part of the receiver, yet that in the plate -became like a flaky jelly, attaching itself to blades of grass or -leaves. The surface exposed to the atmosphere became dry and brittle, -and in this state resembled thin layers of gum; the substance thus -desiccated strongly resembled jelly. - -The glutinous membrane of which frequent mention has been made above, -is of a very viscid nature, and when combined with any animal substance -in a state of transition or fermentation, it is poisonous. It is, I -believe, generally viewed as the matrix for the development of the ova -of these shell fish, and considered as a product or secretion of the -parent. Into this question I enter not, leaving it, if it be one, to -others. - -On exposing for a few days some of the larger testaceous mollusca -alive to the atmosphere of the room at a temperature varying from -65° to 70° Fahr., strong proofs were obtained that ammonia was -produced in the interior of the shell confined therein by the membrane -called operculum, sealing, as it were, the aperture into the shell -hermetically. On puncturing this membrane the presence of ammoniacal -gas could be distinctly traced by the odour. - -I submit to the consideration of professed physiologists the following -questions:--1st. What are the effects likely to result to man from -the inhalation of these microscopic and gaseous products in a state -of decomposition, they being certainly present in the vapours arising -from the waters of canals, ditches, &c., in many countries, especially -during the nights of spring, summer, and autumn? 2nd. What are the evil -effects likely to arise to man from the use of such waters as drink, -or when employed for culinary purposes? Lastly: As the gelatinous -membranes alluded to are the nidus of various forms of organic life, -and contain those forms, developed and undeveloped, occasionally in a -state of decomposition, to which of the two forms of life, animal or -vegetable, or to both, is to be ascribed the deleterious effects on -man, and ascribed by physicians to an unknown poison called Malaria, -designated by them as “a poison, an influence, a miasm, a thing -unknown”? Ferments and putrescence are not “things unknown:” let us -adhere to facts. - -§ 2. Thus the principle of wasting away by the action of the -atmosphere, of the rotting of vegetable and animal substances, first -developed by the illustrious Liebig, opened up to me the path to -that theory which seems to reconcile the conflicting observations of -pathologists,--that vegetable and animal matters do ferment or rot, and -that in this state of rottenness they are carried through the air, was -with me no longer a matter of doubt; next came the question, as to the -effects of such matters on man when inhaled by respiration and conveyed -directly into the living, circulating blood, that most complex of all -fluids, that mysterious compound out of which nature constructs the -animal world. - -This slow wasting takes place in any damp place under ground, and -the ferments assume the form of vapour when such places happen to be -warmer than the open air; it is in this state that the odour is so -sensible to us after a hot dry day or during cold nights. There is no -smell in rainy or damp weather. It is in the spring and autumn months -when ferments from slow combustion abound, aided by the amount of heat -and moisture which then prevail, and by the floating of plants. The -poison thus generated is known to be the product of a ferment, and -like many such products, possesses the quality of fermenting other -organic compounds with which it may come in contact. Introduced into -the living system of man, it finds in certain individuals the material -already disposed to pass into fermentation. It incubates, and this -incubation is measured as to time by a variety of circumstances I need -not enumerate. In cold countries the incubation is slow, extending over -many months; not that the ferment differs, but its action is modified -by the existing condition of the accessories to its action and power. -The ferment introduced into the blood in autumn may not show its full -action on the living fluids until the following spring, or early in -summer: in hot countries it is different; there the ferment, aided by -numerous adjuncts, acts almost immediately; fever sets in, causing -violent reaction of the conservative powers of nature; delirium, -coma, vomiting, death. The mass of the blood has undergone a change -in all its constituents, and dissolution and putrefaction are swift -in reducing the frame, even whilst life is still present, to that -state to which all that lives must come at last; whilst the physician -loses himself in vague theories of an “unknown poison”--a malaria, a -something not strictly a gas, a matter or influence differing from all -chemical or other agents known, the scientific chemist steps in, and -shows that the subtle matter they so anxiously endeavour to discover, -is a process constantly going on before their eyes; a chemical process, -universal; the process, in short, on which in a great measure depends -the disposal of the dead and effete remains of the organic world; the -growth, the nourishment, the renovator of each successive generation of -the same world. - -§ 3. It may be now fully admitted that ammonia is the active principle -or stimulus to vegetable life, as shown by the extraordinary growth -of plants in warm damp climates; in these malaria--as we may still -call the poison so developed--exists to the greatest extent, as in the -Pontine Marshes, by the banks of the Po, Ferrara and Bologna. From -various experiments and observations, I have been led to the conclusion -that the ammonia constantly present in the atmosphere, and derived -from several sources,[67] is the chief cause of the activity which the -ferment, or poison, displays under different and varying circumstances. -There prevails, in truth, an excess of ammonia in such an atmosphere, -resulting from the nitrogen uniting with hydrogen; from the -decomposition of vegetable matter carrying decayed animal matter along -with it; and from the ammonia always existing in the spawn and in the -matter of the shells of infusoria. All my researches into the effects -which the various gases have upon animal tissues, showed ammonia -to be the most destructive; in fact, no animal tissue can resist -complete decomposition by caustic ammonia. I conclude, therefore, that -vegetable and animal matter in a state of fermentation, and mixed -with ammonia, is the cause or essence of that destructive power which -physicians ascribe to malaria. Should this fermentable matter pass in -a concentrated state into the torrent of the circulation, the globules -of the blood are destroyed, and become black; the person is in the -cold stage of fever; next, the vegetable matter ferments, causing the -hot stage. No one in Holland has any doubt as to the origin of this -power, but ascribes it uniformly to the draining of some lake; and it -amounts almost to a demonstration that the air under such circumstances -is poisonous or injurious to health. It was even foretold by several -writers that fevers would result from draining the lake of Haarlem, as -took place in the years 1608, 1641, 1727, 1779, from draining various -polders.[68] - - [67] The ammonia always present in the atmosphere is probably derived - chiefly from the union of nitrogen and hydrogen; but much of it also - no doubt has its source in the fermentation of animal and vegetable - remains. - - [68] Baron von Lynden. - -If the principles I have announced be correct, the extreme -impropriety--not to use a stronger phrase--of carrying on excavations -or other extensive works on the muddy banks of rivers, in marshy or -swampy forests, during the summer months, must be obvious to all -reflecting persons. No work should be done in such places, or in ponds, -after the month of April, for it is warm dry weather that sets malaria -afloat. But if this ferment--which we may strictly call malaria, as -producing a malarious condition of the air--be, as I apprehend it is, -the cause of fever, why should not medical men direct their attention -more earnestly to the question in how far such a fermentation of the -blood may be met by the employment of substances known to resist and -counteract fermentation? Are physicians agreed on the nature of fevers, -and the best means of curing them?[69] - - [69] I have known many persons sickly from the effects of - intermitting fever or malaria from a residence in warm climates, - and who have suffered and perished from an injudicious treatment. - Ill-formed or incomplete agues are extremely common, even in the - south of England, in London especially. They show themselves under a - variety of forms, and with much severity, in the cases of those who, - having once visited a true malarious climate, are ever afterwards - more or less liable to a return of the disease. Let men reflect; - simple truths travel slowly, yet are truths notwithstanding. The - death of the well-known M. Soyer was evidently caused by his wholly - misunderstanding the nature of his complaint, which, in fact, was a - fever originally caught in the Crimea. - -Nothing can be more interesting, in a natural history point of view, -than to watch the results upon large bodies of water, of attempts, -more or less successful, to complete their drainage. Thus during the -operations carried on for this purpose at Haarlem, there sprung up in -the dry places of the more elevated parts an extraordinary quantity -of plants and herbs, which were not seen in the country before they -flowered and sent millions of seeds with their diminutive rocket, -silky tails into the air. They were too minute to be seen upon grass, -but the footpaths were covered with them, and a current of wind might -carry them to distant regions, as the sand is carried from the coast of -Africa into the track of the Brazilian packets, to such an extent as to -make it uncomfortable to walk on deck. It is by no means, therefore, -improbable that those errant seeds came from a foreign land, the native -produce of other countries. Continuing my observations into the transit -of seeds, I have found them to be the cause of shallow canals in -England being full of heretofore unknown water-plants, to the extent of -impeding navigation. - -It is mentioned in the “Kosmos” of Humboldt, that the dust resulting -from eruptions of the volcanic mountains in South America was observed -in Spain. But if currents of wind thus carry seeds and other matters -hundreds of miles through the air, no one can be surprised that the -aquatic plants above alluded to floated to England through the air, -from Holland; these plants, new to the land of their accidental -adoption, bring with them a new corresponding animal life; in due time -they come to maturity and die, and now Nature steps in to take up the -task, and complete her work; her process is simple in appearance, -most complex in its results: a malarious air--malarious at least to -man--appears, as it may be, for the first time in the district, -ascribed by medical men to every cause but the true one. In their -anxiety to discover a cause, they fix on some antiquated drain, or -cesspool, or ditch, by the margins of which many generations of a -stout peasantry had lived and died; or they dive into the pump-well, -and triumphantly exhibit infusoria, not unlikely engaged at the very -moment in purifying the water: it never seems to have occurred to them -that _ferments_ only appear in certain combinations of the air--under -circumstances which only occasionally occur, and that (which is most -lamentable to think of, as in the case of London and the Thames) the -evil is most frequently of man’s creation.[70] - - [70] A friend who resided long on the Grotevisch Rivière, and in het - land den Caffre, informs me that if the Zuureveld be ploughed up, or - altered by the burning, for example, of a Caffre hut, the sour grass, - whence the district derives its name, disappears, and sweet herbage - of various kinds take its place. None of these exist naturally in the - district, so that the seeds must come from great distances. - -The operations of nature when left to herself never vary; they may -always be calculated on, foretold, anticipated; on this assured and -irrefutable fact all science rests. It is only when man interferes and -modifies the elements at work that nature seems to alter her processes; -a disturbing agent has been thrust into the machinery, and the mischief -it effects must either be counteracted or entirely overcome. So long -as the Lake of Haarlem was a lake, or mere, so long were its banks -healthy; but drain it partially, and you must be prepared for the -result. There is no middle course; that which was once a lake or sea -cannot be left in the condition of a putrid, imperfectly-drained, -fermenting mass of mud, teeming with animal and vegetable life, and -with a material for which oxygen is the natural ferment; it must be -arrested by the hands which drained, or attempted to drain it, and -converted into a healthy pasture-land or a wheat-field; if left to -nature, centuries might elapse before that which was once a sea would -become a healthy forest or natural meadow, during which period man, -should he persist in residing on its banks, must undergo the penalty of -his own want of knowledge.[71] - - [71] The effects of partial and incomplete drainage have ever been - the same. In 1823, when the new Polder was made at Neusen-on-the - Sheldt, small-pox raged in the neighbouring villages to such an - extent that the children were forbidden to attend school. The effects - are to be seen now in persons over sixty years of age, bearing the - marks of the epidemic. The whole atmosphere of the district was - infected. - - -CONCLUSION. - -In the first chapters of this work I have endeavoured to trace briefly -yet succinctly the history of opinion as to the nature of malaria, -showing how, prior to the appearance of Macculloch, no one had given -to the theory of malaria any definite form. In those which followed I -have traced the history of his presumed discovery from the period of -its first announcement to its distinct refutation by one of the ablest -of statisticians, showing that, notwithstanding this refutation, the -physician having, in fact, no other theory to fall back on, persisted -in adopting the theory, and, as a natural result, continued to look -for and to find in cesspools and ditches, lay-stalls and drains, that -unknown and mysterious poison which they had been told by Macculloch -was the cause of all diseases. Confounding it with bad odours of all -sorts, they sought for remedies in the destruction of bad odours; at -times they sealed the sewers and cesspools hermetically and by law: -now they opened up and ventilated the sewers and cesspools also by -law;[72] and lastly, on finding that they had poisoned the air of the -metropolis, and that every experiment they made ended in the precisely -opposite results to what they had foretold would happen, as a last -resource they endeavour now so to dilute the refuse of living beings -as to render it, if possible, inodorous at least. This experiment will -also fail. Like true Englishmen, they would not let well alone; they -would attempt to solve questions by main force, which science, aided -by long and careful experience and observation, could alone effect. -At last Liebig appeared, and gave to the whole question a new phasis -and another basis; that basis rests on an appeal to the great laws -of nature, and not on any researches into the occult, hidden, and -mysterious laws regulating the building up and the constructing of the -various forms of animal and vegetable life. In this grand work the -vital force is in action, whereas the destructive processes by which -she annihilates her own forms are strictly chemical; there science may -be properly said to commence in respect of the great question I now -consider; and uniting experience with observation, it seems to lead to -the following conclusions, which, if legitimate, will probably stand -their ground until overthrown or modified by the larger experience of -succeeding ages. - - [72] _Law_ being no body, and quite irresponsible, the blame of these - cruel experiments on the health of the population cannot readily be - brought home to any one. - -§ 1. Seeing that _putrescent_, that is _fermentable_, bodies can and -do exert so great an influence on organic compounds when dead (in the -sense we consider them), it is not unreasonable to suppose that animal -structures and fluids capable of being fermented, may undergo the same -process, that is, fermentation, putrescence, and destruction, or decay, -whilst forming a part of the living body. - -§ 2. As no sane person doubts the harmony which can be shown to exist -in all created beings, so it is probable, if not quite certain, -that the laws of decomposition must be as regular as the laws of -composition; or, in other words, that as the organic matter is without -a doubt the same throughout the living world, and as living bodies are -built up or constructed agreeably to certain laws, so, undoubtedly, -will they be decomposed by laws equally fixed and constant; invariable; -and the nature of the material so decomposed will in no shape be -affected by those specific differences which bestow on organic nature -her beauteous and varied aspect. - -§ 3. The final product, whether of composition or decomposition, must -be the same in all respectively; the infusoria, as well as the gigantic -whale and elephant, are composed, when living, of the same elementary -tissues, and, when dead, decompose into elements the same in all. - -§ 4. The presence of microscopic animalcules in putrifying substances -is viewed by Liebig as accidental, and not essential to putrefaction -or to fermentation; but even admitting this, it is certain that -animalcules (infusoria) exist everywhere in inconceivable numbers; -if water contains these putrescible substances, as it must always -do, then the infusoria are also present in the water; let this water -evaporate under the heat of the sun, and we have in a fermentable, -that is, putrescible, condition countless myriads of infusoria wafted -through the atmosphere, and in certain localities (Pontine Marshes, -Sierra Leone, the Orinoco, &c.) forming almost a constant, if not a -constituent, part of the atmosphere; they pass into living bodies by -respiration: hence the hitherto inexplicable phenomena with regard to -the influence of locality in the production of disease, whether derived -from animal or vegetable remains. - -§ 5. Thus these bodies cause disease, not as live matter, but as dead, -fermentable, and putrescible. They are not found everywhere, nor are -they everywhere liable to pass into fermentation, a certain degree -of heat being necessary for the production of this condition. Their -evil effects on human life are chiefly felt when man places himself in -a false position in regard to them. In pursuit of gain, national or -individual, he seeks the deltas of the rivers of hot climates, plunges -within the tropics, despising the maxims of the natives of those -countries, encamps on or near putrescent marshes, hoping to escape -destruction; prances in holiday costume across the Dobrudscha, as if -he were on the Champs Elysées or the grassy slopes of Hyde Park, and -having carried folly and contempt for the experience of others to its -height, pays the sad penalty sure to be exacted by nature from all -those who despise her warnings. - -These are my opinions, supported, I believe, by facts and figures, and -to those who honour me with a perusal of the preceding chapters I beg -leave to say, in the words of the ancient poet and satirist-- - - Si quid novisti rectius istis, - Candidus imperti, si non--his utere mecum. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -To avoid overloading the text, I have thrown into the form of an -Appendix several Notes more or less intimately connected with the great -question considered in the body of the work. They may be read with or -without any reference to the various headings they treat of. - - -NOTE 1. - -By the deodorizing processes now in use, the ammonia, the most valuable -constituent of manures, is destroyed; whilst by the flushing of sewers -with an excessive quantity of water it is dissipated; hence the low -value, or rather the absolute inutility of the sewage of large towns, -as manure, when diluted with the surface drainage and other waters, -excepting in the case of reclaiming waste lands, in order to convert -them into meadows of so highly objectionable a character that no one -can or will reside near them. The smell from such meadows is most -abominable. - -Even in such cases an outfall must be provided for the surplus sewage -waters, either into a river or into the sea, for the meadows to be -irrigated require but little of it, and that only occasionally and -during droughts. - -The fixing the ammonia is the great difficulty the agriculturist -experiences in all questions respecting those manures which naturally -contain or produce it. Its volatility is so great that it not only -readily escapes into the air, but carries along with it, especially -from waters, bodies at the moment in a state of slow combustion; or, -in other words, ferments, capable of exciting fermentation in other -fermentable bodies. - -It may even pass into the condition of caustic ammonia.[73] - - [73] It is to be remarked that the specific gravity of ammoniacal gas - is 53·619; can it be wondered at that this gas should carry bodies - from waters which are in a state of slow combustion; during its - transit through the air it may even become caustic ammonia? - -In a well written pamphlet by Mr. Ward,[74] the unhappy and fatal -mistake of mixing the surface drainage with the sewage of London is -clearly pointed out for the hundredth time, but the parties who planned -the scheme will no more take notice of such facts than they did fifteen -or twenty years ago, when they commenced their work of polluting the -Thames and other rivers. - - [74] _Purification of the Thames_. A Letter by F. O. Ward, Esq., - addressed to William Coningham, Esq., M.P. London: Renshaw, Strand. - -To Mr. Ward’s proposal of purifying the river and fertilizing the land -by tubular drainage, there are, however, many serious objections. - - -NOTE 2.--_Habits of the_ WILDE, _in desert or uninhabited countries._ - -It is known to sportsmen that in the neighbourhood of hills, partridges -leave the low grounds at the approach of evening, and take themselves -to the hilly or more elevated district. Nature has taught them a very -curious fact in meteorology, namely, that on leaving the valley at -night, and ascending the hill, the temperature of the air increases -up to a certain elevation, and from that point upwards decreases. The -game ascends to the point of highest temperature, and there remains for -the evening. A friend informs me that whilst crossing the high range -of mountains forming the watershed between the Grotevisch Rivière and -the Zondag Rivière, in Southern Africa, he experienced as he ascended -intense cold, with heavy dews in the valleys through which ran the -sources of the Grotevisch Rivière, and these continued until he reached -the base of the crowning heights. Here the party slept in a mud-hut -belonging to a Dutch boer. During the ascent they saw no game; but on -climbing about half way up the remaining steep before daybreak next -morning, they reached a spot where all the large game had congregated. -It was the point of greatest warmth, generally a few hundred feet above -the plain, and below the summit of the mountain. From this point to the -summit the cold was most intense, and snow lay on the high peaks of the -mountains. - -When the shells of infusoria are driven about in the atmosphere -they lose their carbonate of lime by the acid fermentation; and the -membranous portions having the properties of coagulated albumen, -and being also fermentable, may, by passing into the blood, become -excitants of fermentation. This has been already fully explained in the -text.[75] - - [75] It is mentioned in the Report on the Wine Disease in Portugal, - that the _oidium_ was first discovered at Margate; if this was the - case, might it not have originated from the phosphorescent beings in - sea water, observed by all travellers in the evening on the coasts - of Flanders, and known in Holland as Zee Vlam? The potato disease is - thought by some to have sprung from the same cause. - - -NOTE 3.--_Moss._ - -In the _Annales de Chimie_, volume xxix. p. 225, mention is made that -the walls of various towns which had been under water for several -years having become exposed, from the effects of a dry summer and -hot weather, became covered with vegetable matter, the decomposition -of which infected the atmosphere, and caused great sickness in the -environs, and particularly where buildings were situated in marshes in -communication with the sea. The vegetation, in fact, was composed of -lichens. - -On a recent visit to Bangor, in North Wales, I was struck with the nice -firm turf which was in the garden; and upon inquiring of the gardener, -he informed me that the turf came from the seeds blown from the hills, -and that it required great care on the part of the farmers to keep -it under, or it would be exceedingly injurious to land and buildings -if neglected. When it grows on walls it splits them by the capillary -expansion of its roots between the bricks operated upon by damp hot -weather. I have seen this lichen destroy the pillars of a gateway three -feet thick. - -Mill-stones are made in Germany out of granite, by means of willow pegs -being driven into holes thinly covered with water; this causes the -willow to act by capillary expansion, forcing the mill-stones of the -required size out of the rock. - -It is of the utmost importance that the nature of moss and lichen -generally should be well studied before constructing sewers, &c., where -vegetable matter exists near water. - -Was it by similar means that the ancient Egyptians and inhabitants of -Arabia Petræa cut from the solid rock those vast blocks, in effecting -which they do not seem to have availed themselves of any modern -mechanical contrivances? - -The _ferment_, that is, the substances in a state of fermentation -and capable of acting on all fermentable bodies, and especially on -complex organic compounds, as the blood, exist at all times in the -air, but are as a matter of course greatly influenced by a variety of -circumstances as regards their effects on man and other animals. It is -proved by indubitable evidence that this morbific matter is as capable -of entering the system when minute particles of it are diffused in the -atmosphere as when it is directly introduced into the blood vessels by -a wound. When diffused in the air, these noxious particles are conveyed -into the system through the thin and delicate walls of the air-vesicles -of the lungs in the act of respiration. The mode in which the -air-vesicles are formed and disposed is such as to give to the human -lungs an almost incredible extent of absorbing surface, while at every -point of this surface there is a vascular tube ready to receive any -substance imbibed by it and to carry it at once into the current of the -circulation. Thus in certain seasons boils and carbuncles prevail to an -alarming extent, and surgeons dare not operate lest they should lose -their patients from erysipelas and inflammations, running rapidly into -putrescence. In large hospitals the poisonous air in all probability is -constantly present, attacking those who have been previously weakened -by disease or wounds, or loss of blood; in other words, all those in -whom from any circumstance (as by the depression of the vital powers) -the complex organic compounds are held loosely together, and are -therefore prepared to ferment or to fall into putrescence. - - -NOTE 4.--_Anther._ - -This name is given in botany to the summit or top of the stamen -containing the fertilizing fruit-producing dust. - -Pollen is the fecundating dust or fine substance, like flour, meal, or -fine bran. - -Farina, contained in the anther of flowers and plants, which is -dispersed on their stigma for impregnation, form a vegetable essence -constituting the particular nature of a substance forming the flower -existing in other plants of the same family or kind. - -Spore or sporule in botany is that product of flowerless plants which -performs the function of seeds. - -These substances float in the atmosphere, and are the cause of the hay -fever; and when they fall into water and are afterwards left upon mud -they ferment, and being dried up by the sun they fly about with the -spawn of animals. - -Should seeds fly about with the pollen or farina in a state of decay -and full of carbonic acid, the oxygen of the atmosphere, so essential -to human beings, is diminished, and the pollen or seeds are inhaled -into the lungs, and are thus exposed to the action of oxygen whilst -circulating with the blood. - -The result of an excess of carbon in the air is the growth of ferns on -barren rocks, which ferns subsequently become coal. - -The same cause will always produce the same results. When vegetable -matters rise from a large surface of earth or mud (as from the -newly-drained forty thousand acres of the lake of Haarlem), there are -no plants there to inhale the carbonic acid, and to give out oxygen; -but those seeds being rotten or in a state of ferment, the oxygen -for the decomposition is drawn from the atmosphere alone, and human -beings who breathe this malaria have fever; the atmosphere is tainted: -miasms of carbon with hydrogen gas (the lightest thing known) fly -about, carrying them to points where sulphurous gases may find them -a resting-place on mud and shallow waters: these give rise to fever, -cholera, plague, and to all zymotic diseases. - - -NOTE 5.--_Algæ, or Sea-weeds of the Mediterranean Sea._ - -These were examined by Doctor Derbes, Professor of Sciences, and -Captain Solier, of Marseilles, and the result of their researches was -published in the supplement of the _Comtes Rendus_ of the Académie des -Sciences, in answer to a prize essay proposed by the Academy in 1847. -Nothing can exceed the botanical truthfulness of the memoir presented -by these gentlemen to the Academy. After a careful examination of the -substances resulting from the mass of decayed sea-weed in the delta -of the various rivers which flow into the Mediterranean Sea, they -arrived at the conclusion that the product is the cause of fevers, by -generating a malaria which the vital powers are unequal to meet. Thus -the cholera existed at Marseilles in 1850; all knowledge of the extent -of its destructive ravages was withheld from the public; and the truth -of this is in some measure proved by the readiness with which the Board -of Health recommend the quarantine of ten to fifteen days, when it was -reported that the plague or cholera existed at Tripoli, Sicily, and -Sardinia.--July, 1858. - - -NOTE 6.--_The Marseilles Board of Health and Quarantine._ - - TO THE EDITOR OF THE “TIMES.” - - _Challice._ - -Sir,--The Board of Health of Marseilles are about to establish -quarantine regulations of ten days’ and fifteen days’ duration at -that port, because “a dreadful plague rages at Bengazzi, in Tripoli, -and is extending along the coast to Alexandria.” Individuals are to -be confined ten days, and in certain cases fifteen days. Letters are -to be purified, &c., and some 1500 Piedmontese labourers are likely -to be disturbed and thrown out of work if the proposed quarantine -regulations are established. And so this is the sum total of sanitary -experience for the last ten years! The French authorities saw all -quarantine regulations broken down during the Crimean war; in fact, -joined the British in abolishing a quarantine at Smyrna, at Galipoli, -at Constantinople, at Sinope, at Samsoon, at Trebizonde, at Malta, and -even at Marseilles, and indeed at all other ports and places used by -the transports and by the armies in alliance. - -The armies certainly did not escape fever and cholera in their most -terrible forms. The French, the British, and the Sardinians alike -suffered, both in the field and in hospital, at the commencement. The -British alone, however, by means of sanitary works and regulations, -reduced cholera attacks to a _minimum_, and almost abolished fever. A -few simple alterations to the sewers from the great hospitals on the -Bosphorus and other places; ventilation--in many instances by simply -breaking the top squares of windows; regular scavenging without and -cleansing within the works of the hospitals, and the regular use of -the lime-wash brush, emptied the hospital wards of fever patients. -Surface cleansing at Balaklava, and regular scavenging both the shores -and water of the harbour; covering the shallow graves with gravel -and earth; scavenging the camp, and daily disinfecting all latrines, -soon reduced the British army mortality below home or barrack life -and service. The French neglected these things, or blundered in their -execution, as the 5000 deaths per month in the hospitals on the -Bosphorus, from hospital and camp fever alone, during the last three -months of the war, testify. That certain diseases are contagious, -such as scarlatina, measles, small-pox, &c., few will deny. That -plague and cholera are equally contagious many doubt. Sanitary works -and regulations of a very primitive and simple kind can certainly -check the contagibility of cholera, as witness the experience in -Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Tynemouth, in London, in many other English -towns and districts, and in the British hospitals and camps throughout -the Crimean campaign. The lesson taught by experience ought to be -this:--Let the Board of Health at Marseilles cleanse the town, cause -all the foul rooms to be ventilated and lime-washed, disinfect the -foul cesspools and sewage, and cut it off by “interception” from -the harbour and docks, and they may bid defiance to plague from any -quarter. It may be imported in silks, &c., but it will not spread. -Let there be a sanitary staff for the harbour, and another for the -town, armed with brooms, barrows, and lime-wash brushes, in place of -sidearms and muskets, and persons may land at once to go about their -business, and merchandize may be forwarded to its destination without -fear of consequences. During periods of epidemics there can be cholera -without dirt; improper food and mental and bodily exhaustion may bring -on isolated cases; but to have cholera rampant there must be numbers -of human beings fouling air, earth, and water, and habitually living -contrary to known sanitary laws and entirely neglecting sanitary -precautions. - - CIVIL ENGINEER. - - _August 14, 1858._ - - -NOTE 7.--_Mud, Water, and Air._ - -The presence of water and a suitable temperature are indispensable -conditions of the oxidizing process of decay, just as they are -necessary to putrefaction and fermentation. The sides of ponds and -ditches being covered by water during the winter months, in the -spring the air becoming warmer and drier, the water diminishes, the -decay of vegetable seeds, plants, and all woody fibres enter now -into putrefaction, communicating the process to each other, and by -the transmission of decomposition from one particle to another, a -great number of plants give out various gases to the atmosphere while -decaying upon mud, rise into the air, meeting other gases, and then, -floating about, they compose and decompose each other. Hence the bad -odour from the mud-banks of the Thames, near the outfalls of the sewage. - - -NOTE 8. - -I have known fevers cured by a change of the sleeping room from the -south to the north aspect, and still more readily by removing from one -side of the street to the other. All should avoid dwelling near canals, -ponds, or ditches habitually covered with a white froth; this is -formed, in fact, of gases rising through humus swimming on the water, -and contains living beings as well as fermentable substances. - -It is important to men who work and sleep in the same house to have -the day or working-rooms to the north, where the sun never enters, and -to sleep in a room to the east or south. A room to the west, looking -to the west, is not healthy, particularly in summer months, being the -hottest in the evening. Gnats, moths, and flies collect there, and are -at least harassing, if not hurtful, particularly to infants. - -No person not a native of a marshy country should travel overland in -the evening; dew causes a strong action in vapours, mists, &c. Invalids -and soldiers after fatigue, should halt in the daytime, and march in -the evening, to avoid being chilled. - - -NOTE 9. - -A sure remedy against the malaria of ditches, ponds, &c., is to fill -the water-courses with water; never suffer them to be so far dried up -that the spawn of living creatures may attach itself to the sides of -grass, bushes, &c., and afterwards to dry and spread about like the -seeds of flowers, in the environs. The mud which is left exposed to the -air gives out, on drying, various gases, which being mixed with the -fossils of the mud, contaminate the air, and are breathed by the people -in the neighbourhood. - -A circular drain, having a double current, well understood by the -hydraulic engineers of Holland, is the kind of drain I prefer. - - -THE END. - - - - -MR. RENSHAW’S PUBLICATIONS. - - - A TREATISE ON HOOPING COUGH, with its Treatment by a New Remedy. By - George D. Gibb, M.D. Fcap. cloth. Price 7_s._ - - THE DISEASES OF THE FŒTUS IN UTERO. 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