294 Notes for the Month. [SRPT. 



formed pest houses offecer t where we study to retire for coolness from the heat3 

 of the autumn." p. 106. 



The following cases will shew that our hypothesis of the flower-pot at 

 the drawing-room window was not an exaggeration. 



In one instance, the recurrence of intermittent fever in a susceptible subject, 

 was caused repeatedly, by merely entering a garden containing a pond of the 

 fashion of King William's day, dedicated to gold fishes and river gods ! la 

 another case, it was observed at Havre de Grace, the soldiers were seized with 

 headache and giddiness, within Jive minutes after approaching the ditch" [of the 

 fortifications] ; " with the usual consequences of fever, and that fever, of course, of 

 a violent character. This seems to prove incidentally that a very brief exposure 

 to this poison is sufficient to produce the effects; and farther, that the eifect imme- 

 diately follows the application." pp. 94, 106. 



Low and watery situations having been clearly shewn to be the causes 

 of fever, it now appears that high arid dry ones are not always in a better 

 condition. 



" If a recent traveller has expressed his surprise at the occurrence of fevers in 

 the Maremma of Tuscany, where the land is not only free from lakes and rivers, 

 but absolutely dry, I may remark that in a case which will immediately come 

 under review Rome receives its malaria by a propagation of a peculiar nature ; 

 as the high lands of many places receive from the low grounds at hand, what does 

 not, comparatively, affect the inhabitants where it is produced. In France, at 

 Neuville les Dames, and at St. Paul, near Villars, both situated upon high grounds, 

 there are found as many, or more, fevers than in the marshes beneath. A case of 

 this nature occurs in Malta of a very marked nature; the malaria which is produced 

 upon the beach beneath a cliff, producing no effect upon the spot itself, while it 

 affects, even to occasional abandonment, the village situated above. At Wey- 

 raouth, where the back water produces autumnal fevers, commonly mistaken for 

 typhus, these diseases scarcely affect the immediate inhabitants of its vicinity, but 

 are found to range along the higher hills above," &c. &c." p. 243. 



This is Dr. M'Culloch, whose denouncements of Malaria, want of room 

 has compelled us to touch but very slightly ; and who is only withheld by 

 a merciful consideration for the consequences to property, from pointing 

 out, not merely particular residences, but whole districts here in our 

 own country which must be the grave of all who inhabit them ! We 

 now come to Mr. London's application of the Doctor's principles, and to 

 the uninhabitableness of the King's new palace. 



" Had the problem been proposed (how) to alter Buckingham House and gardens, 

 so as to render the former as unhealthy a dwelling as possible, it could not have 

 been better solved than by the work's now executed. The belt of trees, which 

 forms the margin of these grounds, has long acted as the sides of a basin, or small 

 valley, to retain the vapours which were collected within ; and which, when the. 

 basin was full, could only flow out by the lower extremity, over the roofs of the 

 stables and other buildings at the palace. What vapour did not escape in this 

 manner, found its way through between the stems of the trees which adjoin these 

 buildings, and through the palace windows. Now, all the leading improvements 

 on the grounds have a direct tendency to increase this evil. They consist in thick- 

 ening the marginal belts on both sides of the hollow with evergreens, to shut out 

 London : in one place substituting for the belt an immense bank of earth, to shut 

 out the stables j and in the area ot the grounds forming numerous flower-gardens, 

 and other scenes with dug surfaces, a basin, fountains, and a lake of several acres. 

 The effect of all this will be a more copious and rapid exhalation of moisture from 

 the water, dug earth, and increased surface of foliage-, and a more complete dam to 

 prevent the escape of this moist atmosphere, otherwise than through the windows, 

 or over the top of the palace. The garden may be considered as a pond brimful of 

 fog, the ornamental water as the perpetual supply of this fog, the palace as a cas- 

 cade which it flows over, and the windows as the sluices which it passes through. 

 We defy any medical man, or meteorologist, to prove the contrary of what we 



