18 BOTANY OF THE 
of Panicum, Cyperus strigosus, a Cardium (horridulus?) Cassia nictitans, 
were amongst the plants observed; whilst in a few places Convolvulus 
 ganduratus trailed along the ground for many yards together, and now 
displayed its large white flowers with a purple tube amongst the long 
grass. Woodlands has the reputation of being, in common with 
too many of the residences along the Schuylkill, very unhealthy 
in the latter part of summer and the autumn, which has perhaps 
been the main cause of the neglect into which the property has fallen, 
and of its transfer to a Cemetery Company, as less fitted for the 
abode of the living than as a resting-place for the dead. Many of the 
villa residences on this river, formerly healthy, have been abandoned of 
late years from the increasing prevalence of intermittent and bilious 
remittent fevers, that, like evil genii, haunt its beautifully wooded 
banks, but to which their malignant agency is happily restricted. The 
environs of Philadelphia generally, are as free from the above and 
other sources of disease as those of any town in the United States. 
The shores of the Delaware, though very low and marshy in places, 
are said to be healthy at all seasons, but this is a rapid tide-river, 
much broader and less wooded than the Schuylkill, and consequently 
with a freer ventilation along its course. 
An opinion is afloat, that the insalubrity of the Schuylkill dates 
from the construction of the stone dam across the stream at the Fair 
Mount water-works, which, impeding the natural current, has caused 
a comparative stagnation in the river sufficient to favour the evolution 
of miasmata. Whether this be the true reason, or whether the afore- 
said water-works stand in the responsible position of Tenterden 
steeple to the Goodwin Sands, certain it is, that not only here, but in 
many other parts of the country, places formerly habitable with impu- 
nity, are now the periodical seat of fever, varying in type according to 
climate, season, and locality from simple agues to remittents of a dan- 
gerous and often fatal character. Of spots thus recently become 
malarious, I shall have some remarkable cases to notice in the sequel 
The water-works at Fair Mount just now referred to, are for the 
supply of Philadelphia from the Schuylkill, and are situated by that 
river on the north-east side of the town. They are well deserving of a 
visit for the fine view afforded of the city and rich adjacent country 
from the heights on which the reservoirs are formed, as also for the 
taste and judgment displayed in the union of architectural embellish- 
——a7 ENT 
