26 DR. R. ANGUS SMITH ON THE 



cheerful, showing how rapidly the Italians had risen up to 

 a full appreciation of new ideas. This winter I went to 

 Rome with a desire to learn on the spot something of the 

 conditions of the ground complained of, and receive some 

 knowledge from the learned men of the place, as well as 

 from any books which may not be well known here, I 

 certainly did not obtain any confirmation of the opinion 

 that every one was attending to the subject. I saw men in 

 scientific and social positions in whom one might expect to 

 find the fullest knowledge o£ the. Eucalyptus and its probable 

 value for malarious districts ; but I came to the conclusion 

 that it had excited very little, and no general, interest in 

 Rome or the neighbouring country. 



One small experiment, however, was spoken of; and se- 

 veral knew of it, although I met few who had seen it. It 

 was made at the church of St. Paolo alle Tre Fontane 

 (usually called Tre fontane), three or four miles from 

 Rome ; and as this is the only place I have seen from which 

 to derive a lesson, I must be excused taking such a small 

 example. 



The church has two other churches near it, and a small 

 residence for monks of the order of La Trappe. The station 

 had been deserted for forty years ; and the ancient building, 

 the largest and lowest in situation, had been filled up with 

 mud to the depth of three feet. The Campagna here is 

 much exposed to malaria; and hence the desertion. It is 

 by no means a dead level ; neither is the upper part of the 

 Campagna, or Agro Romano, by any means so. The soil is 

 very deep ; and it is cut into vales of a depth which I will 

 not venture to characterize generally ; sufiice it to say that 

 at this place it was fi'om thirty to forty feet. The streams, 

 like the Tiber itself, had brought down their mud, and the 

 place had become, to a large extent, a desolation. In 1869 

 it was reinhabited ; and, before entering on the dwellings, 



