THE TUSCAN MAEEMMA. 513 



Out of this small number of mhabitants and strangers, 35,619 

 were ill enough to require medical treatment between the 1st of 

 June, 1810, and the 1st of June, 1841, and more than one-half 

 the cases were of intermittent, mahgnant, gastric or catarrhal 

 fever. Yerj few agricultural laborers escaped fever, though the 

 disease did not always manifest itself until they had returned to 

 the mountains. In the province of Grosseto, which embraces 

 nearly the whole of the Maremma, the annual mortality was 3,92 

 per cent., the average duration of life but 23.18 years, and 75 

 per cent, of the deaths were among persons engaged in agri- 

 culture. 



The filling up of the low grounds and the partial separation of 

 the waters of the sea and the land, which had been in progress 

 since the year 1827, now began to show very decided effects upon 

 the sanitary condition of the population. In the year ending 

 June 1, 1842, the number of the sick was reduced by more than 

 2,000, and the cases of fever by more than 4,000. The next 

 year the cases of fever fell to 10,500, and in that ending June 1, 

 1844, to 9,200. The political events of 1848, and the preceding 

 and following years, occasioned the suspension of the works of 

 improvement in the Maremma, but they were resumed after the 

 revolution of 1859. 



I have spoken with some detail of the improvements in the 

 Tuscan Mai-emma, because of theii' great relative importance, and 

 because their history is well known ; but like operations have 

 been executed in the territory of Pisa and upon the coast of the 

 duchy of Lucca. In the latter case they were confined principally 

 to prevention of the intermixing of fresh water with that of the 

 sea. In 1741 sluices or lock-gates were constructed for this pur- 

 pose, and the following year the fevers, which had been destruc- 

 tive to the coast population for a long time previous, disappeared 

 altogether. In 1768 and 1769, the works having fallen to decay, 

 the fevers returned in a very malignant form, but the rebuilding 

 of the gates again restored the healthfulness of the shore. Sim- 

 ilar facts recurred in 1784 and 1785, and again from 1804 to 

 1821. This long and repeated experience has at last impressed 

 upon the people the necessity of vigilant attention to the sluices, 

 which are now kept in constant repair. The health of the coast 

 is uninterrupted, and Yiareggio, the capital town of the district, 

 22* 



