172 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



that organ to the abnormal action of the liver, possibly 

 lung disease. Such trifling circumstances are not so 

 trifling as they appear. A case came under my notice 

 quite recently when a person had been helpless from 

 paralysis for several years. Chance compelled removal 

 to another house, and very soon the paralysis began to 

 disappear. The first house may have been damp, or there 

 may have been some minute conditions besides. It 

 certainly is a marked fact that in the country, at all 

 events, one house is noted for its healthiness and another 

 close by for its unhealthiness, and the cause is not trace- 

 able to the usual and obvious reason of drainage or water. 

 Any one who has noticed the remarkable influence of 

 locality in the more evident vegetation — such, for instance, 

 as lichens — will be able to suppose the possibility of 

 minute organisms — microbe, bacteria, whatever you like 

 to call them — being more persistent in one spot than in 

 another. I have often thought of the half-magical art 

 of the Chinese, Feng-shui, by which they discover if a 

 place be fortunate and fit for a house. It seems to 

 suggest something of this kind, and I think there is a 

 great deal yet to be discovered by the diligent observa- 

 tion of localities. The experience of the rudest country 

 rustic is not to be despised ; an observation is an obser- 

 vation, whoever makes it ; there has been an air of too 

 much science in the affected derision of our forefathers' 

 wisdom 



