;{0y CALCARROLS MANURES— APPENDIX 



would fi:et rid of this absurd conflict of rights, by vesting the full property of 

 the land covered in every mill-owner who would drav/ off the pond ; or 

 if he did not avail of the privilege offered, the land should be given up to 

 its former owners, or to any one else, who would construct a canal, and 

 thereby secure to the use of the mill an equally good supply of water-power. 



Each of the several remedies proposed and stated above would alone 

 furnish a fruitful subject for investigation and discussion. But more ex- 

 tended remark fi"om this source is as yet uncalled for. Other persons, 

 having better practical in.formation, and thereby prepared to confirm or to 

 disprove the positions here assumed, are invited to aid in the discussion. 

 Let the truth be made known, on whichever side it may be found ; and 

 should ail facts and deductions presented ser\e to show that the present sys- 

 tem greatly needs reformation, and to awaken the public to the importance 

 of the object, then will be the suitable and propitious time to ask attention 

 to remedies proposed for the then acknowledged evils, inflicted by the ac- 

 tion or permission of the government. Whenever the legislature is prepared to 

 act decisively on this whole question, tiiere will be before them a subject for 

 the "internal improvement" of Virginia far more important in beneficial re- 

 sults than the roads and canals which have cost millions of dollars to the 

 treasury; and yet wiiich will be cheaper, compared, to the profit to be cer- 

 tainly counted on, than the most humble or contemptible job for private 

 objects, which has yet been carried through by public expenditure, and as 

 a public improvement. 



But even under the existing law, any single individual who clearly sus- 

 tains injury to health from any particular mill-pond, has now the legal 

 power to have that particular nuisance abated, by means of suit for da- 

 mages for the injury tliereby sustained. It has been judicially settled that 

 such ground of suit for damages is not prevented by any previous assess- 

 ment by the first jury, nor by any lapse of time during which the mill has 

 been standing; nor is the ground removed by the new damages awarded 

 for injury already sustained and sued for. No matter how often damages 

 may have been given to the plaintiff by successive verdicts, and paid by 

 the defendant, there will continue ground to sue, and recover, as long as the 

 pond remains, and is hurtful. It is surprising that the law, so favorable to 

 the interests of mill-owners, and regardless of all conflicting interests and 

 rights of other persons, should have permitted, in this particular, so much of 

 remedy for the previous injustice and injury inflicted by the law. And it is 

 still more surprising after legal decisions have so clearly shown the 

 remedy, that, of so many thousands of individuals who are unquestionably 

 suffering every autumn from the neighborhood of stagnant mill-ponds, so 

 few should have availed themselves of the offered means of relief 



If the importance of this general subject were duly appreciated, its in- 

 vestigation would become an object of the care, and be conducted at the ex- 

 pense of government, ff the legislature of Virginia (for example) would 

 institute a "General Board of I'ealth," or "Commission of Sanitary Police," 

 for the purpose of investigating the subject of malaria thoroughly, and of 

 reporting the sources and proper remedies, the body of evidence which 

 would be collected, and the after-results, might be made worth many mil- 

 lions of increased pecuniary value to the state, besides the far greater 

 benefit to be produced to the health, the physical and moral qualities, and 

 the general happiness of the people. At any possible cost of such an in- 

 vestigation, and of the system of measures founded thereon, the public 

 improvement and benefit produced thereby would exceed the expenses a 

 hundred-fold. 



