78 Potato Disease. [August, 



which is far removed from the ordinary course of nature, we may 

 consider it highly probable that potatoes may be destroyed by at- 

 mospheric influences, and by influences which do not suppose or 

 require the agency of a particular miasma. In all those instances 

 where we have examined the hills of decaying potatoes, \vc have 

 found a remarkable elevation of temperature. Not that the dis- 

 eased potatoes have produced this, but the direct rays of the sun 

 beating for twelve hours upon a field, the whole ground has be- 

 come too warm for the health of the tubers; and hence their de- 

 cay. This of course does not occur without a succession of hot, 

 sultry days, during which it is usual to see the vines perishing, 

 the effect of which is to expose still more the immature tubers and. 

 the roots which give them nourishment. It may not be possible 

 to reconcile all the phenomena of the disease to this view. Still 

 we think that it is in itself a rational explanation of many of the 

 phenomena, and that it accords well wath what is already known 

 of the agency of heat in effecting changes in organic compounds. 



If this view of the disease is admitted, does it furnish a hope 

 that any thing can be devised to prevent its recurrence? It is 

 evident that atmospheric causes are beyond control; the weather 

 is ordered by Deity. Still, observation shows that some varieties 

 and kinds are far more liable to disease than others; a fact which 

 is by no means new in the history of organized beings. An- 

 other fact too, which is equally well known, is that by modes of 

 cultivation, we can modify the growth and stability of the plant. 

 With these two facts to start from, it by no means appears beyond 

 the power of man to stay the potato disease, although the cause 

 itself is wholly beyond our control. This, too, is an old fact, and 

 it has been acted upon from time immemorial. It is not essential 

 that we should be able to control causes in order to combat suc- 

 cessfully their influence. We prevent intermittent fever by the 

 administration of quinine, even though w^e are daily exposed to 

 a miasma which produces it. We may prevent the lead cholicby 

 using as a drink a little lemonade wnth sulphuric acid; thus we 

 inhale the metal, and we may especially eradicate the tendency 

 to disease by giving vigor and firmness to the system by a course 

 of treatment which invigorates the body. A person is subject to 

 pulmonary disease, to a cough, on exposure to certain atmospheric 

 changes; let him sponge the body with cold water at bed time, 

 and in many instances this predisposition will be removed. 



It is not our purpose at this time to recommend specific reme- 

 dies for the prevention or cure of this disease. We merely wish 

 to hint at certain principles which are established, and which are 

 generally known. They furnish the ground for a rational belief 

 that something may be done to mitigate, at least, the malady. It 

 is undoubtedly true that a fair success must turn upon a proper 



