1846.] Operation of Septon on Plants and Animals. 321 



to indulge classical allusion, of the need there is of another Her- 

 cules to overcome another Achelous. 



The connection there is between malignant distempers and 

 dirtiness has been already remarked by Tilibt, [Avis au penple, 

 Si'C. ch. ii., § 7 and 8) and among the peasantry of Europe. 

 Septic ^substances, the offal of slaughtered animals, the rel'use of 

 housekeeping, are when mingled in due quanties with the soil, 

 justly ranked among the best fertilizers. The impregnation of 

 land around houses and barns long occupied with such materi- 

 als, is the acknowledged cause of its superior productiveness. 

 While these manures are mixed with earth in such quantity as 

 to promote and not overpower vegetable life, their noxious eiflu- 

 via are repressed, or their virulence counteracted by the media- 

 tion of plants. The instrumentality of these classes of animated 

 beings seems to be intended to keep the great balance of nature 

 in equipoise, and prevent either scale being overloaded with ma- 

 terials destructive of animal life. But it nevertheless sometimes 

 happens, that in cellars, and around country dwellings, in pig- 

 styes and cow-pens near the house, there are accumulated great 

 quantities of excrementitious and corrupting substances, which, 

 if seasonably carted away, tend eminently to fertilize the fields, 

 and promote the growth of vegetables; while, at the same time, 

 by remaining, they render the house foul and unhealthy, by the 

 extrication of septic vapors. Neatness and elegance are thus 

 found to be as conducive to good health as to good husbandly. 

 On considering the matter, it appears evident, that the effluvia 

 f om the neighborhood of dirty cottages and mean huts, in the 

 country, are of a like nature with pestilential fumes which in- 

 sinuate themselves into foul and unventilated tenements in cities; 

 and tlie reason is apparent, wherefore, as penury is generally 

 associated with ignorance and nastiness, and often with indolence, 

 these distempers rage with such tremendous violence among the 

 poor. 



When I see a farmer permit such unwholesome substances to 

 collect around his habitation, I cannot help reflecting on the 

 danger which awaits him. The manure, which ought to have 

 been carried away and spread over his lots, serves, as it lays, 

 but to make his family sickly, to disable his laborers, and lead 

 him to the dubious and expensive routine of physic; and as in 

 common life, as well as in logic, one blunder leads to another, 

 the want of crops, and the consequent failure of income, drive 

 him to mortgages, judgments and executions, those fatal expedi- 

 ents of law. 



In like manner do I lament the indiscretion of tenants contend- 

 ing in our cities, which of them shall obtain, at a high rent, 

 from the distant landlord, a pestilential stand for business! 



