66 



been almost nil. Thousands of tons of this 

 substance, instead of being utilized with immense 

 benefit and advantage to the country, have been 

 converted into a public nuisance and a fruitful 

 source of disease by being thrown into the sea 

 along with other valuable fertilizers, where they lie 

 polluting our harbours and contaminating our 

 atmosphere ; and this wasteful and abominable 

 practice is still continued, occasioning irreparable 

 loss to the commonwealth of India. Enormous 

 quantities of phosphoric acid can be found in the 

 innumerable foul heaps of refuse in all native 

 villages, emitting miasmatic vapours that lay the 

 germs of contagion and malaria. Thousands of 

 tons can be found lying all over the country in the 

 shape of bones, unused, uncared-for by the native 

 cultivator. 



The restoration of this substance, then, has been 

 systematically neglected, and the soil has become 

 impoverished in consequence. It is, however, 

 not too late in the day for reparation ; it 

 is still in our power to avert the impending evil- 

 the inevitable sterility of our fields. But the 

 culpable indifference which has so long been mani- 

 fested with regard to everything relating to this vital 

 question, must be removed before the disastrous 

 consequences of former neglect, can be averted 

 by counteracting beneficial measures. 



The public must be aroused to the knowledge 



