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matter, that the welfare and existence of all 

 countries depend ; and it is to the reckless and 

 lamentable waste of human refuse that India owes 

 the exhaustion of her soil. 



Liebig says with regard to this subject : "If we 

 could collect, without the least loss, all the solid and 

 fluid excrements of all the inhabitants of towns, and 

 return to each farmer the portion arising from the 

 produce originally supplied by him to the town, the 

 productiveness of his land might be maintained 

 almost unimpaired for ages to come, and the exist- 

 ing store of mineral elements in every fertile field 

 would be amply sufficient for the wants of the 

 increasing populations. At any rate, that store is at 

 present still sufficient to do so, although the number 

 of farmers who take care to cover, by an adequate 

 supply of suitable manures, the loss of mineral mat- 

 ters sustained by the land in the crops grown on it, 

 is but small in proportion to the whole agricultural 

 population. However, sooner or later the time 

 will come when the deficiency in the store of these 

 mineral matters will be important enough in the 

 eyes of those who are at present so void of sense 

 as to believe that the great natural law of restoration 

 does not apply to their own fields ; and the sins 

 of the fathers in this respect will also be visited 

 upon their posterity. In matters of this kind, 

 inveterate evil habits are but too apt to obscure 

 our better judgment. Even the most ignorant 



