94 



Hygienic Influence of Trees. 



Vol. VI. 



ble by consuming all that is deleterious in its 

 composition, but they are also an inexhausti- 

 ble source of pure oxygen — a gas that is of 

 the utmost importance in the vital process of 

 respiration. 



The nutriment of trees is conveyed up the 

 trunk to the leaves, where it is decomposed 

 by the agency of light, the carbon being in- 

 corporated with the tree, so as to form its 

 solid matter, while the oxygen is exhaled or 

 thrown off into the atmosphere. We thus 

 see one of the ways by which vegetation 

 contributes to the healthy state of a country, 

 in maintaining that important medium in the 

 atmosphere on which so much depends, and 

 without which, even the most densely inha- 

 bited country would soon become desolate. 



The cultivation of trees contributes in an- 

 other way to the health of a situation around 

 ■which they are planted — they act as a pro- 

 lection against that fruitful and mysterious 

 source of disease, miasmata. This peculiar 

 substance, arising from the decomposition of 

 vegetable and animal matter, sometimes 

 spreads itself over whole districts and even 

 continents, bearing with it epidemics and 

 fevers of a most serious and alarming cha- 

 racter. The Asiatic ciiolera of 1832, fur- 

 nishes us with a striking instance of this pe- 

 culiar property of miasmata. Dr. Reynall 

 Coates, in his treatise entitled " Popular Me- 

 dicine," a work of high and deserving cele- 

 brity, makes the following remarks on this 

 subject, in the chapter on Hygiene, or the 

 Art of Preserving Health. 



" It appears probable, (to speak in the most 

 cautious manner,) that vegetation — which, 

 in its decay, produces by far the greatest 

 amount of miasm — when vigorous, subsists 

 upon and destroys it. This result is no doubt 

 in a great degree owing to the action of the 

 roots in absorbing the elements of decayed 

 plants beneath the soil, but it is at least 

 equally certain that the stems and leaves of 

 living vegetables inhale the same effluvia to 

 an incalculable extent. Our American for- 

 ests are almost universally remarkable for 

 their healthiness in their primitive state. The 

 most noxious portion of the gases eliminated 

 from the dead leaves is immediately absorbed 

 by their living successors. The tree, the 

 vine, the shrul>--even the grave festoons of 

 moss, and the humbler linch and mushrooms, 

 all contribute to preserve the fitness of these 

 gloomy wilds for the residence of savage or 

 adventurous man." 



The probability here spoken of, has recent- 

 ly been satisfactorily established by Liebig, 

 and he thus beautifully concludes the chapter 

 which ho has devoted to this subject. " Car- 

 bonic acid, water, and ammonia, contain the 

 elements necessary for the support of ani- 

 mals and vegetables. The sanae substances 



are the ultimate products of decay and putre- 

 faction. All the innumerable products of 

 vitality, resume, after death, the original form 

 from which they sprang. And thus death— 

 the complete dissolution of an existing gene- 

 ration — becomes the source of life for a new 

 one." 



Dr. Coates further remarks — " In England 

 every little cottage is surrounded with ver- 

 dure. The honey-suckle, the eglantine, and 

 the clematis entwine their branches around 

 the door-way, and form festoons above every 

 window, while the ivy covers the blank wall 

 with the best of all protections against the 

 rays of a basking sun. How barren and 

 cheerless in comparison is the aspect of those 

 unmeaning piles of logs, boards or bricks, so 

 often, in our land miscalled a home! But 

 taste and beauty are not the chief recom* 

 mendation of this species of ornament. Waiv- 

 ing the inestimable moral advantage of cheer- 

 fulness, and that expansion of heart, which % 

 fondness for the gems of Flora invariably be- 

 stows, the horticulture of cottages is a sub- 

 ject of great hygienic importance. A dense 

 mass of foliage covering the walls of a build- 

 ing in summer, reduces the excessive heat 

 within doors, and equalizes the temperature 

 of the day and the night. In this manner 

 it lessens the risks of disease, and renders an 

 attack less dangerous." 



I have thus endeavoured, briefly to present 

 your readers with other incentives, added to 

 those already mentioned in past numbers of 

 the Cabinet, to devote more attention to this 

 essential, but too much neglected branch of 

 improvement. Certainly if the enrichment 

 of the soil, improvement of the stock and 

 seeds of a farm, are matters of so much im- 

 portance, the comfort, happiness, and health, 

 of those who constitute the " family circle," 

 are not of less. Home should be the centre 

 — the grand focal point of all the farmer's 

 operations, for it is as much a duty to enjoy 

 life as it is to employ it. Cincinnatus. 

 September 22, 1841. 



" His were not those lazy, luxurious habits 

 of eating dinners when he should be eating 

 his supper. He was not much of a physician, 

 but he would undertake to say that if they 

 would follow the practice adopted by himself, 

 they would have little to fear from illness. 

 He rose seldom later than five o'clock; he 

 then took exercise, principally on horseback, 

 for an hour or an hour and a half; he then 

 made his toilette, took his breakfast, read the 

 newspapers, and was ready to go to worL 

 In connection with this, he always retired to 

 bed at 10 o'clock ; seldom later. If his friends 

 would pursue this course, he would not only 

 insure their health, but would engage to pay 

 their physician's bill." — Hon. Henrxf Clay. 



