604 



F A R RI E R S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



scribed it without exaggeration, and from public 

 documents. 



As early as the year 1714, Gemignano Ron- 

 delli recommended a sluice and gates to separate 

 the water of the ocean il'om the water of tiie 

 marshes ; but it was not till 1740 that this work 

 was begun, at the outlet of Barlamacca, and in 

 1741 it "was completed. Gates were c 'nstructed, 

 the doors or valves oi"wi\ich opened outwards, and 

 permitted the waters of the marshes to flow oifj 

 while they closed against the ingress of the ocean, 

 and kept its water Irom entering. The year fol- 

 lowing the completion of this work, the Malaria 

 did not appear either at Fiareggio, at Massaciuc- 

 coli, at Quiesa, or in the more distant parts of the 

 basins of Motrone and Perotto. From that time, 

 that part of the population, not wholly exhausted, 

 was restored to health and vigor, and has ever 

 since gone on increasing. Viareggio has grown 

 to be a considerable town, and every suspicion of 

 unhealthiness has so far disappeared, that the best 

 lamilies ofthe city of Lucca have built themselves 

 villas and palaces at Yiareggio, wliich they mha- 

 bit during the summer, to enjoy the salubrious sea 

 breezes, and indulge in the pleasures of baths and 

 society. II" any doubt could remain as to the 

 cause of this improvement, they would be remov- 

 ed by two unfortunate events. In the summer of 

 1763 and 1769, Viareggio, ar.d the parir-hcs near 

 the lake Massaciuccoli,' were again the prey of 

 disease. In the former, out of 1330 souls, 170 

 died in these two years, making one in fifteen ; 

 while in the following year, the mortality was only 

 one in forty. It was ascertained, that the cause 

 ofthe mortality was, that the sluices had decayed, 

 and had allowed the sea water to enter, in these 

 two years ; and atler the injury had been repaired, 

 the place became as;ain healthy. In 1784 and 

 1785 the same neglect occurred, followed by the 

 same consequences. Of 1898 inhabitants, one in 

 twenty died in the year 1784 ; and in 1785, of 

 1834 persons, 103 fell victims to disease. In 1784 

 there were, according to reporis presented to the 

 crovernment. 1200 sick persons out oi" the 1898 in- 

 habitants of Viareggio. This epidemic also ceas- 

 ed as thatof 1769,"on the sluices being repaired. 



After this experience, it was to be expected that 

 similar works would be erected for the basins of 

 Motrone, and for the lake of Perotto, but no ! the 

 unfortunate inhabitants of the plains of Camajore, 

 of Pietra Santa, and particularly of Montignoso, a 

 town which suffers remarkably from the influence 

 ofthe marshes of Perotto, were destined to remain 

 in this miserable condition, vAvc.h was rendered 

 more miserable by l:nowing that it might be so 

 easily remedied. " Some difficulties, it appears, 

 were in the way of accomplishinc? so desirable an 

 object, owino; to the proximity ofthe two states of 

 Lucca and Tuscany ; and M. Giorgini bestows 

 praise which is well merited, apjiarently, on the 

 Chevalier Matteucci, sent as an envoy from Luc- 

 ca, and afterwards as minister to Lucca, for his 

 exertions in getting these difficulties removed. 

 The business was agitated in 1804, and in 1808 

 the Chevalier recommended, till a sluice could be 

 constructed at Ciuquala, that the inhabitants of 

 Montignoso should all be forcibly removed during 

 the summer, llis advice was followed, and in 

 1809, 1310, and 1811, the people were all forced 

 to leave their wretched habitations, or rather 

 tombs. In 1812, a sluice Vv-as completed at Cin- 



quala, and from that time, the air of JViontignoso 

 lias been as healihy as that of Viareggio. The' 

 salutaiy influence of this measure extended itself 

 to the villages of Querceta, Pietra Santa, and Val- 

 lechia, though in less degree, towards the ponds 

 of Motrone. To conip^leie the work, it was ne- 

 cessary that sluices should be erected at IMotrone 

 and Tonfido, and IVl. Matteucci havino- the charge 

 of the principality under the provisional Austrian 

 government, and not willing to leave the good 

 work incomplete, employed his authority in aid of 

 the <ietcrmination taken by the municipalities of 

 Camajore and Pietra Santa, to construct these two 

 sluices at their expense. The one at Motrone 

 was begun in 1818, and completed the following 

 year, wlii'e the less important one at Tonlido was 

 not completed till 1821. Since that time, the dis- 

 eases arising from malaria have ceased at all 

 poinis, and there is no more danger of disease, 

 except the sluices should be neglected, which the 

 inhabitants ought to regard as their palladium. 



M. Giorgini adds to his interesting account, 

 some tables of the population of this once p,estilen- 

 tial neighborhood, and proposes some questions as 

 proper ibr inquiry by scientific men. Supposing 

 thai neither of these subjects would have much 

 interest lor our readers, we shall merely state the 

 result of his tables. The population of the aron- 

 dissernent of Viareggio, in eleven parishes, which, 

 in 1733, amounted to 1509; and in I'^IB, they a- 

 mounted to 9408 — so that in these ninety years, 

 the population has doubled in 36 years. A simi- 

 lar iiicrease has taken place in the other districts 

 since the sluices have been erected, proving the 

 utility ofthe measure, and exciting much surprise, 

 after the success of the first experiment, that so 

 many years should have elapsed belcre the whole 

 was completed. 



ACCOUNT OF TIIE EUE3TIAG OF SOLWAY 

 MOSS, AND THE FLOOD OF ailUE THENCE 

 PROCEECIICG. 



[The following extract from t'le Scots Magazine, 

 for Dec, 1771, describes a phenomenon which was 

 most strange, if not unprecedented, in the region 

 where it occurred, vv'here peat-mosses cover a very 

 large proportion ofthe whole country— and which, with- 

 out explanation, would seem incomprehensible, if not 

 incredible, in Virginia, where no such formation as 

 peat or moss is found, or could long exist, it being the 

 product only of northern regions, where the heat of 

 summer is not sufficient to rot the annual accumula- 

 tion of vegetable matter, from the natural grovrth of 

 plants. Hence, and especially where continually sup- 

 plied and saturated with water, the vegetable matter 

 increases in thickness, and according to its age, de- 

 gree of moisture, and other circumstances, the result 

 is either the firm peat or turf, which is cut out for fuel, 

 or of various other degrees of density and quality be- 

 tween that and the Jloiv «ioss, or fluid mire, such as 

 caused, by its overflow, the remarkable calamity de- 

 scribed below. The mosses or bogs are often, if not 

 generally, formed, as Solway Moss was, on higher lands 

 than others in the neighborhood. Every year's growth 

 of vegetable matter adds to the height of the solid ma- 

 terials — and the water received from rains and streams 



