HEALTH. 65 



from the soil, for there is no other that is such a ''hard- 

 drinker" as the eucalyptus tree, and consumes such large 

 quantities of water ; and, second, the peculiar aroma which 

 exhales from its leaves seems to possess the qualities of an 

 antiseptic, and destroys all the seeds of disease that come 

 within its influence. 



There is a. district in Persia, reaching for miles back 

 from the banks of a river, a district large and exceedingly 

 fertile. Until twelve years ago it was esteemed an ac- 

 cursed spot, and was shunned as a pest-house, because no 

 one could live — all died — who sought to dwell there. But 

 now it is all changed as by magic. The king ordered 

 eucalyptus trees to be planted thickly along the river 

 banks, and in groups here and there all over the district, 

 and nobly they did the work they were set to do. They 

 grew rapidly, as they have a way of doing, and drained 

 the excess of moisture, w^hile the aroma from their leaves 

 killed the disease germs floating in the air. The whole 

 district is thickly populated now, and no part of Persia 

 is more healthy than this. 



So this shows, one instance among many, what the euca- 

 lyptus can do for humanity. Better than a drug store, a 

 doctor, or a watch-dog is a grove of these trees around a 

 house where the malaria fiend lurks near by. 



Until the discovery of these germs in the air it was a 

 matter of increasing perplexity as to why some diseases 

 should rage with violence in certain localities, and in 

 others adjoining be almost unknown ; often, too, being 

 most violent, as in diphtheria or scarlet fever or cholera, in 

 the homes of the wealthier classes where one would least 

 expect to find them. But when the existence of the dis- 

 ease germs and the cause of their presence in greater or 

 less quantities became known the mystery was solved. In 

 the better class homes, where water-pipes, drains, and sinks 



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