8o Public Parks. 



INFLUENCE OF PARKS ON THE MIND. 



We have thus far been considering the influence of parks and 

 trees on the physical development ; we novv^ propose to call attention 

 to their influence on the mental condition. In fact, such is the 

 intimate connection between the two, that they cannot well be sepa- 

 rated, as a sound and vigorous mind is generally dependent upon a 

 healthy condition of the bodily organs, and without either, the object 

 of life is but imperfectly attained. Juvenal, long ago, declared 

 that, '"'•Sana mens in sano corpore^' — a sound mind in a sound 

 body — should be the aspiration of every one. " Health of mind, as 

 well as of body, is not only productive in itself of a greater sum of 

 enjoyment than arises from other sources, but is the only condition 

 of our frame in which we are capable of receiving ' pleasure from 

 without."* In order, therefore, to preserve the mind from impair- 

 ment of its energies and the derangement of its functions, physical 

 exercise, as well as relaxation and recreation is necessary. 



We live in an atmosphere of excitement, more so, perhaps, than 

 any other community in the world, and it is therefore more neces- 

 sary that all prudent safeguards should be thrown around us to 

 prevent the impairment of the vigor of the mind and the inroads of 

 disease. 



We have neither leisure nor inclination to bestow many thoughts 

 upon schemes much beyond the circle of our ordinary pursuits, 

 and our happiness consists chiefly in the accumulation of wealth, 

 and the accomplishment of something that is bold and novel. The 

 sources of gratification are too few to furnish much relief to the 

 excitement of our daily life, and our social intei'course is limited to 

 the same necessities. 



This is an age of great mental activity, and nowhere is the mind 

 more stimulated than in Chicago. While it is true that the judicious 



one in the south-western part of the city, extending from i6th or 22d Street to or beyond the city limits 

 south, to moderate, so far as relates to the south-west winds, the extremes of heat and cold, in winter 

 and summer, and to absorb the miasmatic exhalations of Mud Lake and the country adjoining the 

 Illinois and Michigan Canal. A park should also be located south-east of the city, to protect it against 

 the exhalations of the Calumet swamps, and the depressing effect of the wind from that direction. A 

 careful examination of the topography of the localities indicated, will reveal the fact, in addition to the 

 other reasons named, that the ground is low, and the surface drainage is bad, and that the location of 

 the parks will obviate this objection, while, at the same time, the lands will cost less than if taken at 

 other places, and that they will be more acceptable to all, than if differently.placed. In other words, 

 for sanitary and economical considerations, and for purposes of convenience, they are best. There is no 

 city in the world, with the same population, where the immediate surroundings are so illy improved, as 

 Chicago. The location of the parks in tliese directions would stimulate the improvement and culti- 

 vation of the soil, which fact, alone, would act beneficently in a sanitary point of view, but it would 

 also create a demand for the manure and offal of the city, and thus indirectly assist in improving the 

 public health, by the removal of offensive materials, while the cost to citizens and the city would be less 

 than it now is. 



* Sir James Mackintosh, 



