338 Italian Malaria. 
Others again pretend that the air was purified by the great quanti- 
ty of wood which existed within and without the city, because it is 
admitted that plants absorb carbonic acid, decompose it, and exhale 
oxygen gas. Although it may be true that plants exert such an influ- 
ence, this theory cannot apply to the Campagna di Roma, for it would 
lead us to a result contrary to that which it is intended to establish. If 
the woods contributed in this manner to the purification of the air in 
the plain of Latium, they ought still to produce the same effect, since 
vegetation remains as vigorous as ever. On the contrary we find that 
the woody districts, such as the environs of Ardea, of Prattica, of Net- 
tuno are the most unhealthy of all, and were so in the time of ‘Taci- 
tus. On this principle, the Villa Borghese, the Villa Medici and oth- 
ers, which are not deficient in trees, ought to be more healthy than 
places which are deprived of them, which is not the case; in fact, the 
Vatican, like the Janicula, which are to a great extent covered with 
gardens and groves, are infected with the most unhealthy air. It re- 
sults from all these facts that woods, in countries where from the 
physical constitution of the soil, malaria prevails, as in the Campag- 
na di Roma, are injurious, because they check the winds which 
sweep away pestilential exhalations and renew the air. 
Brocchi is of opinion, (and we think his views are correct,) 
that the chief protection of the ancient Romans consisted in their 
- woolen garments, which kept their bodies:in a state of constant 
transpiration. This opinion is justified by the observation that since 
the period at which the use of woolen clothing came again into vogue, 
intermittent fevérs have very sensibly diminished at Rome. At pres- 
ent, even in the warmest weather, the shepherds clothe themselves 
in sheep skins, and it is surely for the purpose of protecting themselves 
against the bad air. The Toga of the Ancients, whose texture and 
shape were so well adapted to the body, has disappeared, and has 
been replaced, as Brocchi expresses it, by those garments of patch 
work, so flimsy, so ridiculous, and so unfit to guard those who wear 
them from the hurtful effects of an unhealthy atmosphere. It is 
worth while to ascertain whether the Monks, in their frocks, suffer 
less from bad air than the other inhabitants within and without Rome. 
Their great numbers would certainly incline one to believe in the 
propriety of such an inference. é 
The adoption of lighter clothing, on the one hand, and the neg- 
lect of good culture on the other, caused by the devastations which 
Rome and its suburbs have undergone, have given to the Malaria 
