THE RELA TIONS OF THE SOIL TO HEAL TH 187 



era and typhoid fever, and possibly malarial fevers, are so caused. The laborious 

 investigations of M. Pasteur, in France, have shown that the cause of splenic 

 fever when once introduced into a locality will remain active for months and even 

 years, and it does not seem out of place to suggest to the readers of this report, 

 most of whom are interested in the preservation of the health of the domestic ani- 

 mals, and that a study of the soil in its relations to the diseases of these animals 

 is a subject to which they may direct their attention with profit. 



It is well known that milch cows frequently suffer from a disease identical in 

 its nature with the consumption in human beings. It is believed by many that 

 the milk of such animals is not only unfit for food by reason of its poor quality, 

 but that it may convey the disease to human beings when used as a food. The 

 observations of Bowditch and Buchanan, quoted above, show that consumption 

 in man may be, and doubtless is, frequently caused by soil wetness. It seems 

 probable that the same cause should produce similar efiFects in the lower animals, 

 and it is the writer's firm conviction that an examination into the circumstances 

 under which cows get consumption would prove this probability a fact. 



VI The Preventive Remedy — Drainage. — To secure a constant level of 

 the ground water at a sufficient depth below the surface, drainage is necessary 

 in many soils. Agriculturists know the value of proper and efficient drainage in 

 improving the productive capacity of wet soils, but the men who build houses for 

 human beings to live in, or stables to shelter animals, never give this matter 

 much thought. Few of our architects have ever heard of the injunction of the 

 ancient master of their craft, quoted in the beginning of this paper, to select a 

 healthy soil upon which to build a dwelling, while a stable is frequently built 

 partly underground, and in localities where all the conditions promoting disease 

 are present. If farmers can once be made to understand that a wet stable, 

 whether for horses, cows, sheep, or hogs, is an unhealthy stable, reform would 

 soon be introduced. If they could be further convinced that a marshy or springy 

 soil is not a healthy pasture ground, such places would soon be drained. If it 

 were found, then, that by taking these precautions the health of animals was im- 

 proved and their lives preserved, perhaps architects and builders in town and 

 country would also learn that a dwelling cannot be healthy and comfortable unless 

 built upon a clean, dry soil. — Scientific American Stipplement. 



Science for July 25th, announces that Dr. Chavanne, who is travelling on 

 the Congo for the Brussels National Institute of Geography, has established a 

 meteorological observatory at Boma. Mr. Stanley has transferred the site of his 

 station of Vivi to a table-land some 1500 metres to the north; and a railway 

 Station from it to the Congo is being constructed. Another station, called Sette- 

 Cana, has also been established at the mouth of the small river Sette. 



