AND PREVENTION OF MALARIA. 233 



have mentioued is^ as far as I know, the most powerful, 

 and can be made in all countries and climates where coal 

 lies or where trees grow. 



It is desired to make Rome the capital of Italy. From 

 all I hear ifc is badly fitted for such from its sanitary con- 

 dition. By the method proposed I believe objection on 

 the plea of health would be removed, and it would rapidly 

 be made fit for habitation. 



I wish in this paper chiefly to show that decomposition, 

 to a most pernicious extent, is possible in soils ; that it is 

 not a mere opinion, but a fact readily demonstrated. Next, 

 to show that decomposition may be arrested artificially to 

 the preservation of health without the destruction of 

 vegetation; and that in these facts we have not only a 

 surer basis in our reasonings on the origin of malaria, 

 but an almost certain process for its ultimate and total 

 destruction.* 



* Since writing the above I have formed artificial malaria in soil by the 

 use of water only, an exactly analogous case to that of marshes. I caU it 

 artificial malaria, although, of course, I have not produced fever or ague 

 with il . Similar soil, when disinfected, evidently resists animal and chemi- 

 cal decomposition longer, yielding at once to the wants of vegetation. It 

 is said that cultivation will cure malaria, but malarious ground is dangerous 

 to touch ; our engineers are dying rapidly whilst making the railways in 

 India. The soil and the jungle could both readily be treated before turning 

 them up, or as soon as turned up. I may add that the road to and from 

 India might be made more wholesome by the destruction of the corruption 

 in the bilge water of ships ; nothing can be easier, and yet men die on ac- 

 count of this corruption, and people have inquests and commissions upon 

 them instead of commanding its cure. 



SER. III. VOL. I. H H 



