DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 345 



such as Italy, should be unfitted for the growth of peat on 

 the swampy ground, it is otherwise on some of the hills ; 

 and it may in some parts be convenient to grow peat-bogs 

 above and lead the disinfecting or colytic water down to 

 the land which is malarious, thus operating as a sanitarv 

 and agricultural measure on the lower ground, and as a 

 source of water and fuel on the higher grounds. This is, 

 of course, only an idea ; but it is not one to be forgotten. 



Dr. Morgan, in the British and Foreign Chirurgical Re- 

 view, vol. 26 (i860), p. 483, has an article on Phthisis in 

 the Hebrides. He there shows, by evidence of a very ex- 

 tensive character, that the absence of that disease in the 

 islands and western coast seems to be owing to the use of 

 peat and the custom of the inhabitants to live constantly 

 in the smoke. He quotes Dr. Anderson, of Tyree, who says, 

 " I have not met with one case where the smoke was allowed 

 to find its way through the roof." Dr. Mathieson, in Skye, 

 had met with only two cases where there was no chimney, 

 to eighteen where there was a chimney. The disease also, 

 when it does come, appears to be more prolonged than 

 usual. The whole article of Dr. Morgan's is very interest- 

 ing; and it shows how much may be done by thus dis- 

 infecting the air, even in cases where cleanliness of persons 

 and houses is not specially attended to. 



Much of this communication consists simply of notes to 

 be elaborated afterwards ; additions must also follow in a 

 Second Part. 



SER. III. vol. v. 2 a 



