278 THE YOUNG 



and sickly countenance ; to such a person a 

 walk through the woods gives a renewed lease 

 of life, and this more especially if that person 

 is able to go with open eyes and see those 

 beauties which a mere wanderer would pass 

 by. unnoticed. Every kind of gardening 

 should be encouraged ; even window boxes 

 are of infinite benefit in rendering sweet the 

 air of a bedroom that has been fouled 

 during the night. Mvnicipal authorities 

 should make much more provision for gardens 

 and trees than most of them do at present ; 

 and every town should have a place set apart 

 for public resort. Compare the health of 

 those who live in the country with those who 

 live in towns, and the conclusions arrived at 

 will be sure to be immensely in favour of the 

 former : they are stronger and healthier in 

 every way. I am told by singing masters 

 that even the scholars in country schools sing 

 better than those in towns ; and the reason is 

 plain : their lungs are in a better condition to 

 perform the work. 



Invalids who go out for exercise too often 

 fold their arms and walk with a very cautious 

 step a hundred yards up and down a certain 

 pavement : this is not the way to get fresh air. 

 Go into the woods and fields where the plants 

 have rendered the air pure and fit to breathe ; 

 jump ditches, climb trees, or do anything else 

 that calls the muscles into play and expands 

 the lungs. Females very often put on a mock 

 delicacy that is detrimental to their health. 



Plants and flowers upon a dining table 

 render a fragrance to the air, and a pleasure 

 to the sight, which is beneficial ; and flowers 

 in the sick room are sadly too much neglected. 

 Dr. J. M. Anders has shown [Philadelphia 

 Medical Times, May 8,) that not only is the 

 exalation of oxygen and the generation of 

 ozone of great benefit, but in diseases of a 

 chronic nature, and particularly those affect- 

 ing the lungs and air vessels, soft leafed plants 

 are hygienic agents of special value, by their 

 power of increasing the humidity of dry 

 rooms. Dr. Anders says : — " Of course it is 

 chiefly in diseases of a chronic nature, and 



NATURALIST. 



particularly those affecting the lungs and air 

 passages, that we should expect to derive 

 good results from such a measure as stocking 

 the sick-room with growing plants ; for it is 

 in such cases that the dry heat does the most 

 harm. Still, they prove beneficial also, in a 

 less degree, in acute diseases, especially the 

 continued fevers, and perhaps membraneous 

 croup, where moisture in the air is so desir- 

 able. House-plants have, however, a sphere 

 of usefulness which is independent of 

 atmospheric humidity. In nervous disorders 

 of the functional class, such as, melancholia 

 and chlorosis, in diseases of the mind proper, 

 and other allied conditions (excessive grief, 

 ennui, &c), where it is necessary to divert the 

 mind, or relieve tension, nothing is more 

 efficient than the pleasing occupation of 

 studying and caring for plants." 



Dr. Anders reports the case of a family in 

 which three of the brothers and a sister died 

 of consumption : the disease having been in- 

 herited from the mother, who herself, her 

 sisters and brothers, and other members of 

 the family, all fell victims to the malady, 

 which in some instances, did not appear until 

 they were advanced in age. At fifty years of 

 j age one of the sisters in this family was 

 reported to be in a hopeless state of tubercular 

 consumption. She was, however, ardently 

 fond of plants and flowers, and cultivated 

 them both in her garden and in her room, to 

 which she was confined during the Winter ; 

 and though the symptoms of. the disease 

 occurred every Winter, she lived to the age 

 of eighty-five. Dr. Anders recommends a 

 room well stocked with soft-leafed plants as a 

 " health resort," where one may go not only 

 to cure disease when it makes an attack, but 

 to keep such at bay at a respectable distance. 



Out-door exercise is beneficial to the 

 health ; there is no question about that ; and 

 if a study of the works of nature had no other 

 benefit, it is worth while encouraging it for 

 that alone : but it has. It improves a person's 

 thinking habits ; it enables moments of 

 pleasure to be reaped from what in other 



