LIBRARY 
NBW YORK 
BOTANICAL 
garden 
ANTISEPTIC VEGETATION EOR CUBA 
The word antiseptic is applied to vegetation planted for the 
purpose of killing germs, either in the ground or air, and com¬ 
bating the ravages of fever and disease. The late Baron Ferdi¬ 
nand von Mueller first made use of this word which so aptly 
describes the various genera of Myrtaceous vegetation now 
recognized as one of nature’s great gifts to mankind. For over 
forty years he devoted his life to the classification of the flora of 
Australia, at that time almost unknown to the world, and he 
himself attributed the salubrity of the coast climate of Western 
Australia largely to the prevalence of Myrtaceous trees and 
shrubs. As yet it has hardly been definitely settled how this is 
accomplished; but recognizing the presence in these plants of 
volatile oil, the purification of the soil and air is probably accom¬ 
plished partly by drying up unhealthy swamps, and possibly the 
roots directly feeding on the destructive germs contained in the 
soil, and partly by the diffusion of an antiseptic ether, deadly to 
these germs; partly also by the direct absorption and deodorizing 
action of the leaves. It is not, however, my intention here to 
enter into the chemistry of the oils of the Melaleucas or Euca¬ 
lyptus, as little is at present known as to the former; and as 
as regards the latter, much yet remains to be investigated, and 
also it is not yet definitely settled how this vegetation favorably 
affects climates. 
Before proceeding directly to discuss the various plants rec¬ 
ommended for trial, we would like to suggest the conditions we 
would have to meet in Cuba. The United States Government has 
already been making some inquiries, and I think it is especially 
timely for the Academy of Science of Southern California to collect 
and classify the information we have, especially as our President, 
Mr. Abbott Kinney, has written what is now the standard work 
on the successful introduction of the Eucalyptus (one great 
genus of antiseptic vegetation), and, with Mr. Elwood Cooper 
and other pioneers, has so widely distributed the various species 
that they now form one of the chief features of our Southern 
