CHAPTER II.
The history of epidemics adverse to the theory of Macculloch—Results of confounding drains with sewers, and of converting drains into drain-sewers—Influence of the external world (earth, air, and water) over man, first examined by Hippocrates in his celebrated treatise, “De aere, aquis et locis,”[1] but with other views—Influence of modern chemistry over physiology—Men now expect from chemistry a solution of some of the great problems of physiology and pathology still unsolved pp. [6]–14
CHAPTER III.
The great plague in the time of Justinian—View as to its African origin, and strictly contagious nature, adopted by Gibbon—Admits, however, the necessity for an insalubrious condition of the atmosphere, in addition to the presence of the poison—Its reappearance at present in Northern Africa (Bengazzi)—Modern theories as to its origin and mode of propagation, refuted by the histories of plague, cholera, and typhus—Murrains pp. [15]–25
CHAPTER IV.
View of nature acted on by the Hollander and Brabanter—Their struggle to overcome the difficulties of their position—Rise of the Dutch Republic, and of the School of Mechanical and Practical Science of Holland—Its influence over Europe and the world—Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem—Practical instances of the truth of the principle, that “when man interferes with nature, he must carry through the work to an issue”—How to convert a peat-bog into a healthy meadow, a dreary waste into a profitable, cheerful farm pp. [26]–30
CHAPTER V.
Sources of malaria—Various medical hypotheses refuted by Colonel Tulloch—Intermittents and remittents as they appear on the Western Coast of Africa and in Canada pp. [31]–43
CHAPTER VI.