* 127 men were here for one quarter of a year only, which is equivalent to 32 for a whole year.
“Thus the local circumstances remaining the same, the mortality from fever yet varies exceedingly. It is the same with the typhus of temperate countries, showing that in addition to malaria, presumed to be ever present, a something more is required, that we must look for in the constitution of the atmosphere.”
[47] I am free to admit, with Liebig, that the lungs are the seat of the most rapid and powerful chemical action (p. 151), yet some distinguished physiologists think that the external integuments may become the seat of disease, and give origin to dangerous affections by mere stoppage of their secretions and excretions. Certain of these are held to be poisonous and highly irritating, and cholera itself has been ascribed to the sudden transfer of the tegumentary secretions into the general torrent of the blood. This seems to have been the opinion of the celebrated anatomist and physiologist, De Blainville.
[48] Citrates, tartrates, acetates.
[49] Eremacaasie: Liebig.
[50] All constitutions are not equally liable to be affected by morbid poisons. This has been proved as regards dissecting-room wounds; and as regards typhus, cholera, plague, ague, &c., the matter admits of no doubt.
[51] Blood has a mordant given to it which dyes it red; when this is in excess, the blood becomes black, or very dark. This was the colour of the blood in cholera. Its crasis seemed to be broken down, and I have it on sure anatomical testimony, that in dissecting those who had died of cholera, the larger veins, when once opened, continued to pour out blood for many days.
[52] The various plans for the deodorization of cesspools, water-closets, dead-wells, sewers, &c., were first introduced into England from France and Belgium. Under French management Paris is sweet, and proverbially clean and pleasant; London, under the management of parties without individual responsibility, notoriously filthy and full of bad odours. Under certain circumstances, and especially when limited to small quantities of the matter to be deodorized, they are successful enough in destroying the unpleasant odour, but in the experiments made a few years ago on the comparative merits of various kinds of deodorants, it was obvious that no real dependence could be placed on them, unless the cesspool was at the same time flushed or cleansed out with a very strong flow of pure water poured in along with the deodorant. In how far the various deodorants recommended are at the same time disinfectants, has never yet been shown.
The excreta deodorized have hitherto proved of but small commercial value, farmers very generally declining their use. It is singular that the same guano (human) which is said to be so valuable in China, should prove a failure in Europe, and especially in England, showing how much still remains to be discovered in practical agriculture. If human guano really be of such value in China as has been reported, might it not be worth while to import into Britain a few Chinese agricultural labourers and gardeners thoroughly acquainted with the agriculture of their country, and from whom might be learned the art of preparing the manure? Capitalists have engaged in many less promising speculations than this.
From whatever source the Chinese derived their knowledge of the domestic and fine arts they now possess (for it is impossible to imagine that they invented them), one thing is certain—that they were recording eclipses, printing books, building temples, raising crops equal to the support of a vast population, whilst the great nations of Western Europe were wandering about in their native woods, clothed in the skins of animals, ignorant even of agriculture, and barbarous to the last degree. Nor was the knowledge and taste of the Chinese confined, in the matter of agriculture and horticulture, to the merely useful, as is obvious by a passage in Humboldt’s “Kosmos,” wherein the illustrious savant proves that the ancient Chinese, in respect of taste in horticulture, and in the composition of park scenery, excelled all the world.