House-plants as Sanitary Agents; Or, The Relation of Growing Vegetation to Health and Disease. Comprising Also a Consideration of the Subject of Practical Floriculture, and of the Sanitary Influences of Forests and Plantations |
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amount aqueous vapor atmos atmosphere bloom carbon dioxide carbonic acid cause centum cholera chronic clear climate cultivation degree dew-point disease doubtless earth effect ence evaporation exhaled expectoration experiments fact Fahr favorable feet fever floral Floriculture florists flowering plants foliage forest forest-growth frequently Fuchsia function geraniums give greenhouse growing plants growth Guaiacum heat house-plants humidity hygienic importance in-doors influence injurious instances lantana laryngeal latter leaf-surface leaves less living plants malaria marked ment moist moisture mucous membrane nature Negative night nitrous oxides Norway spruce observations odorous open air organic oxygen ozone patient perature Pettenkofer phthisis plants and flowers portion practical present Professor question reader reasons relation resorts respiration roots sanitary saturation Schönbein slight soil species stomata substance surface temperature tion transpiration trees vegetable warm wax-plant weather winter woodland woods writer
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Page 18 - HER hands are cold; her face is white; No more her pulses come and go ; Her eyes are shut to life and light; — Fold the white vesture, snow on snow, And lay her where the violets blow. But not beneath a graven stone, To plead for tears with alien eyes; A slender cross of wood alone Shall say, that here a maiden lies In peace beneath the peaceful skies. And gray old trees of hugest limb Shall wheel their circling shadows round To make the scorching sunlight dim That drinks...
Page 326 - There is indeed something truly magnificent in this kind of amusement: it gives a nobler air to several parts of nature : it fills the earth with a variety of beautiful scenes, and has something in it like creation. For this reason the pleasure of one who plants is something like that of a poet, who, as Aristotle observes, is more delighted with his productions than any other writer or artist whatsoever.
Page 268 - Owing to the strong absorbing powers of forest-growth and humble vegetation generally, a purifying influence of no mean importance is exercised upon the soil, which is frequently more or less befouled by the products of surface-drainage from the nearest habitations. Upon this point Professor von Pettenkofer pertinently remarks: " If this refuse matter remains in soil destitute of growing vegetation, further decomposition sets in, and other processes are induced not always of a salubrious nature,...
Page 261 - ... inferred, therefore, that low, marshy ground would be rendered drier by the cultivation of trees in due proportion. Happily, there is historical basis for familiar observations of a practical kind to bear out this idea, though space fails me to cite more than two authorities. In a parliamentary report on the resources and needs of Ireland for forest cultivation, Mr. D. Horwitz, forest conservator of Denmark, observes that " swamps and morasses are created in Ireland from the want of trees to...
Page 291 - He gives the following description of the change felt on entering the valley of the river: We were struck by the fact that as soon as we came between the range of the hills which flank the Zambezi the rains felt warm.
Page 326 - Plantations have one advantage in them which is not to be found in most other works, as they give a pleasure of a more lasting date, and continually improve in the eye of the planter. When you have finished a building, or any other undertaking of the like nature, it immediately decays upon...
Page 62 - Campagna during the years 1881 and 1882), but may also be completely destroyed by a single shower. Nature also sometimes renders a district healthy, in a manner purely atmospheric, by covering a malarious soil with earth which does not contain the malarial ferment, or with a matting formed of earth and the roots of grasses growing closely together in a natural meadow. In the attempts of purification by suspending the malarial action, which have been devised by man, the same thing has been done ;...
Page 290 - This aqueous vapour is a blanket more necessary to the vegetable life of England than clothing is to man. Remove for a single summer-night the aqueous vapour from the air which overspreads this country, and you would assuredly destroy every plant capable of being destroyed by a freezing temperature.
Page 327 - When you have finished a building, or any other undertaking of the like nature, it immediately decays upon your hands ; you see it brought to its utmost point of perfection, and from that time hastening to its ruin. On the contrary, when you have finished your plantations, they are still arriving at greater degrees of perfection as long as you live, and appear more delightful in every succeeding year, than they did in the foregoing.
Page 149 - ... preferred ; thirdly, those which are highly scented (as the tuberose, etc.) should be avoided, because they often give rise to headache and other unpleasant symptoms. In order to facilitate a practical application of the data gained by experiment, the following formula has been carefully prepared : Given a room twenty feet long, twelve feet wide, and ceiling twelve feet high, warmed by dry air, a dozen thrifty plants with soft, thin leaves and a...