Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1857-04-29
sunf,eyrer. n a,,in,f ,Ls.. ,Nlrulaa.. q

il sssyarious are The femsdics which hare bees
proposed for he gue sad fever. From fhs
| time that GaArsdid shake IN spain, AMI, eriee
4 sgive ma aome dripx, T,tipiIs Ike q SIX girl.
i down to the present wriiins. the Inventive gen
| ius o. man has Been at w0~ ioBdevise sresea
1 tive Or cure Tor this sss i alscaded di vAses--
But not wishssandinga AL that has been doug Their
| Is shaking skill. lieut.. Maary--of asttonomIesi
lame has biz upon an altogether hew pro es, eH
| which he proposes to preventive sgae amf ieses,
By staIling itin the absorption 81 the aAlarus.
which is supposed to prodase il. He goes 20
work upon philosophical principles, and dedu-
cling effect from cause proceeds ositaily 20 re-
! niave the cause, taking itfor e-ant thai when
this, Is accotnpi shed there viii be no e fleet,
Lieut.. d. was leds,o the experiment fsem the
fact that his dwelling as Superintendent OF ,ht
Observatory near Washington, was sitnatad on
the Potomac, and that between IL anu the river
there was marsh very productive, Of the agaes
His place was so unhealthy that his family wer,
compelled to abandon isifor four or 1--WE months
in the year. ssls4 SsoH 30 @ssslzigst nssa. o. tes
The process of reasoning by which he arriv,
at the conclusion, which led him 10 enter upon
this experiment was is:-Ifit bethe decay of
vegetable matter that produces the sickness, then
the sickness must be owing 10 the deleterio;se s
feet Of some gas, nliasm or etilavium that is set
free during the decomposition, and ifso, the
poisonous matter, or the basis of it, whatever il
be, must have been elaborated during the growth
of the weeds and set free in their decay. New
it this reasoning is good, why will not other veg.
etable matter in vigorous growth just aboa, the
time that in the marshes begins to decay, bring
fresh forces Of the vegetable kingdom again to
play upon this poisonous matter and elaborate
it again into vegetable tissue, and 80 purify the
alre ,s-a FL g., ...,e-,...
This reasoning was SO plain to Lieut.. Ms mind
that he proceeded 10 try the experiment. In
Looking around for some fast growing vegetable
he lighted upon the sunfower as the one hest
suited to his purpose. In the spring of 1856 he
had the seeds planted and we'll MANFRED 50 as to
grow RAPIDLY. Ingiyiug al account of the re-
suit, he says they grew finely The sckly sea-
son was expected with more than usual anxiety.
II finally set in and there was shaking at the
President 3 House and other places AS usual, but
for the first time since-thee observatory was
built the Waterman about II weathered the sum
mer clear OF chills and fever. .... ....
The result following single experiment is
not conclusive of the entire efficacy Of the sun
flower treatment as preventive OF the ague and
fever. But it is suggestive, and as Lieut.. VI. re
marks, suppose it should be established that II
hedge Of sunhowers between the buildings OF
farmers and the ponds or marshes or standing
pools would generally keep the disease away, |
would not the discovery be an achievement worth |
rec rdi o. '"- '-'' Y. rt'5s''. - a. 1913