Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-06-05

But there is still another destination Of forests
not less important. As they are the natural reg
ulators Of the winds and of moisture, 80 also
have they the important commission TO fulhl OF
purifying the atmosphere. This commission they
do actually fulfill, for in common with all vegeta'
BILE products, they possess the power OF imbi0ing
various gusses and transforming them into veget-
able substance. Especially is this true OF carbon
ic acid gas, which is released in all processes OF
fermentation, which is exhaled from the animal
lungs, and in many places from the interior of the
earth itself. This gas all plants inhale the
forests consequently in great quantities, in order
to assume the carbon which it contains. The in
halation takes place in the day time but the
same gas is given off by night to be assumed the
following day, under tho influence of the suns
light. With the disappearance of the forest,
therefore, a greater quantity of carbonic acid gas,
u gas unfavorable to animal life, is produced above
the vegetable limit upon the ALPS, than in the low
er strata Of the atmosphere. On the other hand,
the oxygen given off by day is the proper life'air
for man and brute. This it is which the more it
is inhaled favors the more the action of the sys-
TEN, ~elevates its healthy tone, and strengthens
the body. For this reason life in the open air is
fresher and stronger than life within doors. 1t is
not however carbon;c acid gas alone, which serves
as Dourisbment for the vegetable world. Many
other gases, especially ammonia, a gas most hos
tile to animal life, belong in this category. In
every respect, the forests are the great regulators
and improvers of the atmosphere. Commonly, in
deed, we have small apprehensions of the impor'
lance Of this reciprocal relation but the facts
of nature speak with a voice louder than that OF
law itself. No region of the earth confirms these
observations more particularly, than that portion
Of Italy, which was once the richly cultivated
home Of the Volsci but it is now an ill.famed
morass, commonly designated as the Pontine mar
shes. Where once life reigned, death not OBJ
scurely threatens to extinguish the torch Of animal
existence. His minister is the pest bearing
malaria, producing q sickness, whose existence il
chiefly attributed to the exhalations of this mo
rass to the perpetual decomposition of ANNA
matter, constantly accommodating in the stagnsut
swamps. Slowly but surely it overmasters thu
few inhabitants, whom nothing but an iroa neces
sity conducts to their abodes, Colds, fevers, liver
complaints, and hypochondriases form its suite
Paliid, saffron countenances, with hollow cheeks
lusterless eyes, q swollen body, and heavy, drag
ging gait; these are tho fearful gifts which il ha'
bestowed upon the poverty-stricken population
Behind it Turks a malignant fever, which hurrie,
the greater portion from the world. But why, in
these solitudes of death, did there once flourish G
luxuriant and joyous life? Simply because there
were forests. Man has ~fearfully married the equi
poise IN the economies of natures household, and
~fearfully has she avenged herself, BY the united
testimony of travellers, there is no more melan
choly land than that which stretches along thS
chain of the Apprentices, from Genoa to the State:
of the Church. These Apprentices at present are
almost entirely stripped of wood, q prodigioue
shocking ruin, a series of earth catsreots, as A
Marchand expresses himself. The mountains are
unfruitful tho richest valleys are overlooked oil
threatened With overflow by the streams. Accor
ding to Schouw (pr. Skow.) the swamps of War
eggio. Lentine on Astna, tho lagoones of Venice
and Comacchio, the districts of tho lower Pc, th'
rice-fields of the Pc valley, the marshes of Man
tua, the northern portions Of Lake Como, at TIN
exit OF the Adda, etc., to the terror of the inhabi
SArEa ,naa~ =, I'LL nsz. AZ.
coasts CT Provence, also, converted into bogs, thi
terrible fever-air creeFs and hovers, and it is vel
known that there a great city, Aries. adorned Iitl
splendid palaces and dwellings sufficient TO accom-
modate thousands, once the capital OF Gaul itsoll
and subsequently Of tho kingdom of Burgundy i
ct present the abode of only a handfgll of fever
stricken inhabitants. What is the reason Th
Rhone, on which it lies, is constantly becomin
more and more choked with sand, and its bani
3 inundated. And wherefore thisP Because, 9
we have seen above, the upper-Rhone districts al
. entirely stripped Of forests the rain has Ion
since washed the soil from the mountains, file
with mud, and thus elevated the bed Of the rivel
f and consequently the Rhone, converted into a to-
rent, is forced over its banks and is gradually n
ducing the neighboringt erritorys to swamps.-
t These swamps will not only gradually change tn
entire landscape, i. g., produce entirely differer
plant'co vering, but also, under a hot sun, case
D inimical to life, marsh'gas and the like, as in tn
r Pontine marshes, will be developed. Thus it
8 that q tresspass committed upon the forest
] spreads its influence over wide regions, and visi
i with disease and death remote generations. W
find the Same phenomena, but with very differel
t relations, in territories within the tropics. In tt
, low grounds Of these territories the too great e.
tent of forests produces a Doggy coil, and the ye
low fever turks, like a malicious spirit, in the pr
J meval woods. ~pitilessly claiming its victims. TT
isthmus of Panama has acquired, in this respect
a bad eminence of fame. 1t is well known thi
, very recently, in constructing the railway aero,
the isthmus, thousands of persons fell a sacrift
0 to swami fever. The inference is. that the extel
sion as we'll as the destruction Of forests has i
limits. Another inference is. that forests bear
relation of incalculable significance, TO agricultur
and the life of other vegetable products ma
, that human life itself is most intimately connec
/, ed with them. We have, therefore, a right to ca
. forests the proper regents of the economy
! nature.