The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-03-19

through the Alps, pierced the isthmus that
joins Asia aud Africa, and is sharpening It's
tools for greater labor than all-sending a
railway under the sea between England and
France. 1t is great age, therefore, for
achievements of this nature. The facts indi-
cate that the practical sciences have in our
time so far realized the results of some CEN
turtles of thought and discussion that they ca n
grapple with difficulties that altogether van
pushed the science of other ages And it
appears to have occurred to General Garibaldi,
who always has Rome in his thoughts, to
wonder whether this new condition of en-
cheering science might not be advantageous
to the Eternal City whether, in fact, this
would not be a happy moment to return to
the struggle with that tough old subject, the
Tiber, one of Rome's implacable enemies. As
against the great city the yellow Tiber is
guilty of two crimes, or rather, he is charged
with two. He is guilty of one, but as to
the other we incline to the opinion that
there are doubts in his favor.
Father Tiber mandates the city from time
to time, makes mimic rivers of its streets,
floods the cellars and the shops and the first
floors of the palaces gives the people such an
acquaintance with water as prejudices them
against it for the rest OF the year, and SO tends
to prevent its use in even salutary quantities.
As great part of the city, all that part in
which tho Corso runs, is but little above the
level of the river, this inundation is only
natural consequence of the freshets which
require that enough water to furnish the Mis-
sissippi for few days should run TRANQUILITY in
the bed Of river like the Passaic The Tiber
would be moro remarkable river than it is if
it could meet this case and leave the city dry.
Naturally the Romans did not wait till the
coming of Garibaldi before making an effort
to remedy this trouble. Claudian tried it and
Trajan tried it Trajan fancied he had sue
ceeded and left behind, cut in substantial
stone, the observation, "Urbem alb inunda-
tionis periculo kbcrurit." He also thought he
was liberator.
Garibaldi's notion is that the bed of the IT,
Der would be sufficient to carry down all its
waters if it were not for the OBJ
struction of delta at its mouth and
the consequent division of the river into
unequal and inefficient streams and the slug
gishness of the currents thus caused, which
permits the channel to become clogged. He
proposes the construction of q canal from
point above the city to the sea-using in the
construction, wherever it is possible, the bed
of the river. He would make this canal five
hundred feet wide, thirty-three feet deep and
about twenty-five miles long From Rome to
Ostia, at the mouth of the river, it is, as the
bird flies, about fifteen Kilometres but by the
line of the river it is twice as far. 1t
does not appear, as the detail is not yet laid
out, whether Garibaldi's canal would follow
the sinuosities of the river; but, as it is pro-
posed to use the natural channel 'where pos
sible" it would rather appear that he proposes
a straight line. Part of the plan is port and
the admission up to the city of large
ships. 1t is objected, irst, that the inclina-
ton is so slight that the canal cannot be kept
clear, but will fill up as the river does and,
second, that the necessary money cannot be
raised, rs tho first estimate is thirty million
fancs-which sum will certainly be made
quate.
The second trouble caused by the Tiber,
and which it is also thought this disposition
of the water will overcome, is the condition of
the Roman Campagna as to malaria. North
east and east to the Apprentices and southwest
to the sea the once fertile and highly cult
waited Ager Eomanus is now desolate waste
unfit for human habitaton. In the descrip-
ton of Strnbo it is called healthy country
"except a few spots near the sea which are
marshy." In this district there were once
Veil and Oere were still in fourishing state
in the fourth century Of Rome, while as long
as Rome was free the immediate district
within five miles OF the city was held in small
farms by the Roman people, and was as faith
fully cultivated as any piece of earth in a
garden. But as wealth increased, and large
fortunes were accumulated, the small farms
gave place to large tracts kept for pasturage,
and the industrious laborers to whom alone the
country owed its value were driven out All
that was not done OF this IN the imperial days
of Rome was achieved by the devastations of
| later wars, and the district was made desolate
But how much of its malar1ous condition is
due to the overflow from the river and how
much to another consequence of its abandon
ment as q human habitation it would be diff
cult to say. As general principle the rela-
tons of the hot sun and decaying vegetation
and moisture as necessary elements for the
production of fever miasm are known; but
our knowledge is neither very particular nor
very exact a step further. In fact, in wet sea-
sons there is less fever than at other times,
for the presence of water longer or later than
usual seems to Interfere with those operations
by which the heat Of the sun acts on the
vegetation in producing malaria. If, therefore,
Garibaldi's canal prevents the overflow OF the
plain it may for several years produce malaria
of more violent type than has been pre-