Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-05-26
Vegetation and Health.


Our instinct leads us to delight in
flowers. Their beauty and perfume
have irresistible attractions for us.
We have little dreamed that we were
thus led to surround ourselves with
objects which most powerfully con.
duce to health. No doubt there are
certain members Of the vegetable
kingdom which are exceedingly del
eterious; for, not to speak Of the
much dreaded upas, the West Indian
manchineel, and some species of the
American rhus, there are some of our
common sweet-scented flowers, such
as the mezereon, which have very in
jurlous properties. But recent invcs-
tigatlon has proved that those adorn-
ments of our gardens for the pres
ence of which we so crave, are, as a
rule, endowed with health-prescrving
qualities.
Oxygen, when highly electrified,
and SO rendered especially vitalizing,
has in recent times been distinguished
by the name OF ozone. This is one
of the chief elements of a healthy at.
mosphere. Now, centuries ago it was
known that certain plants acted as
powerful disinfectants. Thus Hero
dian tells us that, when in the second
century the plague ragged In Italy, the
physicians recommended those who
crowded into Rome to go to Lauren
tium, because there the sweet-bay tree
Taurus nodiHs) grew in great album
dance, and the inhalation of air i'm
pregnated with its odors was strong
preservative against infection. And
the disciples of Empedocles were
wont to grow aromatic and balsamic
herbs around their dwellings,, from
the belief that they were thus guard
ing themselves against fevers, agues
and such like. Has not, too, among
us, the tradition Of its feyer-dispelling
power given the name Of feverfew to
one of the strongest scented of the
composite? Recent Investigations,
especially those of Prof. Montcgazza,
of Pagna, and DR.. Cornelius Fox,
have shown that these old ideas were
based on scientific truth. 1t is now
ascertaincd that the quality Of ozone
is materially increased by the expo
sure to the rays Of the sun of various
plants, among which the most COM
mon are the lavender, musk, cherry,
laurel, Glove, fennel, narcissus, hello
trope, hyacinth and mignonette. 1t
is interesting to know that the sun
flower, which will grow almost any
where, and can be turned to various
useful purposes, is one of the most
valuable of sanitary agents, since not
only is it ozoniparous, but also de-
stroys deleterious miasmata.
1t should be noted as further proof
of the good influence of plant-culture
on health, that, while the manufac-
ture of ozone is an independent work
carried on by the flowers alone, the
green leaves are performing their
sanitary functions by extracting car
bonic-acld gas from the atmosphere,
and helping to reserve that portion
in its elements which tend to make
it healthful. More remarkable, per-
haps, than all is the eucalyptus, of
which we have recently heard so
much, and of which we shall soon
know more.
Thus the cultivation of flowers is q
work not merely delightful and hui
manizing in itself, but one which, in
a way most beautiful and picturesque,
confers a positive benefit on society,
SO great that it can hardly be over
rated, especially in large towns, where
there must necessarily be SO much to
poison and deteriorate the air we
breathe.