Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-05-26
now vegetation Affects Health

The English Gardeners Magazine
says: Our instinct leads IS to delight
in flowers. Their beauty aud perfume
have irresistible attraction for as. We
have little dreamed that we were thus led
to surround ourselves With objects which
most powerfully conduce to health. No
doubt there are certain members OF the
vegetable kingdom which are exceeding
ly deleterious; for, not to speak of the
much dreaded upas, the West Indian
~manehineel, and ONE species OF the
American rhus, there are some of our
common sweet-seented flowers, such as
the mezereon, which have very injurious
properties. But ecentinyestigation has
proved that those adornments of our
garden, for the presence Of which we so
crave, are, as a rule, endowed with
health preserving qualities. Oxygen,
when highly electrified and so rendered
especially vitalizing, has in recent times
been distinguished by the name o fozone.
This Is one of the chief elements Of a
healthy atmosphere. Now, centuries
ago it was known that certain plants
acted as powerful disinfectants. Thus
Herodian tells US that, when in the sec
ond century the plague ragged in Italy,
the physicians recommended those who
crowded into Rome to go to Laurentum
because there the sweet bay tree (Laurus
nobilis) grew in great abundance, and
the inhalation OF air i~mpregnstsd with iis
odors was a strong preventative against
infection. And the disciples of Empe'
: docles we're wont to, grow aromatic and
, balsamic herbs around their dwellings.
from the belief that they were thus
!. guarding themselves against fevers
I agues and such like. Has not, too
3 among US the tradition Of its fever dis
e polling power given the name Of fever.
few to one of the strongest scented oftht
eomposita2 Recent Investigations, es'
E pecially those of Prof Montegazzl, o
Pagua, and DR.. Cornelius Fox, have
shown that these old ideas we're based OF
! scientific truth. 1t is now ascertaineC
that the quality of ozone is material.
increased by the exposure to the rays 0
the sun Of various plants, among whicl
the most common are the lavender, mus
G cherry, laurel, Glove, f%ennel, narcissul
heliotrope, hyacinth and %mignonette.
is interesting to know that the sunhowel
Y which grow almost anywhere, and coul
g be turned TO various useful purposes,
one of the most valuable Of sanitaS
agents, since not only 10 it ozoniParou
q but also destroys deleterious miasmat
1t should be noted, as a further proof
:. the good influence Of p~lant-culture @
health, that, while the manufacture
ozone ia an independent work carried Q
by the flowers alone, the green leave
are performing their sanitary functio
b. by extracting csrAonie acid gas from Il
- atmosphere and helping to reserve th'
proportion in its elements which make
:, it heAlthtul. More remarkable, perhap
than all is the eucalyptus, Of which "
have seeently heard so much, and
rs which we shall soon know more. IhI
the cultivation Of flowers is a work u.
merely delightful aud humanlzlng IN
self, but one which, in o way most bea
es, t;ful and picturesque, conters o posltl'
benefit on society, so great that II CT
81, hardly be overrated, especially in lar
towns. where there must necessarily
40 much to poison and l~eteFioraie I
air we breathe. II may be added tn
le' the uunAower thrives even in the hei
of London, and that it ia readily prof.
et. gated from seeds sown in March or APP
II is nearly allied to the common Je
salem artichoke, which also grows in
1ed smokiest of distriets ~