National Republican., 1877-12-15
The Relation Of House Plants to Diphtiicria
and Other Diseases,

and Other Diseases.
Everybody has heard that phases Of disease,
whose names are legion, are often generated by
filth in some form or othcrabout the dwelling.
But neat people, those whose premises are al
ways in "apple-pie" order, nre now and then
astonished to find the same complaints break
ing out under their own we'll gulated vines
and fig trees, and affecting their own olive
| branches. If residing In the city, they in
variably conclude that II Is the fault Of less
tidy neighbors. Ii in the country. the inevita.
bic verdict is rendered that the cellar Is not In
| the right condition, Ia few apples or potatoes
having been allowed to go to decay, or the drain
| carrying of the kitchen slops has not been
properly attended TO, or that there is q swamp
somewhere In the vicinity. So, In the former
locality, the ubiquitous health officer Is called
| to investigate from effect TO cause, and In ths
latter everything Is scraped out of the cellar,
/ the slop-drain is cleaned, and loads Of lime
| and ashes and other disinfectants are scat
tered about. Yetthe disease goes on unabated
the babies fall victims by dozens to tho dread
destroyer, and Pickering lamps Of life are cx-
tinguished unaccountably-nobody dreaming
/ that the filth which generates the disease Is TO
bc found just beyond the sumptuous parlor or
In the cosy sitting. room! Yet
THERE IT Is,
breeding and thriving among the greencry Of
| the ono dozen to the one hundred bouse-plants
which make up the proportion Of the average
| family.
| But" say you, "plant-growing Is healthy.
| Have we not read in our school-books that
plants give out oxygen, which is necessary tc
resperaton, and absorb carbonic acid, which Is
| deeterious, and which, in fact, constitutes the
| chief element in the composition of the deadly
choke-damp Of deep wells and mincsP" To be
sure, that is the correct theory just II Is laid
down in the books. But, Madam, what do
your plants grow in2 You answer, Earth,
from near the barn, mixed with little leof.
mould or muck brought from low place In
| the woods and a trine of guano-just for stim-
| ulant, you know" Certainly there are
ALL THE INGREDIESTs
| of insipient pestilcnce done up In compact
form. There is the swamp earth, decayina
vegetable matter combined with stable refuse,
| aud the guano, which is moro manure, thrca
or four bushels in all those jars of tho worst
kind Of filth! Your plants look surprisingly
healthy, and your books will tell you that
what we dread most as filth is most acceptable
food for plants. Suppose this same amount ot
filth was
SCATTERED ABOUT YOUR HOUSE,
under the beds and furniture, what would be
thought Of your housekeeping then and who
would wonder If your children died
Why. you wouldn't stay in such house oveI
night and yet in the condition here supposed,
the dirt would soon dry upand cease 10 be dam.
aging, except when disturbed, and then would
only irritate tho air-passages o little, as all
dust will. But in the damp condition in which
you are forced to keep II for the sake of your
plants, II Is. most effective generator Of
miasma, malaria-bad air. II you will look
closely into the matter. you will find
la solution to many queries and
wonders as to how the climate has changed so
rs to produce malarial poison where 1t did not
formerly exist why civilization has brought
upon us so many new diseases, and so on to
the end of the chapter. You ask why this
aspect Of the subject If II be true, has been SO
long overlookedt Probably because medical
men rs we'll as others, are prone TO catch at a
plausible fact about house-plant growth
eliminating oxygen and absorbing carbonio-
acid, and thus jumping to the conclusion that
such growth Is healthy without investigating
deeper. Thus the more important fact Is lost
sight Of, that the mud and filth in which tho
plants grow must eIude into our houses ten.
fold more deeterious gases than the plantl
absorb, while the amount Of oxygen eliminated
must be too inconsiderable to affect any serioui
change, and inoffensive sewer-pipes, &c, must
bear all the blame of diptheria and kindred
ills to which baby-fesh is especially heir.