The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-01-04
0 . HOUSE PLANTS.
IAeir Relation to Diphtheria and Other Dis
eases.

Everybody has heard that phases of dis
ease, whose names are legion, are often
generated by filth in some form or Other
about the dwelling. But neat people, those
whose premises are always in apple-pie .
order are now and then astonished TO find
the same complaints breaking out under
their own well-Iegulated vines and fig trees
and affecting their own olive branches. II
residing in the city, they invariably con-
clude it is the fault of less tidy neighbors.
If in the country, the inevitable verdict is
rendered that the cellar is not in the right
condition, "a few apples or potatoes having
been allowed to 60 to decay, or the drain
carrying off the kitchen slops has not been
properly attended to, or that there is a
swamp somewhere in the vicinity. So, IN
the former locality, the ubiquitous health
officer is called to investigate from effect to
cause, and in the latter everything is scraped
out of the cellar, the slop-drain is cleaned,
and loads of lime and ashes and other dis
infectants are scattered about. Yet the
disease goes on unabated, the babies fall
victims by dozens to the dread destroyer,
and Pickering lamps of life are extinguish-
ed ntably-nobody dreaming that
the filth which generates the disease is to
be found just beyond the sumptuous parlor
or in the cosy sitting-room Yet
THERE IT is,
breeding and thriving among the greenery
of the one dozen to the one hundred house
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 to respiration, and absorb car
bonic acid, which is deleterious, and which,
in fact, constitutes the chief element in the
composition of the deadly choke-damp of
deep wells and mines9" To be sure, that
is the correct theory, just as it is laid down
in the books. But, Madam, what do your
plants grow i'll? You answer, "Earth,
from near the barn, mixed with little leaf
mould brought from low place in the
woods and trifle of guano-just for stim-
ulant. you know" Certainly there are
ALL THE INGREDIENTS
of incipient pestilence done up in compact
form. There is the swamp earth. decaying
vege table matter combined with stable re-
fuse, aud the guano, which is more manure,
three Or four bushels in all those jars of the
worst kind of filth Your plants look sur
prisingly healthy, and your books will tell
you that what we dread most as filth is
most acceptable food for plants. Suppose
this same amount Of filth was scattered
ABOUT THE 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 a house
over night; and yet, in the condition hele
supposed, the dirt would soon dry up and
cease to be damaging, except when disturb
ed, and then would only irritate the air.
passages little, as all dust will. But in
the damp condition in which you are forced
to keep it for the sake of your plants, it is
a most effective generator of mlasma, ma
laria-bad air. If you will look closely into
the matter you will find solution to many
queries and wonders as to how the climate
has changed SO as to produce malarial poi
son where it 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 it be true, has been so long over
looked? Probably because medical men as
well as others, are prone to catch at plau
sible fact about house-plant growth elini-
mating oxygen and absorbing carbonic acid
and thus jumping to the conclusion that
such growth Il healthy without investiga
ting deeper. Thus the more important fact
is lost sight of. that the mud and filth in
which the plants grow must exude into our
houses ten-fold more deletefious gases than
the plants absorb, wlnle tile amount of oxy-
gen eliminated must be too inconsiderable
to affect any serious change, and inoffensive
sewer-pipes. &C., must bear all the blame
OF diptheria and kindred ills to which baby
flesh is especially heir.
An IIi-Omened Wedding Gift.