Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-07-03
THE EUCALYPTUS TREE.
Peculiar Tree and ITS Various Uses--A
Malaria Preventive.

Much has been NiAtVSn VI ld1o OaiS
about the eucalyptus or blue gum tree
of Tasmania. This interesting variety
of the myrtacee was discovered by
Labillardiere in 1892, and introduced
into Europe in 1856. In the southern
part of Tasmania and in Victoria, on
the mainland of Australia, it grows
on the moist slopes of wooded hills.
1t has also been extensively intro
duced into California, the southern
portion of the United States, the
south of Europe and Southern Africa.
1t grows rapidly to the height of 200
or 800 feet, and its leaves, which are
thick. ldhthery and of a pale yellow
ish-green color, are from six to twelve
inches long.
The tree has various uses. The wood
las a greater density than oak, and
Though very hard, can be easily
worked when green. 1t is of great
lse in cabinet work, since 1t is OF
lifferent shades and is susceptible of
brilliant polish. From the incised
bark exudes the astringent gum known
as "Kina," and the oil of eucalyptus
has the property, peculiar to aromatics,
IL limiting putrefactive fermentation.
0ne remarkable feature in the Idevel-
,pment of the tree is the singular
growth of its lateral branches. When
t has attained the height of about
Orty yards scme of these branches
xtend out to distance Nof ninety
eet, SO that a tree which is about 800
eet high will have leafy circumfer-
nee of 600 feet.
1t was at one time supposed that the
Eucalyptus would prove rival to the
inchona bark and quinine, as an in
ernal remedy in intermittent fever
md other malarial disorders. Rumor
aid that more than forty years ago
he crew of a French man-of-war,
having lost number of men with
evere malarial fever, put into Botany
Bay. where the remaining sick were
Teated with eucalyptus and rapidly
nred of their disease. subsequently,
rails were made of the leaves as a
emedy in marsh fevers, and reports
more or less favorable were given but
5urdel, French physician, who eX-
Jerimented in the district of La
Sologne. where periodical feyers are
unusually common and severe, found
hat the medicine possessed little or no
curative power over this class of
diseases. Possibly his experiments
we're with wrong variety of the plant,
ince there are no less than eleven
varieties of it.
Yet the tree is, after all, most
powerful febrifuge, although the
caves are much inferior to quinine
when taken into the human system.
This wide-spreading monarch of the
wood annihilates malaria by purifying
The soil from which the poison springs.
In consequence of its rapid growth
absorbs large quantities of moisture,
md by thus drying up the soil it is
supposed to remove one of the factors
IN which the growth Of malaria de-
ponds. Formerly it was said that
leat, moisture and vegetable decom-
position were necessary for the pro-
1uction of the malaria poison, now, in
the belief that the malarial essence is
fungoid, the same conditions are be-
ieved to favor or oppose its growth.
Experience has shown for many years
hat cultivation of the soil tends to
diminish fevers, and the experiments
which haze been made by the Trappist
monks in the Roman Campagna seem
conclusive in favor Of the eucalyptus
tree as febrifuge. Thedeadly air of
the Campagna is proverbial. Although
the traveller may pass safely through
the Pontine marshes by day, death
would claim him as victim should
he pass the night there. That this
pestiferous region should be made
tenantable for man is indeed a cause
for generalization.
For some years convictJ have been
employed in the agricultural opera
tons which have been carried on
under the direction of the Trappists
at the Abbey of the Ire Fontane in
the Campagna. These works were
inaugurated with view to test the
opinion that malarial air could be inn
proved and purified by the cultivation
of the soil. On the theory that
malaria depended upon atmospheric
causes, it would naturally be inferred
that no cultivation of the earth could
modify its baleful influence. But
since modern science has discovered
that it is of vegetable nature, and
that its home is in the soil, the conclu-
sion would follow that the conditions
which favor or retard vegetable growth
-..,,,ld aIco raodifv III, q N, aIorial funOuS