The same thing may be said of _the progressive intensity of the morbific
production in abandoned malarious districts_. This fact has been
historically proved in several parts of the earth, and especially in
Italy. A large number of Grecian, Etruscan, and Latin cities, even Rome
itself, sprang up in malarious territories and attained a high state of
prosperity. First among the reasons for this success must be placed the
works undertaken with a view of rendering these places more salubrious,
and which lessened the evil production, _but almost never extinguished it
completely_. After the abandonment of these localities, the production of
malaria recommenced in a degree which went on increasing from age to age,
and which has rendered some of these places actually uninhabitable. This
was seen, in the time of the ancient Romans, in Etruria, when it was
conquered and laid waste, and in several parts of Magna Graecia, and of
Sicily. From the fall of Rome even to the present day, this phenomenon has
been manifested in a very evident manner in the Roman Campagna, in certain
parts of which, even up to the time of the Renaissance, it was possible to
maintain pleasure houses, but which are now unhabitable during the hot
season.
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