But
toward the middle of the present century the Caetani had the woods cleared
off from the entire belt of land surrounding Cistema. Twenty years later I
was able to show that Cistema had gained greatly in salubrity. I published
my observation in 1879, and, naturally, was taken to task rather sharply
in the name of the sacred tradition. Happily these recriminations led our
Minister of Agriculture to have the question studied by a special
commission. This commission, after a conscientious examination extending
over three years of all the malarious localities in the province of Rome,
has just published its report,[1] the conclusions of which are entirely in
accord with the facts of universal experience. They were not able to
verify a single fact in support of Lancisi's theory, while they found many
of the same nature as that of Cistema, and which have resulted in
overturning the theory entirely.
[Footnote 1: Della influenza dei boshi sulla malaria dominante nella
regiona marittima della provincia di Roma. Annali di Agricoltura, No. 77,
1884. Roma: Eredi Botta.]
It has also been thought possible to practice drainage from above by means
of plantations of certain trees which would draw considerable moisture
from the earth, a method which might really be serviceable in some
malarious districts.
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