But in accordance with the idea that malaria is a
product of paludal decomposition, the trees selected have almost always
been the _eucalyptus_. It has been maintained that trees of so rapid a
growth ought to drain the soil very actively, and also that the aroma of
their foliage ought to destroy the miasmatic emanations. I have hitherto
been unable to verify a single instance of the destruction of malaria by
eucalyptus plantations, but I do not consider myself justified in denying
the facts which have been stated by others. There is nothing to oppose the
admission that these plantations, when properly made, may sometimes have
been of great utility. I maintain frankly, however, that they have not
always been so, and that it is necessary to guard against the
exaggerations into which some have allowed themselves to fall in recent
times. Such exaggerations might have been avoided if, instead of talking
about these plantations on the basis of a theoretical assumption, the
results only had been studied in places where the eucalyptus abounds. It
would then have been known that even in the southern hemisphere, the
original home of the eucalyptus, there are eucalyptus forests which are
very malarious.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181