of innumerable other localities; the deodorizing schemes of Leicester and Bristol, the intercepting scheme of the Thames, and the network of officers of health, amounting to 2600, now spread over England for the benefit of this tax-loving country. [42] Reign of Charles the Second. [43] He is, I believe, a physician and an M.D. If you hope to raise a crop you must replace in the soil certain elements which previous crops have removed from it. So says Liebig, and to some extent the experience of mankind supports the view. The refuse of men and urinals which English speculators recommend you to throw into the nearest river, or into the sea if you can, or at least to deluge well with water before throwing it over your fields, the Belgian farmer places as nearly as may be under ground until required. Of it he forms a compost, seemingly inoffensive as being in some measure buried, trapped, and mixed with house refuse, and other materials. This compost, to which he looks in due time for the restoration to his well-managed farm of that which abundant crops had removed from it, he spreads at convenient and suitable times on his ground, into which it is speedily dug; thus at every step he reverses the theories of the would-be agriculturists of England, and should it be said that the measures he adopts are injurious to his health, destructive to his family, sources of pestilence to the country, we have the sure and trustworthy statistics of a true statistician[44] to oppose to the wild theories and bold assertions of the needy adventurers and hired officials who, clamouring so loudly for place and distinction, have chosen for the field of their tactics broad England and her colonies. [44] Quetelet. CHAPTER IX. ON POISONS, MIASMS AND CONTAGIONS.