disease in these localities, have had sad cause
to regret their temerity.

Probably the most striking instance of the effect of malaria on the growth
and settlement of suburban districts, is to be found on Staten Island.
Within five miles of the Battery; accessible by the most agreeable and
best managed ferry from the city; practically, nearer to Wall street than
Murray Hill is; with most charming views of land and water; with a
beautifully diversified surface, and an excellent soil; and affording
capital opportunities for sea bathing, it should be, (were it not for its
sanitary reputation, it inevitably would be,) one vast residence-park.
Except on its extreme northern end, and along its higher ridges, it
has,--and, unfortunately, it deserves,--a most unenviable reputation for
insalubrity. Here and there, on the southern slope also, there are favored
places which are unaccountably free from the pest, but, as a rule, it is,
during the summer and autumn, unsafe to live there without having constant
recourse to preventive medication, or exercising unusual and inconvenient
precautions with regard to exposure to mid-day sun and evening dew. There
are always to be found attractive residences, which are deserted by their
owners, and are offered for sale at absurdly low prices. There are
isolated instances of very thorough and very costly draining, which has
failed of effect, because so extensive a malarial region cannot be
reclaimed by anything short of a systematic improvement of the whole.

It has been estimated that the thorough drainage of the low lands, valleys
and ponds of the eastern end of the island, including two miles of the
south shore, would at once add $5,000,000 to the market value of the real
estate of that section. There can be no question that any radical
improvement in this respect would remove the only obstacle to the rapid
settlement of the island by those who wish to live in the country, yet
need to be near to the business portion of the city. The hope of such
improvement being made, however, seems as remote as ever,--although any one
at all acquainted with the sources of miasm, in country neighborhoods, can
readily see the cause of the difficulty, and the means for its removal are
as plainly suggested.

Staten Island is, by no means, alone in this respect. All who know the
history of the settlement of the other suburbs of New York are very well
aware that those places which are free from fever-and-ague