have the misfortune to be able
to answer that question experimentally.... A man must be something
less or more than a king, to keep his health in that palace for any
length of time."

On the subject of _malaria_, an Italian term for the produce of marshy
lands, the attention of the public has lately been powerfully excited
by a series of essays by Dr. Macculloch, an abstract of which will be
found at page 252, of our accompanying Number, under the head "Arcana
of Science." Dr. M. is supported in his opinion by Lord Bacon and
other philosophers; and he shows, that though it is commonly supposed
that standing waters, when clear and free from smell, and all running
waters, are perfectly salubrious, they may, in fact, be nearly as
injurious as those that are putrid and stagnant; "that, besides proper
marshes, fresh and salt meadows, and wet pasture lands generally, all
woods, coppices, thickets, rivers, lakes, ponds, _ornamental waters_,
pools, ditches--_plashy_ and _limited spots of ground generally_, &c.,
send forth more or less of this noxious vapour; that wherever, in
short, any chemical compound of the vegetable elements is wetted, or
held in solution by water, there the poison in question may be or will
be produced, _provided the temperature be sufficiently high_; that the
smallest spot coming under any of the above denominations is
sufficient to produce _malaria_, and _a single inspiration of that
malaria to produce disease_."

Such is the theory of Dr. Macculloch; but, as observed by a
contemporary, Why should he have observed any delicacy on this
subject?--why not have, long since, denounced the whole of the ponds
in St. James's, the Green, and Hyde Parks, Kensington Gardens, and the
Regent's Park, as pestilential nuisances to all around them? Besides,
he states that _malaria_ is only generated in _hot weather_; so that
the palace, being intended as a _winter_ residence, the health of our
gracious sovereign will, we hope, not be endangered by his residence.
That there is much show of reason in this objection, cannot be
denied; at the same time it should be remembered, that in all great
undertakings the conflicting prejudices and caprices of private
interests generally work too prominent a part: hence, opinions should
be entertained with caution.

It is now time to speak of the _architectural_ character of the
palace. The main front represented in our engraving, forms three sides
of a quadrangle, thus II, the a