s through;" so one has only to stir the
soil of Munich to find just below the surface the coarse gravel,
defying cultivation. Of course, all the fluid matter deposited upon
the surface that does not exhale in the atmosphere percolates through
this loose stratum until it reaches the rock, where it stagnates and
corrupts, returning into the air in the form of poisonous gases,
instead of undergoing the healthy transformation which is effected in
all soils capable of sustaining vegetable life. If the fluid thus held
in solution were only the rain from heaven, the result would not be so
disastrous; but, unfortunately, there is scarcely any kind of filth
that is not allowed to contribute constantly to the subterranean
supply of moisture. It has been estimated that of the seventy-five
thousand tons of refuse matter which Munich furnishes within a year,
scarcely one-third is carried out of the city: the rest is suffered to
go into the ground upon the spot. Nor can that third which is gathered
up be considered as taken out of harm's way, since all of it that can
be regarded as manure is spread at once upon the neighboring fields,
whence it sends back its stenches upon every wind that blows.

The people of Munich, according to one of their most famous
chroniclers, have always been noted for their piety ("Fromm waren die
Muenchner zu jeder Zeit"), but they have never been celebrated for that
virtue of cleanliness which is said to be akin to godliness: indeed,
they are known amongst other Bavarians as _die dreckigen Muenchner_
("the filthy Munichers"); and certain it is that their city is far
behind the times in all sanitary matters. The introduction of sewers
is a very recent improvement. It will scarcely be believed that many
of the broad, showy streets which came into existence under the
patronage of Ludwig I. were laid out and built up without any
reference to this first necessity of all thoroughfares. Even the
Theresien Strasse has not long rejoiced in a "canal;" and the sewer
was laid in that finest part of the Gabelsberger Strasse which runs
past the Pinakothek and the Polytechnic School as late as the summer
of 1873, while the upper end of the same street, which is notoriously
unhealthy, is still unpaved and undrained. The Munich sewers, however,
are not so great a boon as one might suppose: indeed, they may be
considered as mere receptacles and condensers of the evil substances
and odors that would be promiscuously diffuse