Public parks : their effects upon the moral, physical and sanitary condition of the inhabitants of large cities : with special reference to the city of Chicago / by John H. Rauch.

  • Rauch, John H. (John Henry), 1828-1894.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Public parks : their effects upon the moral, physical and sanitary condition of the inhabitants of large cities : with special reference to the city of Chicago / by John H. Rauch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    subject, and the success which has attended the laying out of the Central, Fairmount, Prospect, Druid Hill, and other parks in this country. This feeling is extending, and as the squares which are found in nearly all our cities no longer satisfy the longings of the inhabitants, who now demand the laying out of hundreds of acres in a style proportionate to the hopes and expectations of the future of the locality. The immense throng that daily resort to such places, — not simply the millionaire, or the aristocratic merchant, but the laborer, the mechanic, and those from the humblest walks of life, coupled with the decorousness of their behaviour, and their cheerful compliance with the necessary regulations, — all attest the popu- larity and beneficial influence of such dedications. Can we not have such resorts in Chicago? It is true that we have not that relief and depression of soil, of ledgv rock and deep valley, which are to be found in the Central and other parks of this country ; but we can have ample drives, graveled walks, fountains, lakes, and all the forms of vegetable and animal life which have been acclimated in our latitude. We can have parks which shall be the ornament and pride of the city ; where, by easy access, our people can enjoy the beauties of nature, and all the pleasures of landscape gardening. If we analyze the sources of our happiness, we shall find that they are reducible to two—external and internal; but while it is from the external world that we derive all our ideas, the office of reflection and of imagination is performed in the interior world of thought. Man, however much he may boast of the superiority of mind over matter, is as sensitive to external changes as the barometer is to those of the atmosphere. A pleasing landscape or a bright sunshine exhilerates his spirits, while a dreary waste, or a leaden sky pro- duces depression. We associate these ideas of external nature with our present sources of happiness or misery, and carry them into our conceptions of a future state. Hence, in every age, and among every nation, whether Christian or Pagan, who have made any progress in intellectual development, the idea of Paradise has been one not purely of mental culture, of converse and friendship, but one in which the sensuous nature was largely to participate. Milton has described the abode of our first parents as a combina- tion of sensuous delights, with a gorgeousness of word-painting