"Your premises, particularly sleeping apartments and cellars,
should be thoroughly ventilated. Ventilation is no less a purifier
than water.
"It cleanses by oxidizing and drying. Keep your houses open and
your windows hoisted during the day in good weather, and from ten
o'clock until four in the afternoon, that they may have the full
benefit of sunlight and free circulation of pure air. _During
the remaining hours of the day, and through the night, keep the
windows closed._ When the weather is cool or rainy, be sure to
keep a fire in the house, in order to prevent dampness, or in
sparsely settled neighborhoods, or in the suburbs of the city,
have a fire in the house the entire season."
On page 9 we read: "Be careful to dress comfortably for the season,
_avoid the night air_ as much as possible, and when thus exposed, put
on an extra garment and do not go into _the night air_ when in a state
of perspiration."
Thus, while recognizing the great value and importance of ventilation in
a general way, they give the most definite instructions for thoroughly
and most effectually preventing it, because it is at night, especially
when we are asleep and _cannot move from the air, that the air ought
to be moved from us_.
The frequent recommendations to avoid "night air" are simply
recommendations to smother ourselves to death, because the foul, poisonous
exhalations from our lungs cannot be removed from our chambers without
being replaced by night air; there is no other fresh air at night but
night air.
The recommendation to build a fire in the house on cool days, and in
low marshy districts every day in the year, is an excellent one.
The recommendations to dress warmly and to avoid checking a perspiration
suddenly, are valuable suggestions and too much attention cannot be
paid to them.
But they are of equally great importance in reference to day air as to
night air.
To shelter oneself from the sudden change of temperature after sundown
is an animal instinct, and a very necessary one, which is strongly
implanted in man and beast alike.
The harm comes from the fact of so intelligent and intellectual a body
as the Board of Health of Philadelphia encouraging the accomplishment
of this very desirable object, by thwarting that great universal law
of our Creator, the ceaseless agitation of the air by which it purifies
itself, (and by which perversion of nature's laws millions are already
being killed unnecessarily every year,) instead of their encouraging
its accomplishment in that much more healthy and rational way by adding
more clothing or more fuel to the fire, and still continuing to breathe
the pure air at night as well as in the day-time.
I have practised for many years sleeping with my windows open every
night, summer and winter, allowing the unobstructed breeze to flow
across my bed, to the great improvement of my health and strength.
There is no objection in a well ventilated room to having a fire if
desired. A small room with a hot stove or open fire and the windows open,
is much more wholesome than a large air-tight room freezing cold.
Let us illustrate this by a simple experiment. Here we have a very small
tube, in which we place a lighted candle, occupying nearly the entire
space--this burns brightly, you see.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
Here we have another glass chamber, much handsomer and twenty times
as large; we also place a similar candle in it, that burns with equal
brightness, but watch them both for a few moments--see how rapidly
this light in the large chamber diminishes in size.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
That represents, in a beautiful manner, the diminished force of your
life in an air-tight room. There it goes--entirely extinguished by
foul air in so short a time, but the other continues to burn just as
brightly as when first lighted. The smaller one had the window open,
so to speak; we will imagine the candle in the large chamber to be a
consumptive patient who thought the room so large he did not need the
windows open. Remember, therefore, that no matter how small your room
is, if there is a constant circulation of fresh air through it, the lamp
of your life will burn brightly; but if ever so large and air-tight,
your life will soon be extinguished.
Instead of averting the cholera by avoiding fresh air at night, the
experience of the last summer seems to have taught us just the contrary;
for whilst most physicians admit that they are still unable to explain
satisfactorily, the cause or remedy for this most mysterious disease,
that has within a lifetime carried its fifty millions of victims from
time to eternity, they almost universally believe it is a foul air
poison, and they have as yet found no surer prevention than pure air.
One of the most striking illustrations of this, and perhaps one of the
most wonderful cures of cholera on record, was that of the New York
Workhouse on Blackwell's Island. It lasted only nine days, but in
that brief period one hundred and twenty-three out of eight hundred
inmates died. I visited the building with Dr. Hamilton, on the third
day after its appearance, but the hospital then contained sixty or
seventy patients, and some twenty-five or thirty had died within
twenty-four hours.
Dr. Hamilton attributed the rapid propagation and fatality of the
disease, after it once had gained admission, mainly to confinement and
crowding. It was observed that the cholera was confined, for several
days, among the women; the women had the smallest apartments, were most
crowded in their cells, and with few exceptions, were employed within
the building, in close contact with each other during the day. The men
were employed mostly in the quarries and out of doors.
The doctor's prescription on that occasion is worth studying. It is
very short and simple, however.
A slight change was made in the diet; disinfectants were used; fifteen
drops of the tincture of capsicum with an ounce of whisky, as a stimulant
at night, was all the medicine given to each individual. But the great
means the doctor relied upon for success, was pure air all the time. They
were kept out of doors from morning until night, and all the windows
were kept open night and day; and although in the hot weather of summer,
fire was made in the wards, to insure more perfect ventilation. In six
days after the initiation of these simple hygienic measures, the epidemic
entirely disappeared.
The disorders and sickness caused by the too rapid chilling of the
unprotected body after sundown, have given rise, I have no doubt, to that
erroneous popular prejudice so common among all classes, even those of
education and ordinarily good common sense, who imagine there is some
peculiar poison or source of unhealthiness in the air at night, that
is not contained in the air in the day-time. It will no doubt greatly
relieve the minds of these from such "vain terrors," and prove most
conclusively the entire fallacy of such reasoning, to examine these
tables again. In the copies I have made, I have not classified the
results given by day and by night, but a careful examination in detail,
fails to show any appreciable difference in the aggregate, by day or
by night.
Mene's numerous experiments on the air in Paris, gave less carbonic
acid at night than in the day-time.
Lewey's analysis on the Atlantic ocean, one thousand miles from the coast,
gave a decided excess in the day over that of the night. He attributes
this to the action of the sunlight upon the ocean liberating the gases
which it holds in solution.
In cities there is a much larger quantity given off from burning coals
of factories in the day-time than at night.
It is not improbable, however, that the more rapid evaporation of
moisture towards evening may carry with it the volatile particles of
corrupted animal and vegetable matter to an extent slightly in excess
of that which occurs in the morning, but it is believed these would not
equal the greater contamination from burning coals, and the usually
greater stillness of the air, producing partial stagnation, so that
the air would be a little nearer pure at night than in the day-time.
And how unmistakably do all these investigations prove what we ought to
have known and accepted without a moment's hesitation, that the Creator,
who has made such vast and such minute provisions for supplying every
living creature with a constant and copious supply of fresh air, and
has made it so important for their existence that they cannot live a
moment without it, has made the air at night just as pure and wholesome
as in the day-time.
We have thus traced the scourge of foul air to our houses, and much
of it to our bed-rooms. The next question is, how to get clear of it.
We want to know, however, what poisons the air, so as to know in what
part of the room it is to be found.
We will try a very simple experiment, to show you what a deadly poison
the breath is,--to the flame of a candle, at any rate.
Here is a simple glass tube, open at both ends--an ordinary lamp
chimney--a candle burns freely as you see, and would burn so all night,
if it did not burn out. I will now remove the candle, and breathe into
the tube through this pipe, and now you see how suddenly the candle is
extinguished as I drop it in again.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
Animals are killed suddenly or after a more prolonged struggle, by the
exhaled breath, according to the activity or sluggishness with which
the blood circulates--a bird would be killed very soon--some partially
torpid animals would live a long time. Man has great endurance--struggles
long and hard; but if closely confined, will be poisoned to death in
one night, as in the case of those confined in the celebrated Black
Hole of Calcutta, and on board of vessels where they have been confined
below decks in time of a storm. Others will struggle on longer, as in
the case of the two thousand and twenty-six who died of consumption last
year, in Philadelphia.
And now let us see in which part of the room this deadly poison of our
breath is mostly found.
It is the popular idea, that because the body, and consequently the
breath, is warmer than the ordinary temperature of a room, it rises and
accumulates at the ceiling.
Upon this theory most of our buildings have been ventilated whenever
any attention whatever has been given to the subject; but that theory
is incorrect; consequently, all practice based thereon is also wrong.
This subject of the direction taken by the breath upon leaving the
body, has been warmly discussed within a few years. It has been a very
difficult matter to prove conclusively and satisfactorily, but I think
we have devised some very simple experiments that will prove to you
very clearly what we have stated.
I have here a simple glass tube two feet long and one and a half inch
interior diameter; one end is closed with a rubber diaphragm, through
which is passed a small rubber tube--the other end is all open. We will
rest this about horizontal, and taking a little smoke in the mouth, it
will be discharged with the breath into the glass tube; it is first thrown
towards the top, but it soon falls, and now see it flowing along the
bottom of the tube like water--watch it as it reaches the far end--there,
see it fall almost like water.
[Illustration]
Now, by raising the closed end of the pipe, you see we can pour it all
out, and by filling it again and raising the other end, it falls back.
Thus you see that, notwithstanding the extra warmth in the breath, it
is heavier than the atmosphere, and falls to the floor of an ordinary
room like this, say, when the temperature is from 60 deg. to 70 deg.. This is
owing to the carbonic acid and moisture contained in it.
I have varied this experiment in a number of ways, by passing it through
smaller tubes and discharging it into the air in one or two seconds
after leaving the lungs, and by passing it through water of various
temperatures, and discharging it into rooms of different temperatures,
with the same general results. As the temperature of the air diminishes,
the tendency of the discharged breath to rise increases. Much care is
required in conducting these experiments, to avoid as much as possible,
the local currents which are always present in a room.
This is a very important fact to be borne in mind; yet notwithstanding
this, there are times, under certain circumstances, in which the foul
air will be found in excess at the top of the room.
For the further examination of this subject, we have here a little
glass-house with glass chimneys and fire-place in the first and second
stories.
[Illustration]
As the flame of a candle is such a beautiful emblem of human life,
we will remove the roof and part of the floor of the second story,
and place four candles in our house. They are all of different heights,
you see. We will call them a father, mother and two children.
As carbonic acid is that much dreaded poison in our breath, and the
heavy portion of it which causes it to fall to the floor, we will make
a little by placing a few scraps of common marble in this glass vessel,
and pouring over it some sulphuric acid.
It is now forming, and will fall and flow across the floor the same
as carbonic acid does when it pours into a basement from the gutters
on the street or filthy yards where it is formed, and before it is
absorbed or diluted by the current of pure air sweeping over them.
It first kills the smallest child, because it is nearest the floor. You
remember the excessive infantile mortality in this city in 1865. This is
partially owing to their breathing more of this foul air near the floor,
and partially owing to the great fear of their mothers and nurses,
of letting the little innocents get a breath of fresh air for fear it
will give them colic, and consequently they smother them to death.
The other child dies next, and then the mother, and lastly the father.
Thousands are thus poisoned to death by their own breath every year.
But did you ever see a physician's certificate that gave you any such
idea? Why do not the doctors tell the living, in such language as they
can understand, what killed their friends, so they may avoid it in
their own case, instead of giving it in some Latin terms which I fear
many interpret to mean some special dispensation of Divine Providence
instead of the true cause--their utter disregard of the laws their
Creator made for the preservation of their health?
Had this family known enough about ventilation to have kept the
fire-place open, with a little fire in it now and then, they would not
have been thus killed.
Let us see--we will take out the fire-board which has been put in to
make the room look a little neater, and with a very small light there
to create a draft in the chimney.
We will again light the candles, and pour in the poisonous breath.
Ah! there goes the little one--he is hardly high enough to keep out of
that deadly current flowing across the floor.
We shall have to let it in a little slower, or we will set him on
a platform, as many persons who have carefully studied this subject,
consider it judicious to do. Now, by the smoke from this taper, you can
see the air is flowing across the floor and up the chimney.
There has been a steady current flowing in long enough to have filled
the house, but the lights are all burning brightly, and you thus see
the value of an open fire-place for ventilation. Thousands of lives are
thus saved, and many more would be if all fire-places were kept open. I
have recommended hundreds of fire-boards to be cut up for kindling-wood,
as I consider this is the best use that can be made of all fire-boards.
Never stop up a fire-place in winter or summer, where any living being
stays night or day. It would be about as absurd to take a piece of
elegantly tinted court-plaster and stop up the nose, trusting to the
accidental opening and shutting of the mouth for fresh air, because
you thought it spoiled the looks of your face so to have two such great
ugly-looking holes in it, as it is to stop your fire-place with elegantly
tinted paper because you think it looks better.
If you are so fortunate as to have a fire-place in your room, paint it
when not in use; put a bouquet of fresh flowers in every morning, if you
please, or do anything to make it attractive; but never close it.
Now, there are other conditions in which a fire-place or an opening near
the floor, will not answer for ventilation. This occurs in rooms where
the air is made impure by burning lamps or gas, and where the fresh
air entering the room is cooler than the temperature of the room itself.
To illustrate this, we will put the roof on and take the entire floor
away, or as it will be a little more convenient, we will represent it
by this glass-house, using this shade for that purpose.
[Illustration]
This is supported some six inches from the floor, and has no bottom.
By lighting another candle and standing it outside, you can judge by
comparison, of the foulness of the air inside.
The tallest one is affected first, this time. You see that is a perfectly
formed light, but it gives but about half the light the one does on the
outside; this is the way with many of us who are obliged to, or rather
do, breathe foul air half the time.
We often think, by comparing ourselves with others around us, that we
are pretty fair specimens of humanity, while really we do not give more
than half the light in the world that we ought to do, and kill ourselves
before our work is half done.
You see the two tallest are dead already, and the others will soon
follow--there they go. Here is the bottom of the house removed, and
yet these candles all went out for want of fresh air.
Therefore, when we see the air is made impure by burning candles or gas
lights, owing to its exceeding heat, the foul air is mostly at the top
of the room, and especially when the fresh air enters cooler than the
air in the room. We will find, however, that in a very few minutes the
candles will relight long before the contained air or the glass shade
cools down to the temperature of the room.
The products of combustion, like those of respiration, are heavier than
the ordinary atmosphere, and consequently fall to the floor very soon
if not removed while very hot, by special openings immediately over
them in the ceiling; after it has thus fallen, provision must be made
for its removal from the level of the floor, in connection with the
foul air from the breath.
I hope that by these few simple experiments, and the statistics presented
here this evening, we have strengthened your previous convictions of
the importance of fresh air, because we are well aware that you will
find, as you proceed in your investigations of this subject, that it
is frequently surrounded with complications; yet the laws governing
the circulation of air of different temperatures, are as fixed and
immovable as the laws governing the rising and setting of the sun,
and with a very little careful investigation, can be easily understood.
And we believe no similar amount of money or thought, will produce a
greater amount of satisfaction than the increased health, strength and
happiness thus secured.