=Site.=--In the selection of a home, due regard should be had to the
site. High ground is more healthful than that which is low; a loose,
dry, sandy, or gravelly soil is better than one that is wet and clayey.
Made ground, as a rule, is unhealthful, as it is usually low to begin
with, and is commonly filled up with earth which contains more or less
organic matter.
=Soil.=--The interstices of the soil are occupied by air, or water,
or both. The impurities of the soil mingle with the ground air, and
render it unfit for breathing. When this ground air is forced above the
surface by an influx of water or by the pressure of the heavier air
above, much danger lurks in the surface atmosphere. Damp cellars and
basements should be avoided, and the upper rooms of the house selected
for living and sleeping rooms. Careful scientific investigation has
established a close connection between cholera, typhoid fever, malarial
fevers, and the rise and fall of the water in the soil.
Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, of Boston, some years ago, formulated these two
propositions:
First, A residence in or near a damp soil, whether that dampness be
inherent in the soil itself or caused by percolation from adjacent
ponds, rivers, meadows, or springy soils, is one of the principal
causes of consumption in Massachusetts, probably in New England, and
possibly in other portions of the globe.
Second, Consumption can be checked in its career, and possibly--nay,
probably--prevented in some instances by attention to this law.
The truth of these propositions was, later, corroborated by Dr. William
Pepper, of Philadelphia, and by Dr. Buchanan, of England. It is even
suspected by certain physicians that some of the prevalent diseases
among horses and cattle are due to dampness of the soil.
=Drainage of the Soil.=--In view of the above facts, the importance of
draining wet soil is obvious. A noted scientist states that ground in
which the water is sixteen or more feet below the surface is uniformly
healthy; when it is less than five feet, it is always unhealthy; and
that a fluctuating level, especially if the changes are sudden, is very
unhealthy. Certain trees and plants, such as the eucalyptus and the
sun-flower, whose roots absorb a prodigious quantity of water which is
given off through the leaves, are useful in drying wet soils.
The close connection between various forms of disease and the condition
of the soil has many times been pointed out. Some years ago, the
British government instituted an examination of the effects of drainage
in twenty-four towns. While the results indicate a general diminution
of the death-rate, the deaths from consumption show the greatest
reduction. All forms of malarial disease, fever and ague, neuralgia,
influenza, dysentery and other diseases of the bowels are also greatly
reduced by draining wet soils.
=Duty of the Householder.=--It should be the first duty of every
householder to secure perfect means for conveying beyond the walls of
his domicile everything of a dangerous character that is generated
within it, and to secure his home against the entrance of foul air,
impure water, or unusual dampness. While the responsibilities of the
dweller in the city are shared by the city officials, in that the city
supplies the water and provides the sewer to carry off the waste from
the kitchen, lavatory, and toilet, yet the householder needs to see
that absolute cleanliness is observed, that the pipes are regularly
flushed, and the traps kept in good working order, that no decomposing
substances are permitted to give off their poisonous gases in cellar,
alley, or yard, and that the cellar and foundation walls are free from
excessive moisture. The dweller in the country has the additional
responsibility of securing and preserving a pure water supply, and of
providing proper means for the disposal of the waste of the household.
=Dry Cellars.=--The floor of the cellar should be covered with an
impervious concrete. The foundation walls, especially if built of soft
stone, should be furnished with a course of hydraulic cement or other
impervious material, and the inside surface thoroughly coated with the
same. Where there is a heater or furnace in the cellar, the evils of
dampness are somewhat reduced during the winter months while the fires
are kept going. If the soil is wet or springy, a drain of ordinary
field tile of small size should be laid all around the inside of the
cellar walls, and, together with the rest of the cellar floor, should
be covered with concrete.
=Kitchen Drains.=--In many country houses this is the only drain, and
it is often the source of incalculable mischief, due in most cases to
sheer carelessness. The drain pipe need not be large--four inches in
diameter is sufficient--but it must be kept free of obstruction, so
that the waste from the kitchen may pass off rapidly, and no part of it
be suffered to lodge, to decompose, and to send its death-distilling
gases back to the kitchen, and thence through the other rooms of
the house. Not only should the outlet of the kitchen drain be kept
away from the well or cistern, but no part of the drain pipe should
come within twenty feet of it. The best of pipes and joints, unless
frequently renewed, are apt to break, and a very small aperture leading
from the drain pipe into the source of supply of drinking water may
endanger not only the single household but the entire community. A well
of infected water in London, spoken of as “the Broad Street pump,” and
famous in the annals of epidemics, is known to have caused the death of
over five hundred people in a single week.
=Drinking Water.=--So large an amount of sickness has been directly
traced to an impure water supply that too much emphasis cannot be
placed upon the need of proper precaution. Not only should the ground
about the top of the well be banked to throw off surface water, but the
upper wall of the well, for a distance of five or six feet from the
surface of the ground, should be laid in cement, and the space between
the wall and the ground filled in with wet clay well puddled around the
curbing.
If a gravel seam or loose porous rock lies between the well and the
cess-pool, even when these are a considerable distance apart, there is
absolute danger, unless the receptacle for the waste products of the
household be made thoroughly water-tight. Without this precaution, the
well may be safe for a few months or even a year or more, but sooner
or later the foul fecal matter will reach the source of water supply,
carrying with it disease and death. No odor or taste may mark the
inflow of polluted matter. Some of the most dangerous well-waters are
sparkling in appearance and refreshing to the taste.
=Sewage.=--Few subjects relating to health are of greater importance
than the proper disposal of the refuse and waste matter of the
household. Even if free from the specific germs of disease, the organic
matters contained in sewage give rise to noxious emanations, which,
when inhaled, lower the tone of the system and render it an easy prey
to disease.
=Dangers of the Soil Pipe.=--It is chiefly through the soil pipe that
cess-pool and sewer gas finds its way into the house. The return
of these foul emanations is often caused by the force of their own
expansion and sometimes by the pressure of the sewer air behind them.
The water-traps afford but a slight barrier to their progress. Every
drain pipe leading to cess-pool or sewer should be connected with a
ventilating shaft which will carry the foul vapors above the roof of
the house, and as far away from the windows as possible.
The Medical Officer for Edinburgh, in a recent report, declared that
wherever water-closets had been introduced, in the course of one year
there were double the number of deaths from typhoid and scarlet-fever,
and that any epidemic fever occurring in these houses assumed a
character of malignant mortality.
=Disinfectants.=--Chemical disinfectants are used by many good
housewives, and are helpful, but they cannot be wholly relied upon.
Cleanliness, ventilation, and dryness are the natural disinfectants.
Artificial disinfectants can no more be substituted for them than
perfumes can be made to take the place of soap and water.
=Sewer Gas.=--This poisonous gas is known chiefly by its effect. It
frequently passes the water-traps and enters our sleeping and living
rooms, there to do its fatal work. The alternate floods of hot and
cold water open the joints of iron pipes, and allow the gas to escape.
Leaden gas pipes decay and become perforated, with the same result. Dr.
Fergus, in his pamphlet “The Sewage Question,” says: “For some years
I have insisted on a careful examination of the soil pipes wherever I
have cases of typhoid or diphtheria, and in every case where I could
get this carefully carried out I have detected perforated pipes, or
have found sewer air getting into the houses in some other way. In many
cases the plumbers have declared pipes to be all right, which turned
out to be very defective when uncovered.”
=Water-Traps.=--These are not so effective in preventing the escape of
sewer gas as they are considered to be. Experiments with glass tubes
shaped and arranged just as the ordinary water-traps in sinks and
closets are arranged have shown that the light gases pass through by
the top of the bend, and the heavy gases by the bottom. A rush of wind
up the mouth of a sewer, or a heavy dash of rain which fills the sewer
and reduces the air space, so increases the pressure of the gas within
the sewer and soil pipe that the ordinary water-traps are not able to
resist it.
Water-traps that are not used for a time become death-traps. The water
soon evaporates, and affords an unobstructed channel for the conveyance
of foul gases from cess-pool or sewer to the rooms of the house. Houses
that are vacated for the summer, and that are without tenants for a
time, should be thoroughly cleaned and ventilated, and have all pipes
and drains flushed with water before being occupied.
=Size, Flow, and Fall of Drain Pipes.=--The efficiency of a drain or
sewer depends upon its capacity, its slope or incline, and the velocity
of its flow. If the amount of water flowing is proportionate to the
size of the conduit, sewers of different sizes give the same velocity
at different inclinations. A ten-foot sewer with a fall of two feet per
mile, a five-foot sewer with a fall of four feet per mile, a two-foot
sewer with a fall of ten feet per mile, and a one-foot sewer with a
fall of twenty feet per mile will have the same velocity provided they
are filled in proportion to their capacity. The ten-foot sewer will
require one hundred times as much sewage as will the one-foot sewer.
If it has less, the velocity of its stream will be correspondingly
diminished. It is especially important, therefore, that the size of the
conduit be adapted to the volume of the stream, as well as to the slope
or inclination.
An experienced engineer gives a velocity of three feet per second as
the least that should be allowed for the outlet drain of a house. To
secure this flow a four-inch drain should have a minimum inclination
of one inch in ninety-two; a six-inch drain, one in one hundred
and thirty-seven; a nine-inch drain, one in two hundred and six;
and to attain the above velocity of three feet per second at these
inclinations they must run not less than half full. The great purpose
of all modern sewage systems is to carry off all waste matters before
they have time to decompose.
=Joints of Drain Pipes.=--These should be made so smooth within as not
to impede the flow of sewage, nor become obstructed by catching thread,
strings, hair, and other floating substances. They should be so tight
as absolutely to prevent any leakage of either fluid or gaseous matter,
and render impossible the entrance of the small filaments of the roots
of trees growing along their course. They should be supported on solid
pillars of brick or stone, and not spiked to cellar walls where a
slight settling will force the joints and cause a leak. They should
be so firmly supported at every point that after the joints have been
cemented no possible change of direction or slope of pipe can occur.
Any such change is sure to work disaster.
=Sewer Ventilation.=--No sewer is safe that does not have a free
current of air passing through it. Motion and aeration are the
safeguards against infection. Sewers should be constructed so as to
secure a constant flow, with no sharp angles or short turns to impede
its progress, and with frequent vents leading to the surface of the
street. Thus diluted, the sewer gas becomes harmless, the pressure in
the conduits is relieved, and the danger of the gas forcing its way
through the water-traps into the living and sleeping rooms of our homes
is avoided.
=Location of Closet.=--The water closet should be so placed as to have
an exterior window, by means of which it may be fully ventilated.
Under no circumstances should the closet open directly into the
bedroom. When entered from the hallway or landing, the conditions may
be improved by cutting off half of the space as a vestibule or outer
apartment, thus preventing any foul odors from reaching the sleeping
rooms. For reasons of convenience as well as of health the bath-room
and lavatory should be separate from the water closet.
=Disposal of Garbage.=--In cities, the public authorities collect
and dispose of the solid waste of the kitchen. In the country, and
wherever chickens, cows, or pigs are kept, these waste substances may
be utilized. Some private families burn them. Where this cannot be done
they should be removed from the dwelling far enough to prevent their
decomposition from giving rise to any unpleasant or unwholesome odors.
No compost heap should be maintained within one hundred yards of a
dwelling.
=Dry Earth Closet.=--This system of disposing of the waste matter of
the household is not so well known in the United States as it is in
England, where it has been in successful use for many years. The best
apparatus is that invented by Rev. Henry Moule, an English clergyman.
The following claims are made for it, and they are supported by the
best authorities:
1. It furnishes a comfortable closet on any floor of the house, and it
may be supplied with earth and cleaned of its deposits by the servants
without the intervention or knowledge of any member of the household.
2. It furnishes a portable commode in any dressing-room, bedroom, or
closet, the care of which is no more disagreeable than that of an
ordinary fireplace.
3. It affords appliances for the use of immovable invalids which
entirely remove the distressing accompaniments of their care.
4. It provides for the complete and effectual removal of all liquid
waste of sleeping-rooms and kitchen.
5. It completely suppresses the odors which, despite the comfort and
elegance of modern living, still hang about cesspools and privy-vaults,
and attend the removal of their contents.
The expense is trifling as compared with that of water sewerage. The
care and attention needed is somewhat greater, and this probably
accounts for the limited use of the system in this country. In country
houses, and in small towns and villages where the facilities of a
system of public sewerage are not to be had, it would seem that the
advantages of the earth-closet system would commend it to general favor.
The earth-closet is a mechanical contrivance attached to the ordinary
seat, for measuring out and discharging into the vault or pan below a
sufficient quantity of sifted dry earth to entirely cover the solid
ordure and to absorb the urine. The earth is discharged by an ordinary
chain or wire-pull, similar to that used in the water-closet. The
vault or pan beneath the seat is so arranged that the accumulation may
be readily removed. In a small family once in two or three weeks is
often enough to empty the pan or drawer unless it is small. The entire
apparatus need not cover more than two feet square by three feet high.
It is estimated that our present wasteful method of disposing of the
night-soil occasions an annual money loss to the country of over
$100,000,000. When the economic value of human excreta becomes as well
known in the United States as it is in China and Japan we will cease to
cast it into the sea.
=A Truthful Picture.=--Any one who has lived among or mingled much
with people in the country and in hamlets and villages will recognize
the truthfulness of the following picture as presented by George E.
Waring, Jr., in “How to Drain a House.” He says:
“Let us see what chance a woman living in the country has to escape the
direst evils that ‘delicate health’ has in store for its victims. The
privy stands perhaps at the bottom of the garden, fifty yards from the
house, approached by a walk bordered by long grass, which is always
wet except during the sunny part of the day, overhung by shrubbery and
vines, which are often dripping with wet. In winter, snow-drifts block
the way, and during rain there is no shelter from any side. The house
itself is fearfully cold, if not drifted half-full with snow or flooded
with rain.
“A woman who is comfortably housed during stormy weather will, if
it is possible, postpone for days together the dreadful necessity
for exposure that such conditions imply. If the walk is exposed to a
neighboring workshop window, the visit will probably be put off until
dark. In either case, no amount of reasoning will convince a woman that
it is her duty, for the sake of preventing troubles of which she is yet
ignorant, to expose herself to the danger, the discomfort, and the
annoyance that regularity under such circumstances implies.
“I pass over now the barbarous foulness and the stifling odor of the
privy-vault. It is only as an unavoidable evil that these have been
tolerated; but I cannot too strongly urge attention to the point taken
above, and insist on the fact that every consideration of humanity,
and of the welfare not only of your own families, but of the whole
community, demands a speedy reform of this abuse. * * * I make no
apology for calling the attention of women themselves to this important
matter, believing that they will universally concede that, however
much of elegance and comfort may surround them in the appointments of
their homes, their mode of life is neither decent, civilized, nor safe,
unless they are provided with the conveniences that the water-closet
and the earth-closet alone make possible.”
=Woman’s Part in Sanitation.=--Some years ago, Dr. B. W. Richardson,
then president of the British Medical Association, said: “I want
strongly to enforce that it is the women on whom full sanitary light
requires to fall. Health in the home is health everywhere; elsewhere
it has no abiding place. I have been brought indeed by experience
to the conclusion that the whole future progress of the sanitary
movement rests for permanent and executive support on the women of
the country. When, as a physician, I enter a house where there is a
contagious disease, I am, of course, primarily impressed by the type
of the disease, and the age, strength, and condition of the sick
person. From the observations made on these points, I form a judgment
of the possible course and termination of the disease; and, at one
time, I should have thought such observations sufficient. A glance at
the appointments and arrangements and management of the house is now
necessary to make perfect the judgment. The men of the house come and
go; know little of the ins and outs of anything domestic; are guided by
what they are told; and are practically of no assistance whatever. The
women are conversant with every nook of the dwelling, from basement to
roof; and on their knowledge, wisdom, and skill, the physician rests
his hopes.”
=Materials of the Dwelling.=--No material is so dry and healthful as
wood. Where the dangers of fire preclude the use of this material, as
in close and compact cities and towns, and where brick and stone must
be employed, such houses may, with very slight additional expense,
be rendered comparatively dry. Ordinary bricks absorb a great deal of
moisture, and carry dampness from cellar to attic. Soft building stone
is nearly as bad. The use of a double course of vitrified brick on
a thick layer of the best cement just above the foundation wall, or
ground line, will prevent the dampness of the soil from being carried
up through the walls. The outside dampness from rains and sleet may
also be corrected by the use of thick studding against the walls on
the inside to support the plastering. This leaves an inch or two of
space between the outer wall and the plastering, through which the air
can circulate, and thus preserve the inner walls of the dwelling from
dampness.
=Lighting.=--The Italians have a proverb, “When you let the sunshine in
you drive the doctor out.” A house should be constructed so as to admit
an abundance of light. Architects, and builders, too, often undervalue
the health-giving properties of sunshine, or sacrifice them to other
considerations. Even the mistress of the house, whose first thought
should be the health of herself and that of her children, frequently
shuts out the sunshine to save her carpets and furniture. It is better
to have the roses on the children’s cheeks than on the carpets.
Trees should not be planted so close to a house as to obstruct the
free ingress of light and air. If the walls are damp, the tree’s shade
will help to preserve the dampness. Numerous instances are recorded of
the deaths of persons clearly traced to the damp walls, moss-covered
roofs, and general unhealthfulness arising from the close proximity of
dense trees which overhung the dwelling and shut out the sunlight. When
the sad truth was at last discovered, and the trees were removed, the
houses which, before, were seldom free from sickness and sorrow, became
wholesome and cheerful.
=Warming.=--The subjects of warmth and ventilation are so closely
related that they will necessarily overlap in their treatment. In point
of importance probably no two subjects have a larger bearing upon
health. No scheme has yet been devised by which satisfactory means of
heating and ventilation are combined with money-saving. For purposes of
ventilation, the old-time open hearth was without a rival. But while
the faces of our grandparents were roasted, successive chills chased up
their backs. In these days of scarcity of fuel, the open hearth is the
rich man’s luxury.
Most houses throughout the country are still warmed by stoves. In
cities and towns, dwelling houses are generally warmed by the hot-air
furnaces, while many of the larger establishments--stores, offices,
hotels, banks, apartment houses--are supplied with steam heat.
An important consideration in all cases of hot-air heating is that the
air be taken from the outside through a conduit instead of using the
air from the cellar, as is too frequently done. In some cities and
suburban towns, pure air is brought into the cellar through a conduit
where it passes through a box in which it is heated by steam pipes, the
steam being brought from a central plant which supplies several hundred
houses. The air when heated passes through flues to the several rooms
of the dwelling, and is turned on and off by registers in the usual
way. This system avoids all dirt of coal and ashes, and all care of
fires, and is much to be commended.
=Uniform Temperature.=--In all schemes for the warming of houses, it
is important to keep the entire building at a uniform, comfortable
temperature. In dwellings, the halls and living rooms should be so
evenly warmed that no sensation of chilliness is felt in passing from
one room into another. This, in itself, costs much fuel, and when
there is added the further cost of heating the fresh air which is
necessary to supply the place of that which has become vitiated by use,
the truth of the proposition that suitable heating and ventilation are
costly becomes apparent.
Those who live in warm, close, ill-ventilated rooms are much more
subject to colds from exposure to draughts and cold air than those who
dwell in a pure atmosphere of moderate temperature. This being the
case, persons should not accustom themselves to a higher temperature
than is barely necessary for comfort. Some persons are most comfortable
with a room temperature in winter of 68º or 69º Fahrenheit. Others
require a temperature of 70º or 71º. Invalids, infants, and old
persons, whose vitality is low, require a higher temperature than those
in the full vigor of life.
=Ventilation.=--The importance of breathing pure air was fully
discussed in a previous chapter. The best methods of securing it will
be considered here.
Air, when heated, becomes lighter and rises. Cool air, when it enters a
warm room, sinks to the bottom. The cooler and purer air of a room is,
therefore, always found nearest the floor. Although the carbonic acid
given out by the lungs is heavier than an equal quantity of atmospheric
air, yet, by the operation of the law of diffusion, it commingles with
the other gases, and is found in greatest quantity near the ceiling.
Doors and windows are the means commonly employed for ventilation;
transoms and special ventilating flues are used to some extent.
Where large numbers of people are congregated together for several
hours at a time, as in churches, theatres, and public halls, proper
ventilation becomes a matter of extreme importance. If, in such cases,
doors and windows alone are depended upon, the results are never
satisfactory. Those nearest the windows are made uncomfortable by the
chilling drafts, while the persons in the middle of the room experience
very little relief from the stifling atmosphere. In the construction of
such buildings suitable provision should be made in floor, side-wall,
and ceiling for an ample supply of pure air, without a conscious
current or other annoyance to the audience. In school houses, where
children are confined for long periods, and where their physical growth
and mental activity demand the purest air, neglect of proper means of
ventilation on the part of school directors and trustees is little
short of criminal.
In the home the subject of ventilation during the day time is a simple
matter. The frequent opening of outer doors and of inner doors, with
the occasional lowering of the upper sash of the window, will furnish
an abundant supply of pure air.
The ventilation of the sleeping room is not always so simple,
especially where privacy demands the bolting of the chamber door. The
diminished vitality of the individual during sleep requires that there
shall be no draft over his bed. If there be but a single window, place
the bed so as to escape the draft. Lower the upper sash about two
inches. If there be two sleepers in the room lower it three inches.
Raise the lower sash an inch or two. This gives three air spaces, top,
bottom, and in the middle where the two sashes overlap. A thin board
placed on edge in the window ledge, and fitting inside the window
strip, will throw the current of air upward, and when the wind is
strong, will prevent a draft. A transom over the door stimulates a
gentle current of air, and is of great advantage. In some families,
where privacy permits, the door is left slightly ajar at night.
This, with a slight opening of an outer window, will secure ample
ventilation.
=Air Currents.=--A current of two feet per second is scarcely
perceptible; of three feet is quite noticeable; of five feet is a
positive draft. In introducing fresh air into a room the current should
nowhere exceed two feet per second at the point of entrance.
=Individual Requirements of Air.=--Each adult person requires three
thousand cubic feet of air per hour. This will demand an opening or
place of entrance equal to twenty-four square inches, and an equal
amount of space for the foul air to escape. An opening four by six
inches will give much more air than one twelve by two inches by reason
of the smaller friction upon the sides. Ventilation through a single
pipe or aperture is more effective than that through several apertures
of equal aggregate area.
=Stairs.=--Many persons, especially women, who, as a rule, do more
stair climbing than men, find it very exhausting. Some stairs are
easier to mount than others. In the construction of stairways,
architects and builders should reduce the labor to the minimum. The
wants of a certain invalid necessitated a constant going up and down
stairs. The successive nurses were wont to remark, “I never saw,
before, such an easy flight of stairs.” The exact measurements of this
stairway are: seven and one-eighth inches rise; eleven and one-half
inches depth, or space from the front edge to the back part of each
step. There is a landing near the middle. A landing gives the climber
an opportunity to get a full breath, and greatly reduces the effort of
mounting.