THE 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR: 
SHOWING 
ITS INFLUENCE IN SUSTAINING LIFE, 
AND 
PRODUCING DISEASE; 
WITH REMARKS ON THE 
VENTILATION OF HOUSES, 
AND THE 
BEST METHODS OF SECURING A PURE AND WHOLESOME 
ATMOSPHERE INSIDE OF DWELLINGS, CHURCHES, 
COURT-ROOMS, WORKSHOPS, AND BUILDINGS 
OF ALL KINDS. 
BY JOHN H. GRISCOM, M. D., 
PHYSICIAN OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL, FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE 
OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, ETC. 
SECOND EDITION. 
N E W Y O R K : 
J. S. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, 
CORNER OF NASSAU AND BEEKMAN STREETS. 
18 5 0. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, 
By J. S. REDFIELD, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the 
Southern District of New York. 
STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 
13 Chambers Street, N. Y. THE USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER I. 
Health the greatest Earthly Desideratum.-Does not receive the most 
intelligent Attention.-Systems of Dietaries.-Croton Water.-Air neg- 
lected in Houses.-Relations of our Bodies to Food and Air.-One easy 
and the other difficult of Attainment.-Food often fails, Air never. 
Though self-preservation is generally regarded as the 
mainspring of human action, and the first principle of 
our nature, it can not be denied that it is very often 
blind, with regard to the object it contemplates. Reason 
may often misguide, and ignorance deceive, no matter 
how cultivated the mind may be; but it is lamenta- 
ble to see enlightened people, in this enlightened age, 
neglecting to study, nay, regarding with the coldest 
and most apathetic indifference, a subject, easy of com- 
prehension, and one intimately connected with the physi- 
cal, moral, and intellectual conditions of society ; and, in 
fact, with the health, life, and happiness, of the human 
race. Health seems to be the summum bonum, the high- 
est terrestrial aim, of both rich and poor; is esteemed 
the climax of all earthly blessings; and when lost, gen- 
erally speaking, no consideration seems too great, no 
reward too high, for its restoration. Accordingly, we 
should expect, that as bad health is the result of a de- 
rangement of one or more of the vital functions, whether 
of digestion, circulation, respiration, or any other, and 4 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
that, as these functions are mutually dependent, and co- 
existent, in the economy of life - the suspension of any 
given one being followed by a suspension of all the oth- 
ers- I say, we should expect that all these functions 
would be most assiduously administered to, and the most 
unrestricted encouragement given to their exercise. Un- 
o o 
fortunately, such is not the case - for it too often hap- 
pens, that while one function, comfort, or convenience 
of life, has received due and even extravagant attention 
(as is instanced in the fashionable follies of dress), others, 
of equal oi' greater importance, are. lightly regarded, or 
totally neglected. 
For example, altogether irrespective of the subject 
of clothing, which engrosses so much attention in all civ- 
ilized nations - how many lectures have been delivered 
and books written, by eminent men, on the different sys- 
tems of dietetics, which have all been listened to, or 
carefully perused, and acted upon, by all classes in the 
community ! How ably, and eloquently, have the differ- 
ent articles of food been canvassed, analyzed, and classi- 
fied, according to their different degrees of nutrition or 
digestibility! Even rival systems of dietaries have 
sprung up, and the advocates of each have not, in some 
instances, hesitated to indulge in the warmest discussions, 
and the most narrow-minded professional jealousy. T wo 
sects, in particular, have made themselves conspicuous - 
the one advocating the necessity of eating animal food, the 
other averring that it is "rank poison," and that slaugh- 
tering dumb beasts for food, is an offence in the sight of 
Heaven ; while Grahamism is still studied and practised 
by a select few, with almost religious zeal, - and the Bi- 
ble is, as usual, appealed to, and quoted in defence of both 
opinions. Again, to show what prodigious labor - labor 
more than herculean - and disregarded expense, will be 
bestowed upon the comforts and health of a single com- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
5 
munity, in regard to the matter of drink alone, let us 
contemplate, for a moment, the introduction of the Croton 
water into the city of New York. It is enough to say, that 
nearly $15,000,000 have been expended on this project, 
and it may be added, judiciously expended. Now, an in- 
telligent stranger, coming into town, would, after being 
made aware of these facts, naturally admire the enlight- 
ened and well-directed efforts for the dietetic amelioration 
of the people, and applaud the enterprise and sagacity 
that decoyed the refreshing current into every street and 
lane of our thirsty city; but he would as naturally ask, 
What provision have you made to introduce into your 
public schools, workshops, jails, churches, benevolent in- 
stitutions, and, above all, the humble dwellings of the 
poor, that life-giving, ethereal, and invisible fluid, without 
which food and water of any and every kind, are as use- 
less for the purposes of nourishment, as the clay or sand? 
The question is a leading one, and the answer antici- 
pated. 
The relations of our bodies to the food which sustains 
them, are such, that when there is a necessity for an 
additional supply of it, nature has implanted within us 
certain sensations, which indicate that necessity. These 
sensations are painful, distressing, urgent, and of such a 
peculiar character, as at once to point to the means of 
relief. But our aliment is so placed, that we must go in 
search of it. It is not furnished immediately at oui* 
hands, and in such profusion that we can stand still and 
let it drop into our mouths; but we must employ the 
faculties of memory judgment, and sight; we must exert 
our muscles to labor, our forethought, our knowledge of 
the seasons - of growth and decay - as well as our expe- 
rience of the varieties adapted to the various conditions 
of the body, at different periods of the year, and hours 
of the day. And even with all these faculties in full 6 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
vigor, and with the demands of nature pressing with 
unwonted force upon our suffering bodies, nature will 
sometimes withhold its supplies ; the soil will sometimes 
cease to yield its fruits, which no art can supply before 
thousands die by famine. 
But how different is it with the atmosphere ! Except 
under circumstances attending its total or near exclusion 
from us (which are always accidental and very rare), we 
have no well-defined and unerring sensations, to indicate 
a necessity for air. To denote the want of this element, 
there is no sensation corresponding to those of hunger 
or thirst, nor does the sense of taste enable us to detect 
its impurities. The atmosphere of a room, or even of 
open space, may be deteriorated to a degree highly 
injurious to health ; yet we may be insensible to the fact. 
Upon going suddenly, from the open pure air, into an 
impure atmosphere, we may indeed perceive, by some 
disagreeable odor, that it is not proper to be breathed; 
but if its impurities have arisen while we have been 
immersed in it, not only, as has been said, may we be 
insensible thereto, but the impurity itself may have so 
operated upon our faculties and sensations, as to have 
benumbed them, and thus increased the danger. 
But when was a deficient supply of air ever known, 
except through the agency of man himself, in his folly 
and ignorance 1 Providence has furnished us with an 
ocean of it, fifty miles deep, and placed us at the bottom, 
where its pressure enables us to obtain it in exhaustless 
profusion, and perfect purity. By the exercise of a cer- 
tain corporeal function, which is carried on without our 
notice or aid, it flows, surely and steadily, deep into the 
body ; and so arranged are the functions, that it requires 
more than one's ordinary physical strength, permanently 
to arrest its flowing in. 
To the helpless infant, both food and air are furnished 7 
without its aid: but how differently! To be supplied 
with food, its cries must reach the ear of its mother, who 
must, herself, be supplied from other sources; while as 
to the air, without a care or a thought, without labor or 
sensation, the little animal instinctively expands its chest, 
and lives. 
But the relations of the food and air to our bodies, 
which they conjointly support, and the true estimation 
in which they should be held, in regard to the attention 
necessary for their better adaptation to their important 
purposes, will be better appreciated by a more detailed 
comparison of them, in connexion with the manner in 
which they perform their parts, in giving sustenance and 
life. This will be done in the next chapter. 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 8 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER IL 
Relative Importance of Food and Air.-Nature and Number of the 
Changes each undergoes.-Power of the System to separate Impurities 
from each.-Length of Time an Animal may live without either.- 
Digestion.-Respiration.-Each described.-Their Peculiarities.-Per- 
sons who breathe Impure Air, can not appreciate Pure Air so well.- 
Air necessary to Digestion.-Respiration the last Act of Digestion.- 
Surfeiting, common with Food, impossible with Air. 
The relative importance to the animal system, of the 
two principal sources of its support-viz : the food it 
consumes, and the air it inhales - may be determined 
upon the following points of comparison :- 
First. The nature and number of the changes which 
each undergoes before being fitted to nourish the body; 
and the length of time, after each is received into the 
system, before it discharges its office. 
Second. The power of the system to separate the 
impurities they may contain, and appropriate the good 
to its nourishment and support. 
Third. The length of time that an animal may live 
without any addition of eithei' respectively. 
In order to appreciate, properly, the importance of 
these two sources of animal life and vigor, it is necessary 
to understand something of the functions by which each 
performs its part, and to be able to trace both, from the 
moment of their entrance into the interior of the body, 
to their ultimate destination. 
The function by which all the food, solid and liquid, 
is made to nourish the animal body, is called digestion. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
9 
That by which atmospheric ail* is introduced into the 
chest, and enabled to act upon the system, is called 
respiration. 
In considering the points of comparison just mentioned, 
we will, first, trace the course which the food takes, and 
observe the various changes wrought upon it, ere it 
enters the blood-vessels as nutrient matter. 
After being masticated and mixed with saliva, it is 
swallowed and enters the stomach. In this organ it 
undergoes the first great change, being operated upon 
by the gastric juice, a powerful solvent, by which its 
whole character is reduced, from a heterogeneous mass 
of materials, to a homogeneous substance of a cream 
color-a semi-fluid consistence - and giving little or no 
o o 
trace of the different substances of which it was origin- 
ally composed. 
Animal and vegetable solids are all altered and reduced 
to this one substance, which has the name of chyme. 
This process being completed, the food in this new 
form is passed from the stomach into another' organ, 
called the duodenum, or second stomach. 
It is there mingled with other fluids, the principal of 
which is the bile (formed by the liver). These have the 
property of still further altering its chemical character; 
and the change which is here to be especially noted, 
is, that the impure and innutritions portion is partially 
separated from that which is fitted to nourish the body. 
Passing onward from this organ, it enters the upper 
portion of the intestinal canal, the surface of which is 
studded with the mouths of innumerable capillary ves- 
sels, called lacteals.* In this situation, a complete sep- 
aration of the nutritious from the innutritous parts of the 
food is made. The innutritions is carried onward and 
discharged from the body; while the pure, nutritious 
* So called from the milky color of their contents. 10 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
part, called chyle, is absorbed by the lacteals, and trans- 
mitted from the intestines into a series of glands in the 
same vicinity, where it undergoes a still further change. 
This effected, it is conveyed upward from the abdomen, 
by means of a duct, called (from its situation in the 
chest, or thorax) the thoracic duct, which terminates in 
a large vein, carrying a current of blood directly to the 
heart. The substance thus conveyed by the thoracic 
duct into the current of blood, and which mingles with, 
and becomes a part of, the blood, is the purely nutritious 
portion of the food, separated entirely from the useless, 
or innutritious. 
From even this cursory description, we see, that to 
obtain this end, and to avoid the dangers that would fol- 
low the introduction of the crude food directly into the 
circulation, a long and manifold process, having several 
distinct steps, and employing a number of separate and 
complicated organs, is required; and that, even then, 
the food is not completely changed into blood, but is yet 
only chyle. 
The time occupied in thus preparing the food for 
nutrition, varies with different articles of diet; but 
probably is never less than two, and in many instances 
extends to six or eight hours, before the completion of 
the process. Fresh supplies of food are required not 
more than three times, and frequently only twice, a-day. 
But how different is it with the atmosphere in all these 
particulars ! It is no sooner inhaled than its work is 
begun ; and so rapid is its agency upon the blood, that 
the inhalation of pure air is followed, almost immediately, 
by the exhalation of the same air degenerated. Twenty 
times in a minute, the blood requires an additional sup- 
ply of oxygen, without which the whole body suffers. 
Second. We observe that the digestive apparatus pos- 
sesses the highly valuable, and very necessary, power of USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
11 
separating the nutritious from the innutritions part of 
the food. 
This is one of its most striking peculiarities. No 
such power of discrimination, however, is given to the 
process of respiration. The action of the gases inhaled, 
upon the blood circulating through the lungs, is direct, 
immediate, and positive. If an innocuous gas is taken 
in with the air, the lungs have no power of separating 
them ; nor, if it be a poisonous gas, is there any power 
to deprive it of its injurious properties J but, for good or 
for evil, all that enters the lungs acts instantly upon the 
blood, according to its peculiar properties.z> 
Moreover, the stomach has the power of rendering 
wholesome, substances which, under other circumstances, 
would prove prejudicial or even poisonous. 
Ex. gr. Carbonic acid gas taken into the lungs in its 
purity causes speedy death, but may be swallowed in 
its pure form combined with water (soda or mineral 
water), with not only a harmless, but refreshing and 
invigorating effect. 
Third. As regards the length of time that a person 
may exist without any additional food, it is believed to be 
about three weeks at the longest. Recovery at the end 
of this time may not be possible; but still, life may be 
continued this length of time, at the last burning more 
and more feebly in its socket.* 
On the other hand, exclusion of atmospheric air from 
the lungs for the space of three minutes, will generally 
cause the death of the individual. Restorative opera- 
* A case came to the knowledge of the writer, in 1843, of a woman, 
■who, believing in the " Millerite" doctrine, was stricken with remorse at 
some serious misconduct; and, under the impression that her sin would 
be increased by partaking of any of the pleasures of life, refused utterly 
to eat or drink, and literally starved to death under the delusion. No 
means could induce her to taste anything, until so reduced in strength, 
force accomplished what her will denied: but unavailingly. She lived 
about three weeks. 12 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
tions may then rekindle the spark of life; but the body 
has not within itself the powers of resuscitation, and, if 
not relieved speedily, dissolution will begin. 
Such are some of the wide differences between the 
operations of the air, and of the food, in sustaining life. 
Their influence in promoting health, and consequently 
happiness, both physical and intellectual, and also per- 
sonal comfort, are equally great and decided. Those 
who have never- observed in their own persons the con- 
trast of the effects of wholesome and unwholesome diet, 
can not well judge of the value of one over the other, 
for contrast affords the strongest of all proofs. So those 
who habitually breathe a tainted and unwholesome air, 
and especially those whose ignorance prevents them from 
discerning any impurity in the air, though immediately 
subject to it, can not appreciate the value of a continued 
respiration of a well-ventilated atmosphere, in the in- 
creased vigor, elasticity, and comfort, of body and mind, 
which it imparts. 
But another, and perhaps a still more important cir- 
cumstance, is here to be especially noted. 
The food which we take into the stomach undergoes, 
as has been stated, several changes, before it is prepared 
to enter the circulation. These changes effected, it is 
finally poured directly into the current of blood, as the 
latter is about entering the right side of the heart prior 
to its being transmitted through the lungs. It is not yet 
blood : it has neither the color, nor the chemical proper- 
ties, of that important fluid. It has yet to be san guifiled,. 
The air is necessary for this final step. For this pur- 
pose the chyle is brought, in the lungs, in contact with, 
and is acted upon by, the air in these organs. Without 
contact with the air, and deriving a vital principle from 
it, it would still be unfitted to nourish the body. If, 
therefore, we consider digestion to comprehend every 13 
step which the food undergoes, from mastication to its 
conversion into blood, we must consider respiration as 
the last act of digestion, and essential to it. Without 
the former, the latter function would be useless; for our 
food, unable to undergo the final change necessary to 
sustain life, and to replace the worn-out material of the 
body, would become a burden; without the atmosphere 
the food would be useless. 
One more fact will complete the contrasts of these two 
sources of animation. Rare are the circumstances, ex- 
cept among the destitute, in which a sufficiency of food 
can not be obtained; the danger with most persons is 
on the other hand. Repletion and surfeiting are far 
more frequent, and productive of great danger. But we 
can not inhale the air in too great a quantity, or of too 
pure a quality. The lungs, as well as the stomach, are 
a digestive apparatus. The one digests food, the other 
air; but here the analogy terminates, and one of their 
principal distinguishing characteristics is, that while the 
stomach may possibly admit a quantity of food sufficient 
to paralyze its powers, and even suspend digestion alto- 
gether, such is the construction of the lungs, that by their 
own self-adjusting power, they, under no circumstances, 
will admit a greater volume of air than is required for 
the due ventilation of the blood, the sanguification of 
the food, and for the performance of the othei- numerous 
and important processes to which respiration is made 
subservient. 
When pure, air can do no harm, in the greatest amount 
that it can possibly be inhaled. On the contrary, the 
greater the amount of food eaten, the greater is the 
amount of air required to sanguify it; and whether 
much or little is eaten, the more thoroughly and rapidly 
it is aerated the better. 
With a knowledge of these differences between food 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 14 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
and air; of the vast personal, social, and economical 
benefits derivable from the inhalation of the latter in 
uniform purity ; of its unfailing abundance and facility 
of attainment; and the ease with which its impurities 
may be avoided; is it not one of the most surprising 
facts in the history of civilization, that so much discom- 
fort and ill-health, so premature and so great mortality, 
as are directly attributable to them, should be permitted? USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
15 
CHAPTER III. 
MECHANISM OF RESPIRATION. 
Anatomy of the Chest.-The Ribs.-The Diaphragm.-Action of the 
Chest-like that of the Bellows-Number of Expansions per Minute. 
-The Lungs-have no Power of their own to expand.-Internal Struc- 
ture of the Lungs-Passage of Air in the Lungs audible.-Extent of 
Surface of Pulmonary Membrane.-Its Object.-Capacity of Lungs for 
Air-depends on the Muscles of Respiration-and Shape of the Chest. 
-Exercise important.-Object of Inhalation of Atmospheric Air.-The 
Heart-a double Organ.-Course of the Blood through it.-Two Cir- 
cles.-Pulsations of the Heart and Movements of Respiration have Re- 
lation to each other.-Number of Pulsations.-Amount of Blood and Air 
flowing through the Lungs.-Conclusions therefrom. 
The part of the body devoted to the purposes of res- 
piration, is the chest, or thorax. This is composed of 
the ribs, twelve in number on each side. They have a 
semicircular shape ; the posterior ends are attached by a 
moveable joint to the spine behind-and the anterior ends 
of all but the three lower, made firm by being attached 
to the breastbone, directly or indirectly, by strips of car- 
tilage. The front ends of the three lower ribs are not at- 
tached to any other bone, and are only kept in their places 
by the muscles, which lie upon, and are attached to, them. 
The ribs are placed from half an inch to an inch apart, 
the intermediate spaces being filled by strips of mus- 
cle,* passing from one to the other, and which, by their 
contractions, draw the ribs closer to each other. 
* As this term must be used frequently, in the following pages, the 
reader will understand it to mean that part of the body known as the lean 
red flesh ; its use is to produce motion, and it is the only part of the body 
which causes motion. 16 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Fig-1- 
Skeleton of the chest. S, S, the spine. B, b, the breast-hone. R, R, the 
ribs. C, C, cartilages connecting the ribs with the breast-bone. C, b, the 
collar bone. S, b, the shoulder-blade. The uppermost ribs are the short- 
est and most curved, and their lengths increase as they descend. 
The chest has, consequently, a conical shape, with its 
base below, and apex above. The lower boundary or 
floor of the chest, consists of a very large broad muscle, 
corresponding in shape to the edge of the base of the 
cone, and attached to the latter, by its circumference, all 
around. This muscle, called the diaphragm, separates 
the cavity of the chest from the parts below it, except 
where a few small apertures allow the bloodvessels, 
nerves, &c., to pass through to connect with the organs USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
17 
in the abdomen. The diaphragm, in its relaxed state, 
does not lie flat, but its central portion rises into the 
thoracic space, so that it presents a deep concavity be- 
low, and convexity above. By this arrangement, when 
the diaphragm contracts, its convexity is reduced, or, in 
other words, it is partially flattened, whereby the space 
above it is increased. 
Fig. 2. 
Sections of the chest, diaphragm, and abdomen. D, D, diaphragm. 
M, M, M, muscles of the abdomen. 1st, the diaphragm in its relaxed con- 
dition ; 2d, in its contracted state. The difference in the space above it 
is shown in the two conditions. 
On the walls of the chest, externally, are arranged, 
both behind and in front, several muscles, which, together 
with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, form the 
muscles of respiration. By the contraction of these 
muscles, the dimensions of the cavity of the chest are 
increased, in three directions. 1st, by the elevation of 
the front ends of the ribs, the breastbone is pushed for- 18 
USES ANO ABUSES OF AIR. 
ward, whereby the antero-posterior diameter is length- 
ened ; 2d, by the same movement, the middle portions 
of the ribs are raised and separated farther from each 
other, whereby the diameter from side to side is in- 
creased ; and, 3d, by the depression of the arch of the 
diaphragm, which takes place when that muscle is con- 
tracted, the vertical diameter is very much increased. 
The chest is thus made to expand in every direction. By 
this expansion, a partial vacuum is created, which can 
only be supplied by air through the only opening, the 
mouth, which is connected with the interior of the chest 
by the windpipe. This introduction of air is denomina- 
ted inspiration. Almost immediately after this, expira- 
tion is produced by the reduction of the various diame- 
ters of the chest. This is effected by the action of 
certain other muscles, called the antagonist muscles of 
respiration. The contained air is thus compressed, and 
forced out at the mouth. 
These operations are precisely similar in principle to 
those of the common bellows. When the two boards 
of the bellows are separated, the air rushes in at the 
nozzle and valve to fill the vacuum; and when the 
boards are pressed together again, the compressed air 
is forced out at the nozzle in a powerful stream. 
These alternate expansions and contractions of the 
chest, amount, on the average, to eighteen a minute. 
But the air, strictly speaking, does not enter the chest 
itself, but into two large bags, which are always in close 
contact with the interior surface of the chest, and are 
themselves expanded and diminished in size, as the chest 
enlarges and contracts. These large bags are called the 
lungs, one of which is placed on each side, having the 
heart between them, the three organs occupying nearly 
the whole of the thoracic space. The lungs are attached 
to the lower end of the windpipe, as it enters the chest USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
19 
from the neck, and all the air which passes down it, of 
course, can only get into the lungs. 
Fig. 3. 
Fig. 3 is a front view of the chest and diaphragm, the 
latter relaxed. The front half of the ribs being cut 
away, the interior of the chest is exposed. C, c, C, c, 
the cavity of the chest, empty. D, D, D, D, the dia- 
phragm, rising high in the centre, and descending very 
low at the sides and behind. The white space at its 
upper part is its tendinous portion. A, A, the abdomen. 
The nature of this arrangement of the windpipe, 
lungs, and chest, together with the means by which the 
diaphragm operates to enlarge the thoracic cavity, are 
illustrated by a model, of which the following is a figure:- 
C,C, fig. 4, is a bell-shaped glass, to represent the chest. 
In the mouth of the glass is inserted, very tightly, a cork, 
T, representing the trachea, having a hole lengthwise 
through it. To the lower end of the cork is attached a 
small bladder, L, representing a lung. The lower open- 20 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Fig. 4. 
ing of the bell is closed by a piece of sheet gum-elastic, 
D, which fits air-tight. This answers foi' the diaphragm. 
No communication can exist between the cavity of 
the bell and the external air, except through the hole in 
the cork ; and any air entering through that hole can 
only go into the bladder. It is evident, also, that when 
the diaphragm is pushed into the cavity of the glass, as 
at D, the bladder will be flaccid and void of air; but 
when the diaphragm is drawn down in the situation of 
the dotted curve, a partial vacuum in the glass will be 
the consequence, which can only be supplied with air 
through the cork, whereby the bladder will expand to 
its full extent, shown by the dotted circle; and when 
the diaphragm is pushed up again, the air will be forced 
out from the bladder. 
The diaphragm in the living body does not descend 
near so low as in the figure ; for a very extensive motion 
is required from it in the latter, to compensate for the 
want of expansion in the other parts. With this instru- 
ment, the model of only one lung can be shown ; but 
it gives us the advantage of seeing its mode of action, 
and the same principle may be applied to both. The USES AND ABUSES OP AIR. 
21 
lungs, which are thus the direct recipients of the inhaled 
air, correspond exactly, in shape and size, to all those 
parts of the cavity of the chest not occupied by the 
heart, and a few smaller' organs; in expanding and con- 
tracting, they follow precisely the movements of the 
chest, so that, at all times, they are in contact with its 
interior surface. 
But the lungs have no power of their own to expand, 
or even to aid in their own expansion. They are, during 
inspiration, entirely passive agents, and follow the mo- 
tions of the chest without resistance. It is supposed, 
however, that they possess a slight degree of contractil- 
ity, which enables them to contract more readily during 
expiration, and thus facilitate the expulsion of the air. 
This is as if they were formed of very delicate India- 
rubber, which would expand freely on pressure, and 
contract slightly when the pressure was removed. 
The internal structure of the lungs is very peculiar, 
and requires attention at this time. They are not simple 
bags, like a bladder, with a free space within, but are 
divided and subdivided, to an almost infinite degree, into 
very little cells. The whole internal structure of the 
lungs is thus a cellular' or sponge-like mass, each cell 
being so arranged as to connect with the orifice of the 
lungs, that it may receive a portion of the air which 
enters thereat. The windpipe, at its lower terminus, 
is divided into branches, called bronchia, which pass, 
one to each side, and, as they advance, are divided and 
subdivided to a great extent, like the branches and twigs 
of a tree, terminating finally in the pulmonary cells, in 
somewhat the same manner as the twigs terminate in the 
leaves of a tree. The lungs appear to the eye to be 
composed, almost wholly, of the cells ; as the tree, when 
in full foliage, appears to be formed almost entirely of 
the leaves. 22 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
The material of which the lungs and their cells are 
composed, is membrane, of exceeding delicacy, and is 
translucent. It is so fine as to permit the air to pass 
through it, yet sufficiently dense to be impervious to the 
blood. 
When the ear is applied to the chest of a healthy per- 
son, the sound of the air passing through the bronchia 
and air-cells may be distinctly heard. This has given 
rise to the invention of the stethoscope, a small wooden 
trumpet-shaped instrument, which transmits the sounds 
of respiration, with great distinctness, when one end is 
placed against the chest, and the other against the ear 
of the listener. The variations of sound, produced by 
the modifications of shape in the cells by disease, by the 
enlargement or contraction of the bronchial tubes, by 
the presence of various kinds of fluid in them, and other 
causes, are easily discovered, either through this instru- 
ment, or by the naked ear applied to the chest, and are 
important means of detecting diseases of the pulmonary 
organs. 
From the immense number of the pulmonary air-cells, 
it will readily be inferred, that the whole surface of the 
membrane of which they are composed is very great. 
The air-cells have been estimated to be one hundredth 
of an inch in diameter, and the extent of surface fur- 
nished by them collectively at twenty thousand square 
inches. By some, the extent of surface they present is 
supposed to be thirty times that of the external surface 
of the body. 
The purpose of this great extent of surface, is to 
afford to the air sufficient opportunity to act, readily and 
speedily, upon the blood, which circulates incessantly 
through the lungs. The membrane forming the walls 
of the cells is the means of their communication, as the 
blood flows through the lungs upon one face of the mem- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
23 
brane, while the air is applied to the other, and, by 
transudation through it, acts upon the fluid. 
The blood and air, being by this means divided into a 
great number of very minute particles, and diffused over 
this extensive area, act upon each other, in the manner 
hereafter to be described, most rapidly and effectually. 
Many experiments have been tried, for the purpose 
of ascertaining the capacity of the lungs for air ; and the 
fact has become established, that the lungs always con- 
tain a large quantity of air. They are never empty. 
This might be very readily inferred, from the circum- 
stance, already stated, that the external surface of the 
lungs is in immediate contact, at all times, with the inter- 
nal surface of the chest. The chest-formed as it is, in 
a great measure, of unyielding bones, most of them of a 
semi-circulai- form - can never have its sides brought 
into contact with each other, and its cavity, therefore, 
can not be obliterated, or even reduced to the capacity 
of its solid contents; and a vacuity must, consequently, 
always exist, to be filled with air. The amount thus 
always present in the lungs, varies according to the age, 
shape of the body, and other circumstances. 
The average capacity of the lungs, when the chest is 
fully expanded, is estimated at twelve pints. At each 
ordinary expiration, one pint is exhaled, which is re- 
placed by the same amount at each inspiration. There 
is thus left in the lungs, after an ordinary expiration, 
eleven pints of air, which keeps the air-cells continually 
distended. 
The greatest inspiration possible, by a strong man, 
with a well-developed chest, is nine and one fourth pints. 
Public singers, and those who habitually exercise their 
lungs to a greater than ordinary degree, by avocations 
which call for their extra use, especially in the open air, 
it is ascertained take in from five to seven pints at each 24 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
inhalation. This enables them to produce a more pro- 
longed expiration, whereby some very interesting effects 
in vocal and instrumental music can be produced. 
The capacity of the chest for inspiration depends, first, 
upon the strength of the muscles of respiration, and the 
control the individual may possess over them. These 
muscles, like nearly all others under the control of the 
will, are capable of being invigorated and developed by 
a proper education of them. Well-regulated exercise 
of any voluntary muscle invariably results in its greater 
development of size and strength; the quantity of blood 
transmitted to it is increased by use, and decreased by 
non-use, increasing its size and power in the former 
case, and dwindling them away in the latter. This is as 
true of the respiratory muscles, as of the muscles of the 
arm or leg. In proportion to their strength, therefore, 
is their capability of enlarging the chest; and conse- 
quently dependent on them, in a considerable degree, is 
the amount of air which the chest will receive at each 
inspiration. From this and some preceding remarks, it 
will be inferred, and very properly, that the popular idea 
of pain in the lungs being produced by hard exercise, 
and consequent forcible breathing, is erroneous; the 
pain is not in the lungs, but in the muscles which ex- 
pand the chest. 
The capacity for inspiration, depends, in the second 
place, upon the shape and position of the chest. If the 
shoulders are thrown back, the breast-bone put forward, 
and, especially, if the chest and abdomen are left free 
from all constraint by clothing or bandages, then the 
muscles, including the diaphragm, have the most favor- 
able opportunity for action, and the ribs the greatest 
freedom of motion. But with stooping shoulders, a con- 
strained body, and corseted waist, not only are the ribs 
prevented from moving freely, but the diaphragm and USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
25 
other muscles, being compressed and uninvigorated, are 
unable to act with their natural freedom and strength. 
Every kind, of exercise, and the habits most conducive 
to an expansion of the thorax and a development of its 
muscles, should therefore be inculcated. To children, to 
whom free respiration and abundance of pure air are 
necessary for their growth as well as nourishment, exer- 
cise of this part of the body is especially important. 
Singing, by the regularity with which it brings the res- 
piratory muscles into exercise, and causes a greater 
development of chest and lungs, is one of the most 
important exercises to which the young can be trained; 
and under all the circumstances of life, whether sitting, 
standing, or lying, asleep or awake, care should be taken 
by those who have guardianship over them, that no 
impediment, by position or other circumstances, is in 
the way of the expansion of their lungs to their fullest 
extent, and the inhalation of the purest atmosphere. 
already briefly hinted at, one object of the inhala- 
tion of atmospheric air, is the purification of the blood. 
.This is proved, not merely by the fact that the blood 
flows in an incessant current through the lungs, and in 
immediate proximity to the air-cells, but also by the 
relative position of the lungs, and the great centre of 
circulation, the heart.^ The latter is placed near the 
centre of the chest, between the two lungs, occupying, 
with them, nearly the whole of the thoracic cavity. That 
their anatomical and physiological relations are very inti- 
mate, is shown by the number, character, and size of 
the blood-vessels which pass between them, and the 
great difference displayed by the blood, before and after 
it has been transmitted through the lungs, from and to 
the heart. 
The heart is a double organ, having two sides, the 
right and the left. Each side contains two cavities - 26 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
a right auricle and ventricle, and a left auricle and 
ventricle. 
The following diagram shows the relative position 
and mode of communication between these cavities:- 
Fig. 5- 
There is no communication between the two sides of 
the heart, except through the circuit of the lungs, while 
the chambers of each side are connected with each 
other, the openings being carefully guarded by valves, 
which open and shut with every pulsation, admitting the 
blood through in one direction, but entirely preventing 
its passage back, like the valves of a pump. 
The course taken by the blood is as follows :- 
Two large veins ^.g 5, V, V) - one descending from 
the head and upper extremities, the other ascending from 
the lower extremities, abdomen, and other parts - 
receive all the impure blood from the body, and unite 
together near the right auricle (R, A). They pour their 
joint currents into that chamber, and distend it. When 
filled, it contracts upon its contents, and forces the fluid 
into the right ventricle (R, V). This, when filled, con- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
27 
tracts, and drives the blood into the pulmonary artery 
(P, a), which carries it all to the two lungs, dividing it 
between them, through appropriate branches, and dis- 
tributing it, in minute particles, over the surface of the 
pulmonary air-cells. Its coloi' is yet of a dark purple; 
but immediately, as it is distributed through the lungs 
and is acted upon by the air in the cells, its color 
changes, and becomes a bright vermilion, or scarlet. 
This change having been effected, it is again collected 
from the lungs by means of another set of blood-vessels, 
called pulmonary veins (P, v), which convey it away 
from the lungs and carry it back to the heart, where, the 
vessels from each lung uniting, it is emptied into the left 
auricle (L, A). From this it is thrown into the left ven- 
tricle (L, V). From this cavity arises the main artery 
of the body, the aorta (A); and through this great tube 
the purified blood is sent, to be distributed all over 
the body, visiting every fibre and atom for their susten- 
ance and growth. The final terminations of these dis- 
tributing vessels are denominated, from their extreme 
minuteness, capillaries. These having performed their 
office with the red or arterial blood, having deposited the 
pure material which they conveyed to the heart, take up 
the old and effete matter which requires to be removed, 
whereby the blood is changed again to the dark-purple 
color which it had before it entered the lungs. In this 
impure condition, it is taken up by the capillary veins, 
and gradually returned to the right side of the heart, at 
the point whence we started with this description, to be 
again passed through the lungs for purification, and the 
restoration of its vermilion color. 
The Hood thus traverses two circles; - 1st, from the 
right side of the heart, through the lungs, to the left side; 
and 2d, from the left side, through the body or system, 
to the right side of the heart. The first is called the 28 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
pulinonary circulation; the second, the systemic circula~ 
tion. In the former, its color is changed from a dark- 
purple to a scarlet hue ; in the latter, the reverse change 
occurs, from the scarlet to the purple. The first change 
is due to the influence of the atmospheric air; the last 
change, to the deposite of the pure mattei* from the 
blood, and its taking up the impure to be conveyed out 
of the system. 
The pulsations of the heart, and the movements of the 
chest in respiration, have a strict relation to each other. 
The purpose of respiration being to introduce into the 
lungs the air which is to act upon the blood, sent to the 
same organs by the heart, a certain relation as to quan- 
tity and frequency must be maintained under all circum- 
stances of health. Thus in a state of quiescence, when 
the heart beats at a certain rate, the number of respira- 
tions is exactly proportioned thereto; and when, by 
increased exercise of the body, the circulation is stim- 
ulated to greater frequency and force, and the blood is 
transmitted more rapidly through the lungs, then the 
number of respirations is proportionately increased : so 
that, under all the varied circumstances of life, there is 
found a direct ratio between the frequency of the pulse 
and the number of respirations. 
The average number of pulsations of the heart, is 
seventy-two per minute. In infancy, the number is much 
greater, rising to ninety, or even one hundred, per min- 
ute. As age advances, the number is gradually dimin- 
ished, until, in old age, it will be reduced to sixty, and 
sometimes as low as fifty, per minute. 
There is, on the average, one respiration to about 
every four pulsations of the heart, making the average 
number of respirations eighteen per minute. 
There are, consequently, in one hour 4,320 pulsations ; 
and in twenty-four hours the number is 103,680. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
29 
The number of respirations in one hour is 1,080 ; and 
in twenty-four hours, 25,920. 
The amount of blood sent to the lungs at each pulsa- 
tion of the heart, is calculated to be about two ounces. 
This multiplied by seventy-two (the number of pulsations 
per minute), gives one hundred and forty-four ounces, or 
about nine pints of blood sent to the lungs every minute, 
or sixty-seven and a half gallons per hour. 
At each inspiration, forty cubic inches, or about one 
pint, of air is inhaled : making eighteen pints of air in- 
haled every minute, or 1,080 pints per hour. 
These sums multiplied by twenty-four, respectively, 
give us the following results :- 
Every twenty-four hours, there flow to the lungs sixty 
hogsheads of air, and thirty hogsheads of blood. 
These amounts, apparently so enormous, are the 
results of accurate and oft-repeated experiments and 
calculations, and serve well to show the importance, 
direct and relative, of the influences of the blood and 
atmosphere upon each other, and upon the condition of 
the body. 
Now, when we consider that it is upon the blood that 
the body depends for its existence from moment to 
moment; that to perform its office, the blood must be 
continually renewed, from a state of impurity (which, if 
allowed to continue unremoved, will soon prove fatal) to 
a condition of purity, when it possesses the highest 
amount of activity; that this change is principally de- 
pendent upon the atmosphere taken in at the lungs ; the 
enormous quantities of blood and air which daily pass 
through the lungs; and that the purer the air inhaled, 
the better will the blood be fitted to sustain the health 
and energy of the body; - we have some of the data 
upon which to base our estimates of the value of fresh 
and pure air to our health, happiness, and longevity. 30 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER IV. 
CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION. 
Part I.-Effects off Respiration on the Air. 
Atmospheric Air a Compound Gas.-Properties of Nitrogen-Of Oxygen. 
-Stimulating Effects of Oxygen.-Carbon in the Blood.-Carbonic 
Acid.-Experiments.-Carbonic Acid poisonous-often fatal-Found in 
Pits and Wells-Used for Suicidal Purposes.-Aqueous Vapor-Some- 
times very copious-How observed.-Damp Air produced by Respira- 
tion.-Amount of W ater thrown off from the Lungs. 
Having discussed thus briefly the mechanical relations 
of the blood, the air, and the lungs, the next step in the 
inquiry refers to the nature of the influence exerted by 
respiration on the air and on the blood. 
Atmospheric air is tvell known to be a compound gas; 
its constituents are nitrogen gas and oxygen gas. Of 
these, nitrogen forms four fifths, and oxygen forms one 
fifth, of its weight. 
These two gases differ greatly in their properties. 
Nitrogen, in this connexion, has no decidedly active 
properties. It is not a supporter of combustion, noi- of 
animal life, and yet, per sc, has no power of destroying 
either. If a burning candle, or a small animal, be 
immersed in ajar of this gas, the one will cease to burn, 
and the other to breathe, but only from the absence of 
some supporter of life, or of combustion, and not from 
any poisonous or really injurious influence of the nitro- 
gen itself. What its peculiar object, if any, in respira- 
tion, or what its action upon the blood, may be, has not USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
31 
yet been satisfactorily determined. It would seem to be 
present in the air in such abundance, principally as a 
diluent of the oxygen, whose properties, in a state of 
purity, would he too active. 
Oxygen, on the other hand,, possesses exceedingly pow- 
erful properties. It is the presence of this gas in the 
atmosphere which gives it the power of supporting com- 
bustion and animal life, both of which, indeed, consist 
in, oi' are maintained by, the combination of oxygen with 
the carbon of the burning or living body. 
When pure, oxygen will cause bodies which are com- 
bustible in common air, to burn with greatly-increased 
rapidity and brilliancy; and many substances which are 
commonly considered incombustible, will burn readily 
in this gas. 
So animals which breathe at the ordinary rate in com- 
mon air, have their respiration, circulation, and other 
animal faculties, stimulated to much more rapid action 
in pure oxygen. 
Of these two components of air, oxygen is, as far as 
has yet been ascertained, the only sustainer of life. When 
first discovered, it was, on this account, called vital air. 
It is this which gives to the blood its healthy properties 
and bright color, and removes from it its impurities. It 
imparts to the brain, the muscles, the stomach, the heart, 
and every other organ, a principle which gives them 
energy and power, and keeps alive the body, by re- 
moving from it those substances whose accumulation 
would soon destroy it. 
If the lungs should habitually receive a larger propor- 
tion of oxygen than is contained in common air, the 
operations of the living machine would all be carried on 
with a degree of animation which would be incompatible 
with its relations to the other departments of nature, and 
the animal would soon die from overworking. 32 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
The presence of the inert nitrogen, therefore, in such 
a large proportion, serves the purpose of diluting the 
stimulating oxygen, and tempering its activity to the 
degree proper for the just and equable* operations of 
life. 
The stimulating effects of inhaling oxygen in a larger* 
proportion than is found in common air, are observable 
when the nitrous oxyde,or exhilarating gas, is breathed. 
This prepared gas contains one proportion more of 
oxygen than is found in the atmosphere, and, when 
inhaled for a few moments, excites all the animal func- 
tions to a much higher degree of energy and force. 
The muscular system is stimulated to exercise, almost 
beyond control; the energies of the mind are increased ; 
the circulation is accelerated; and most of the pleas- 
urable functions, such as laughter, speech, &c., are tem- 
porarily enhanced. It can only be breathed a few 
seconds, because of the too great stimulus it affords ; 
and when the containing-vessel is removed from the 
mouth, and atmospheric air is gradually admitted again 
to the lungs, these increased effects slowly disappear, 
and the functions return to their ordinary degree of 
activity. 
This serves to illustrate the influence of oxygen over 
the animal functions ; while, on the other hand, it is easily 
shown that a reduction in the amount of this gas, helow 
the quantity found in the purest atmosphere, tends to 
reduce the energies of the system heneath the standard of 
health, giving rise to debilitated bodies, diseases of 
various organs, general deficiency of strength, or, when 
carried to too great a degree, to death, more or less 
sudden. 
We will now examine, more particularly, the nature 
of the changes wrought upon the atmosphere by res- 
piration. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
33 
The substance contained in venous or dark blood, 
which gives it its purple hue, and which is the principal 
impurity to be removed, is carbon. This element is 
better known to us, in a more or less impure form, as 
charcoal, and, in its purest form, as diamond. Its 
existence in the dark blood is derived from two prin- 
cipal sources: 1st, from the food; and, 2d, from the va- 
rious tissues of the body, whose particles are removed 
to make way for the deposite of pure fresh material from 
the arterial blood. 
From these sources, large quantities of this material, 
in an extremely subtle form, are constantly added to 
the blood, and it must of necessity be removed. The 
oxygen of the air is the agent for its removal. It does 
it by their being brought into contact, in the lungs, in 
J O O 7 O' 
the manner described, (see chap. 3). 
They are thus made to unite with each other chem- 
ically, the oxygen, for this purpose, quitting its combina- 
tion with the nitrogen, and uniting with the carbon, 
forming a new compound, called carbonic acid gas. 
As the carbonic acid gas is formed, it is thrown off 
from the lungs, and discharged into the open air, by 
expiration. 
The nature of the combination which produces car- 
bonic acid in the lungs, is precisely the same as that 
which produces it when charcoal burns in the open air. 
In this latter operation, the oxygen is removed from the 
air and unites with the charcoal, generating carbonic 
acid gas. These are the only substances whose union 
will produce that compound ; consequently, whenever 
and wherever it is found, it must have been caused by 
their combination. 
The following experiments will prove that carbonic 
acid gas is generated in the lungs, and thrown out with 
the exhaled air : - 34 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Experiment ls^.- Take a vial or tumbler full of clear 
lime-water; insert in it, to the bottom, a small tube - a 
pipe-stem or straw will answer the purpose--and force 
the breath through it, so that it will rise through the 
liquid in bubbles. In a few minutes the liquid will lose 
its transparency, and become of a milky-white color. 
This appearance is derived from the presence of car- 
bonate of lime, which floats through the water in a fine, 
white, insoluble powder, and which, being heavier, will 
soon settle to the bottom when the vessel is at rest, and 
may then be separated by decanting off the liquor. 
Experiment 2d. - When the powder has been sep- 
arated and partly dried, if a few drops of muriatic acid, 
or spirit-of-salt, are added to it, it will be decomposed, 
and a gas will be disengaged from it, with considerable 
effervescence, which, if collected in a receiver, may be 
proved to be carbonic acid gas. 
In this manner the formation of carbonate of lime is 
proved, the carbonic acid of which could only have been 
derived from the expired breath, proving to us that car- 
bon is taken from the blood in the lungs, by means of 
the oxygen of the air, and both are returned to the air 
in the form of the compound gas. 
Further experiments, which need not here be detailed 
(those described may be tried by any one), have clearly 
demonstrated that the quantity of oxygen which is lost 
by the air, is precisely the amount necessary to account 
for the carbonic acid which is thrown off from the lungs. 
The nitrogen gas, which forms so large a proportion 
of the air, and which, of course, is inhaled with the 
oxygen, is returned to the air in very nearly, or quite the 
same amount as it is taken in, the only difference being 
its separation from the oxygen Little or none (experi- 
ments vary somewhat on this point) appears to be lost 
by the process of respiration. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
35 
Two important facts are, therefore, proved, by the 
experiments winch have been instituted for ascertaining 
the changes produced by respiration: 1st, that oxygen 
gas, the only vivifying principle of the atmosphere, loses 
its elementary freedom ; and, 2d, its place is supplied 
by another and a compound gas, carbonic acid. This 
latter, we will now proceed to show, is directly the oppo- 
site of oxygen, as regards the support of life and com- 
bustion : - 
Experiment 3d.-In the bottom of a quart or pint jar, 
place a tablespoonful of pulverized marble; pour on it 
a few drops of muriatic acid. Immediately an efferves- 
cence of gas will take place: this gas is carbonic acid, 
and is identical in character with that exhaled from the 
lungs, except being purer. Its weight being greater 
than that of common air, as it is freed from the marble, 
it remains, and expels the common air from the jar. 
When the jar is full, if a lighted candle is immersed in 
it, it will be instantly extinguished, as if dipped in water; 
or if a mouse or other small animal be put into it, death 
will ensue, sooner than if immersed in water. 
These results demonstrate not only the inability of 
carbonic acid gas to support life and combustion, but, in 
the case of the small animal, there is indicated a positive 
activity for the destruction of life. It is thus proved to 
us that this gas is poisonous. When an animal is im- 
mersed in water, or in nitrogen gas, its death is not 
instantaneous, because they are not, per se, destructive 
of life - the animal dies merely for want of oxygen to 
decarbonize the blood ; and several minutes, or even an 
hour or two, may elapse ere the undecarbonized blood 
will have exerted its full influence upon the brain and 
other organs, to destroy the vital spark. But when pure 
carbonic acid is inhaled, it exerts a specific influence, of 
an exceedingly poisonous character, which causes an 36 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
almost immediate destruction of vitality after its first in- 
halation. It is said of the Grotto-del-Cane, in Italy,- 
the floor of which is covered, to the depth of several 
inches, with this gas from a natural source - that when 
dogs are taken into it, they immediately sink down, 
apparently lifeless, but are restored by being dragged 
into the open air. This may seem to oppose the view 
just presented of the deadly-poisonous nature of the gas ; 
but, upon examination, it will not appear to. The gas 
emanating from the soil can not be supposed entirely 
pure, and must, as the mouth of the cave is open, be 
more or less combined with atmospheric air. Its destruc- 
tive agency is, therefore, only partially exerted. 
In long-closed wells and pits, this gas will sometimes 
accumulate to a considerable depth, destroying the lives 
of those who enter them. Its presence may be instantly 
detected by lowering a lighted candle into the well. 
Fatal effects have frequently ensued from breathing car- 
bonic acid gas from burning charcoal in close rooms. 
It is said to have been employed for suicidal purposes; 
and the sensations produced by it, as by its increasing 
volume it gradually overcomes the faculties, are said to 
be rather pleasurable than otherwise. 
Closely connected with this subject, is that of the aque- 
ous vapor contained in the air expired. Some have 
assumed this to be a direct product of respiration de- 
pending on a supposed excess of oxygen combining 
with the hydrogen of the blood ; while others say it 
is a mere secretion from the membrane lining the 
pulmonary passages. This difference of opinion, how- 
ever, does not affect, in any degree, the important 
conclusion that large quantities of it are exhaled con- 
tinually. This is apparent to all in cold weather, 
from the cloud which issues from the mouth at each 
expiration; or by breathing on a cold stone or glass, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
37 
when it will condense in such quantities as to form in 
drops. Players on wind instruments often find the notes 
obstructed by the copious collections of the fluid, con- 
densed from the breath, in the tubes of their instruments. 
This is poured out from the lungs at all times - not 
only in winter, when it is so apparent to the eye, but 
also in summer, or in a warm room, when it is imper- 
ceptible under ordinary circumstances. Most persons 
must have noticed the abundant dew-like collections of 
water upon the inside of the windows of a church, oi' 
other room, when occupied by many people in a cold 
day, - giving a clear indication of the vapory condition 
of the whole atmosphere within; for it is only from that 
part of the atmosphere immediately adjacent to, and in 
contact with the glass, that the vapor is condensed. 
In consequence of the concentration of so great an 
amount of vapor, all the attributes and influences of a 
" damp air," so generally and justly believed injurious 
to health, are exerted within the room, though the 
external atmosphere may be cleai- and dry. 
The amount of vapor discharged from the lungs, varies 
with circumstances within and without the body; thus 
the hygrometric state of the atmosphere exerts a con- 
siderable influence over the quantity discharged; for if 
the atmosphere is surcharged with moisture already, 
according to the laws of evaporation, the surface of the 
lungs can not emit the same quantity as when the 
atmosphere is dry, and more capable of absorbing the 
vapor. 
The retention of this aqueous vapor in damp weathei* 
will account, in some degree, for the feelings of oppres- 
sion experienced by most persons in that condition of 
the atmosphere, and the greater elasticity and vigor 
enjoyed in dry weather, especially when accompanied 
by brisk winds from the north or northwest. 38 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
In the same manner does the atmosphere of a crowded 
room operate to prevent the exhalation of vapor, and 
produce the oppressed feelings incident to a damp air; 
and this, though the external air may be dry and clear. 
From various experiments upon this subject, the 
average amount of watery vapor exhaled from the 
pulmonary air-cells, has been determined to be about 
twenty ounces, or nearly a pint and a quarter of liquid 
in twenty-four hours. 
Carbon and watery vapor are therefore the two sub- 
stances, which it is the office of the lungs to remove from 
the blood, - whose retention serves, though in very dif- 
ferent degrees, to impair its purity, and to render it 
unfit to perform its important duties healthfully. To 
reinhale the carbonic acid gas, which we have seen is a 
poisonous material, or to prevent the free escape of the 
vapor, is with the latter to burden the system with an 
oppressive substance, and with the former to endanger 
its soundness, and to lay the foundation of disease. 
A means of free escape from the immediate precincts 
of the body, and from any liability of re-inhalation of 
these two substances, is second only, if at all, in impor- 
tance, to a plentiful supply of fresh, pure, dry air, for 
respiration. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
39 
CHAPTER V. 
CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION. 
Part II.-Effect of Respiration on the Blood. 
Questions to be considered.-Difference between Venous and Arterial 
Blood.-Intimate Relation between the Circulation and Respiration - 
Panting.-Influence of Respiration on the Flow of Blood.-Illustrations. 
-Why is Carbon found in the Blood?-Its Source-Temperature of 
the Body-How maintained-Same in all Climates.-The Skin its 
Regulator.-The Safety-Valve.-Fever.-Influence of the Skin upon it. 
From the foregoing description of the changes 
wrought upon the air, we next pass to consider - 
The nature of the changes which Respiration exerts 
upon the blood. Three questions here arise for consid- 
eration : 1st, What are the condition and appearance of 
the blood when flowing'' into the lung's?-2d, What are 
its appearance and condition when flowing from the 
lungs 1-and, 3d, What has produced the change ? 
The anatomical relations of the heart and longs have 
been pointed out. The right side of the heart receives 
all the blood from the body, preparatory to its being 
sent to the lungs; the left side of the heart receives it 
from the lungs, preparatory to its being distributed again 
through the body. In the right side of the heart, the 
blood possesses a very dark modena, or purple hue, 
sometimes nearly black, - and, being brought by the 
veins, and having almost uniformly the same appearance 
in that set of vessels throughout, it is called venous 
blood. 40 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
In this condition it goes into the lungs, where it is 
brought in contact with the respired air; and imme- 
diately as it is acted upon by the air, its color is changed 
to a bright vermilion, or scarlet. This change of coloi' 
would alone be indicative of some important alteration 
of its chemical constitution ; but, in addition to this, we 
have, as already stated, a conclusive proof of the removal 
of carbon, by the presence of this element in the ail' 
which is exhaled. 
If further evidence is wanted, that these changes in the 
color and chemical property of the blood are due to the 
atmosphere, it is found in experiments made to test the 
action of air on blood out of the body, which may easily 
be repeated. Thus, if a clot of venous blood be intro- 
duced into a close vessel containing air, the clot speedily 
passes from a purple to a scarlet color; and if the air 
contained in the vessel be analyzed, it is found that a 
portion of its oxygen has disappeared, and been replaced 
by a proportionate quantity of carbonic acid. If the 
clot be exposed to pure oxygen, this change takes place 
more rapidly, and to a greater extent; if the air contain 
no oxygen, no change of color takes place. The direct 
and immediate effect of the air upon the blood, is, there- 
fore, to free it from a quantity of carbon and hydrogen ; 
the first to form carbonic acid, - the second, watery 
vapor, with the oxygen of the air. 
These circumstances demonstrate an intimate relation 
between the circulation and respiration. This is, indeed, 
made manifest in ordinary, by the increased action of 
both, when one or the other is stimulated to unusual 
action. Thus, when the body is subjected to extra 
exertion, as in running or laboring, the circulation is 
more or less accelerated, and, in a proportional degree, 
the respiration is increased in frequency; so that the 
blood, which is thus driven with greater rapidity through USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
41 
the lungs as well as through the body, may be supplied 
with oxygen in proportion to the increased demand. In 
a state of repose, the number of respirations is, to the 
number of pulsations of the heart, as one to four - 
eighteen to seventy-two in the minute. When the body 
is in active exercise, the number of pulsations is in- 
creased to eighty, or even ninety, per minute ; and then, 
also, the respirations increase in number, pari passu. 
And not only this, but the expansion of the chest is 
also augmented. This produces the panting of the 
horse, or the dog, after a hard run. In some diseases, 
also, as in fever, the same relative action is maintained ; 
the pulse is generally accelerated, sometimes to the 
extent of one hundred and fifty pei' minute, and the 
number of respirations in proportion. In infancy, man- 
hood, and old age, the pulse varies ; frequent in the first, 
at a medium in the second, and few in the last period ; 
the number of respiratory movements takes the same 
variation, maintaining the same relative proportion 
throughout. 
But the intimacy of this relation is closer than is 
generally understood, even by some who may be more 
than ordinarily conversant with the operations of animal 
physiology. For- a minute knowledge of this, we are 
indebted to the observations of modern science. Nearly 
every point of interest in the circulation of the blood 
through the hody, was established soon after the dis- 
covery of the circulation by Harvey, in the early part 
of the seventeenth century; but it is only within a com- 
paratively recent period that the pulmonary circulation, 
and the important relation which it bears to the move- 
ments of the chest, and the chemical relations of the air 
and blood, have become understood. 
It is established by direct experiment, that the move- 
ments of the chest in expiration and inspiration have a 42 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
bearing upon the flow of blood to, and its discharge 
from, the lungs. 
Thus, at the instant that the lung is receiving a fresh 
supply of air in inspiration, its expansion gives an occa- 
sion for an increased flow of blood also, forced in by 
the contraction of the right ventricle of the heart. And 
it is evident, that, during the expansion of the lungs, an 
elongation of the branches of the pulmonary artery will 
take place, and into this vacuum the blood will be 
absorbed, independent of its projectile force from the 
heart itself. A current of air and a stream of blood are 
thus simultaneously received by the lungs. 
By expiration, on the other hand, the lung is partially 
collapsed, and its bulk diminished; the compression of 
the air-vesicles, which expels the air, acts also on the 
blood, now converted into arterial, and assists its pro- 
pulsion to the left side of the heart, to be thence trans- 
mitted through the body. There is, therefore, a relation 
existing between the movement of the chest in expira- 
tion and the action of the left side of the heart, and in 
inspiration with the right side of the heart. 
" If the great vessel which returns the blood to the 
heart, called the jugular vein, be exposed to view in a 
living animal, it is seen to be alternately filled and 
emptied, according to the different states of inspiration 
and expiration. It becomes nearly empty at the moment 
of inspiration; because, at that moment, the venous 
stream is hurried forward to the right chambers of the 
heart, which, in consequence of the general dilation of 
the chest, are now expanded to receive it. This may 
be rendered still more strikingly manifest to the eye : if 
a glass tube, blown at the middle into a globular form, 
be inserted by its extremities into the jugular vein of a 
living animal, in such a manner that the venous stream 
must pass through this globe, it is found that this globe USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
43 
becomes nearly empty during inspiration, and nearly full 
during expiration ; - empty during inspiration because, 
during this action, the blood flows forward to the right 
chambers of the heart; full during expiration because, 
during this action, the venous stream being retarded in 
its passage through the lung, its motion becomes so slow 
in the jugular vein, there is time for its accumulation in 
the glass globe."* In the carotid artery, on the con- 
trary, which carries the blood to the head, and runs near 
the jugular vein, the opposite result takes place. 
It is stated by Dr. Southwood Smith, that in the 
course of some experiments performed by Dr. Dill and 
himself, for the purpose of ascertaining more precisely 
the relation between the circulation and respiration, a 
phenomenon was observed, which places these points in 
a still more striking and cleai' light. The jugular vein 
happened to be divided. The vessel ceased to bleed 
during inspiration; but as soon as expiration com- 
menced, began to bleed copiously; which is the reverse 
of what uniformly happens in the entire state of the 
vessel. The reason for this, as explained by Dr. Smith, 
is, that the division of the vein cuts off its communica- 
tion with the lung, removes it from the influence of res- 
piration, brings it under the sole influence of the arterial 
current, and consequently reverses its natural condition, 
and so reverses the manner in which its current flows ; 
affording a beautiful illustration of the influence of the 
two actions of respiration on the two sets of blood-ves- 
sels concerned in the function. 
The facts of the presence of carhon in the blood, and 
of the necessity for its removal therefrom, are demon- 
strated beyond all cavil. 
But when it is regarded as an impurity, and the puri- 
fication of the blood from its presence is proved neces- 
* Philosophy of Health, vol. ii., p. 71. 44 
sary for the maintenance of the life and health of the 
body, there arise several very interesting physiological 
inquiries;-why, as it must be removed, is it found in 
so great quantity ? whence its source ? and what use- 
ful purpose is gained by its existence there ? 
These points, though not at first sight possessing any 
important relation to our immediate subject, " the impor- 
tance of pure air," will be found, on due investigation, 
to be very intimately concerned with it, and necessary to 
be understood, in order to a full and clear appreciation 
of the general topic. 
The principal source of the carbon of the blood, as 
already stated, is the food. 
All vegetable and animal substances are well known 
to be constituted, in large part, of this element. By the 
digestive process, the food is so acted upon, that the re- 
lations of its component elements are greatly changed, 
and they are rendered capable of readily forming new 
combinations with other elements with which they may 
be brought in contact. Thus the carbon of the food, 
which before the digestive process, exhibits very little 
tendency to unite with the oxygen of the air, and none 
at all without its original relations being altered, is so 
disengaged from its combinations by digestion, as to en- 
able it to quit its union with the other elements of the 
food, and unite with the oxygen of the air in the lungs, 
at the moment of contact with it. 
The great object of the presence of so much carbon 
in the blood, and of its removal therefrom, by the func- 
tion of respiration, is undoubtedly the maintenance of the 
warmth of the hody. It has been already remarked, 
that the combination of carbon and oxygen in the lungs, 
is a process precisely similar in effect, to a union of the 
same substances out of the body; - the result in the lat- 
ter case is the evolution of caloric, made apparent to the 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
45 
sense; it is the same in the lungs, whence the heat is 
distributed over the body, by means of the circulating 
blood. Carbonic acid, also, is evolved in both instances. 
The power possessed by animals, of sustaining a tem- 
perature above that ordinarily found in surrounding 
objects, and the uniformity of their temperature (ninety- 
eight degrees, Fahrenheit), in even the coldest latitudes, 
as well as in the torrid zone, where the external temper- 
ature is often much higher, are remarkable phenomena. 
The sustained temperature of the living body, under a 
concurrence of circumstances, tending constantly to de- 
press it, is solely due to the evolution of caloric by the 
chemical admixture of carbon and oxygen, brought in 
contact with each other by the process of respiration. 
This is admitted by all physiologists who have investiga- 
ted the subject, though there is a difference of opinion 
as to the exact point where the union is made, some 
maintaining that the oxygen is absorbed by the blood as 
it flows through the lungs, and that it unites with the 
carbon at the more distant points of the arterial circula- 
tion, as, particle by particle, it is brought into proximity 
with it; and that the heat is thus developed where it is 
most needed, viz., in the capillary circulation and on the 
surface of the body. By others it is believed that the 
union of the two is effected in the lungs, and that the 
heat, which would then be supposed to be greatest at 
this point, is not allowed to accumulate there, by the 
rapidity of the circulation removing it as fast as generated. 
In a work of this kind, it would be neithei' necessary 
nor appropriate to occupy space, by the presentation of 
the arguments on either side of this question, conceding, 
as they both do, the main fact, that the temperature of 
the body is due to the combustion of its carbon. The 
difference is only as to the place where this combustion 
occurs. The necessity of oxygen for this purpose, as 46 
USES AND AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
well as for the purification of the blood, is therefore 
indisputable, - and equally clear is the necessity for 
having the oxygen in the greatest possible purity and 
abundance in the atmosphere. 
The fact of the temperature of the body being the 
same in all climates, has already been adverted to. At 
first view it may seem somewhat surprising, that, in the 
frigid regions of Labrador and Greenland, where the 
external temperatui e is often more than one hundred de- 
grees lower than that of the body, there should be an equal 
facility for sustaining it, as in the land of the Amazon and 
Malay, where the temperature of the air and body are 
nearly alike. This surprise will in some measure abate 
upon the recollection of the superior facilities presented 
in the north for retaining the warmth of the body, by 
clothing of furs, &c.; - it is still further lessened on call- 
ing to mind the colder and more condensed atmosphere, 
and the consequently greater amount of oxygen inhaled 
in the same bulk of air ; it is removed, when the nature 
of the food of the inhabitants of those regions is consid- 
ered, being composed, in great part, of fatty and oily 
substances, which contain a larger proportion of carbon, 
by which the blood is supplied with this element to an 
amount proportionate to the oxygen inhaled. The com- 
bustion of this larger amount of carbon, of course devel- 
ops a proportionately large amount of caloric, to com- 
pensate for its greater abstraction by the external cold. . 
In the higher latitudes, there is a continual tendency 
to a depressed temperature, requiring the consumption 
of an extraordinary amount of oxygen, and a more 
rapid development of heat; in the equatorial regions, 
on the other hand, the tendency is rather the other way, 
as is the case, also, in the temperate regions during the 
heats of summer. Some means is there required to 
keep down the temperature of the body - to prevent USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
47 
the oppression and excitement incident to these different 
circumstances. A compensating power is found in the 
external surface of the body: the skin is the great regu- 
lator of the temperature. The perspiration which it 
exhales, in quantities greater or less according to the 
external heat, or the activity of the circulation, evaporates, 
and, by this evaporation, carries off the surplus caloric, 
till the temperature of the body is reduced to its proper 
standard. Every one is aware, that in the winter season, 
the fluid of perspiration is much less in amount where 
the external air is much colder than the body; and is 
very copious in the summer, where the operations of 
the living body tend to the production of more caloric 
than would be comfortable or salubrious; the skin, by 
its perspiration, acts in both extremes, and at every inter- 
mediate point, as a safety-valve, opening its pores to let 
off the accumulating caloric in the one case, and closing 
them to prevent its escape in the other. The most 
delicate sympathy is thus exercised between the gen- 
erator and regulator of animal caloric. 
There is a condition of the system, frequently occur- 
ring, in which the great value of this regulator is 
evinced by the non-performance of its function. In the 
disease called fever, the circulation and respiration are 
carried on with unnatural activity, and there is, conse- 
quently, a superabundant amount of caloric developed; 
the action of the skin being checked at the same time, 
it remains dry, there is no perspiration to remove the 
surplus heat, and the whole system, consequently, feels 
the injurious and oppressive effect of its accumulation. 
It is then one of the first objects of the physician to 
restore the function of the skin, to reinduce the per- 
spiration, and in this way to diminish the disease, and 
relieve the sufferer. 48 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER VI. 
Different Circumstances of Human Life noticed.-The Infant.-The 
Scholar.-The Apprentice.-Out-Door and In-Door Labor contrasted.- 
Workshops.- The Journeyman.-The Sailor.- The Printer.- The 
Farmer.- Shoemakers and Tailors.-Crowds in the Open Air.- 
Amount of Vitiation of Air proportioned to the Number of People and 
Length of Time.-Anecdote.- Dormitories.-Hotels.-Steamboats.- 
The " Oregon."-Rail-Cars.-Omnibuses. 
Let us follow the human being through the various 
periods and circumstances of his life, and observe with 
what degree of freedom the atmosphere is allowed to 
exert the full influence of its invigorating powers upon 
him. 
First-as the tender Infant-he scarcely has made 
his entrance into the great ocean of air, and uttered his 
plaintive petition for a portion of the new element to 
expand his little chest, ere, by the careful nurse, he is 
tucked away under the coverlid, with his head closely 
wrapped in a blanket-shawl, lest the already impure 
air of the chamber should be too strong for his weak 
organs. 
Should an anxious aunt, led by her curiosity, throw 
off a fold of the mummy-like case, - or should the infant, 
in its suffocative throes, penetrate an opening through the 
woollen walls which confine it, his little throat, expand- 
ing instinctively with the touch of a somewhat better air, 
greets it with swelling notes of mournful joy. Alas! it 
is but the signal for the good nurse to "protect" the 
babe against the danger of taking cold, in an atmosphere USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
49 
of perhaps ninety degrees Fahrenheit. She has no 
notion that her delicate charge shall get the sniffles by 
undue and premature exposure. The louder- little Oliver 
cries for more oxygen, the closer is he confined to hush 
his noise. 
His next position is as the Schoolboy ;- and here we 
find him, with from five to five hundred others, immured 
between close walls, - perhaps in a low-ceiled apart- 
ment, half under ground, - with doors and windows 
closed, and calked tight, to save the heat from the fuel 
burning in a little red-hot stove, and exhausting a large 
portion of what little oxygen there may be present in the 
air. His brain is stimulated by threats of punishment or 
hopes of reward; his body is constrained within the 
narrowest limits ; motion is denied him; and his ten- 
der and growing muscles are forbidden to participate, as 
they should, in even the poor nourishment which the 
imperfectly oxygenized blood might furnish. At night 
he occupies a room, rather larger than a prison-cell, 
which contains sufficient air to allow him to breathe it 
in its purity for the space of from thirty to sixty minutes ; 
after which, as the room is so small, for fear the night- 
air will blow right on him, if the window-sash should be 
lowered to give an exit to some of the foul air, he inhales 
and re-inhales, in larger and larger proportion, the car- 
bonic acid thrown off from his own lungs as excremen- 
titious poison, until, in the morning, he creeps from his 
bed in a dripping sweat, drooping, languid, and unre- 
freshed by his sleep, and poorly fitted to engage in the 
severe mental task imposed upon him by his teacher. 
Can we wonder that he should " creep like snail, 
unwillingly to school," where the artificial stimulus of 
the rod, is substituted for the natural stimulus of oxygen ? 
The next period of his life is as the Apprentice. In 
very few of the vaidous trades, or professions, is he sub- 50 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
jected, during the hours of labor, to any other atmo- 
sphere than such as is polluted, by either the respiration 
of numbers of persons in a small room, or the effluvia 
of materials of manufacture, increased and concentrated 
by the back situation and narrow enclosure of the house 
itself, by which all visitation of genial atmospheric cur- 
rents is prevented. 
There are some trades, which, happily for their fol- 
lowers, require the labor to be performed in the open 
air; such are those of the house-builder, the ship-builder, 
farmer, gardener, and some others; but the laborers at 
these occupations, at night are generally subject to 
vitiated air, in small crowded chambers, whereby the 
good effects of the exposure of the day are greatly 
counteracted. But all others, at least those pursuing 
mechanical trades, pass their working hours in close, 
unventilated shops, redolent with the fumes of steam, 
smoke, white-lead, sour paste, acids, alkalies, the gases 
from decomposing animal and vegetable matters, and 
many other matters, which add more or less to the del- 
eterious properties of the air respired by many lungs. 
A ventilated workshop is almost an unknown thing; 
and he who decides upon himself, or his child, becoming 
an apprentice to any one of the great majority of trades, 
must calculate upon a prostration of strength, paleness 
of countenance, languor of spirits and body, frequent 
sickness, and almost inevitably, as statistics show, a 
premature death. 
This results, too, in very many of these occupations, 
without the action of any peculiai' cause connected with 
them. A large proportion of the evil is believed to be 
due to the foulness of the atmosphere necessarily pro- 
duced by the absence of ventilation. 
Yet those avocations in which the presence of delete- 
rious gases is unavoidable, may be almost, if not entirely, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
51 
disarmed of their evil influences, by a proper system of 
ventilation, which would conduct the effluvia away from 
the operatives, to be dispersed in the open air. 
Should the apprentice survive these continued aggres- 
sions upon his vital energies, and arrive at the years of 
journeymanship, he is not likely to bring to the aid of 
his employer a thoroughly-invigorated body, and conse- 
quently is, more or less, deficient in the strength and 
skill which constitute his capital in business. The 
foundation upon which his life has been laid, is, as it 
were, softened; and the circumstances in which he lives 
and labors are no better calculated to improve and 
strengthen it. 
The value of the strength, talent, and skill, which 
are thus lost, to both masters and workmen, is incal- 
culable, as are the privations and sufferings to indi- 
viduals, families, and states, produced by an entire 
neglect of this most important means of preserving 
health and life. 
The laborer who, in the exercise of his vocation, en- 
joys the atmosphere in its greatest purity, is the Sailor. 
On the ocean, away from the effluvia and gases gen- 
erated on land, with nothing near him that can produce 
more than a momentary injury, he inhales the pure air, 
on deck or aloft, in most copious draughts, and at mo- 
ments, when muscular exercise and mental energy are 
at their utmost, and all the elements of life and strength 
conspire to render him healthful and vigorous. But when 
relieved from duty, where do we find him? - down in 
the forecastle, a close and narrow place, reached by a 
single small entrance, usually shut tight to exclude the 
light and noise, that he may take his rest, with a dozen 
or more others, inhaling an atmosphere as impure as 
that above is pure. The healthful circumstances of his 
life " on deck" are thus counteracted and overcome, by 52 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
the few hours during which he is "turned in," to seek 
the benefit of balmy sleep. 
Jack rarely lives to a ripe old age. This fact is 
doubtless attributable, in some degree, to his proverbially 
dissipated life, to the hardships he endures at sea, and 
to the absence of those comforts more generally enjoyed 
by landsmen. 
But it must not be overlooked, that in the active pur- 
suit of his avocation, the circumstances legitimately con- 
nected with it are pre-eminently disposed to invigorate 
him ; and that their value is destroyed, and their good 
influences annulled, by his confinement with numbers 
of others in a small, crowded, dirty, and totally unven- 
tilated apartment, - for which lattei' adjective there can 
be no valid excuse. 
The same remarks apply, with nearly equal force, to 
the Farmer, whose occupation and general habits of 
life are most of all conducive to health and longevity. 
His exposure to free air-his regular and unexciting 
labor, never exhausting him as does the sailor's-his 
protection from storms - the smooth and even tenoi' of 
his ways, -are altogether provocative of the most exu- 
berant health and happinesss. He subjects himself to 
but one drawback,-his nights are too often passed in 
an area too small to supply him with unadulterated ail' 
during all his sleeping hours. The house of the coun- 
tryman is almost proverbially small, the chambers low- 
ceiled, and ventilation never thought of. Thus, the 
happy effects of his position by day are, in a great 
measure, counteracted by that of the night; and, as will 
be shown in subsequent chapters, the seeds of disease 
may be sown during the brief hours of sleep, which the 
purer and healthier circumstances of the day may never 
eradicate. 
Probably no operatives suffer more from the inhala- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
53 
tion of air rendered impure by respiration, than Printers, 
- particularly that branch of the craft called compositors. 
Especially is this the case with those who work on the 
morning newspapers; as any one who will pay a visit to 
the composing-room at midnight, in cold weather, will 
readily believe. The uppermost room in the building 
is generally occupied for this purpose, and, like all uppei" 
stories, has a low ceiling. That the workmen may finger 
the types with facility and rapidity, the metal, as well as 
the hands, must be at a comfortable temperature. This 
requires a high temperature of room, generally raised 
by stoves. That he may read the manuscript, a strong 
light is produced by some powerful burner near his 
head. Standing still for hours, no muscular exercise 
gives activity to his circulation; while from long-con- 
tinued breathing of an air whose vital property is rap- 
idly destroyed by combustion of fuel and oil, the respira- 
tion of many individuals, and the expansive power of 
the heat, we find his countenance pale, his muscles 
small and flabby, his chest narrow, his nervous system 
too sensitive to permit the smallest current of fresh air 
to touch him, his appetite and digestion feeble, present- 
ing a tout ensemble of condition, the sure precursor of 
an early grave. Who sees an aged printer, still stand- 
ing at the case ? 
Subject to difficulties of a similar character, in some 
respects rather better, in others worse, are two other 
classes of operatives-Shoemakers and Tailors. The hot, 
close, and small rooms, the sitting and cramped postures, 
the deficient exercise, the unintellectual character of the 
occupations, combined with the universal absence of ven- 
tilation, render these avocations as fatal to health and 
life as any in which the laborer is not directly exposed to 
noxious fumes. 
It would be needless to multiply instances of trades in 54 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
which, from the rejection of the means whence might be 
derived a much greater amount of comfort, health, en- 
ergy, and years, there is an incalculable loss of all these, 
not only to the laborers themselves, and their fami- 
lies, but, in addition, to the employers, of time, talent, 
and money. Resting upon the broad and indisputable 
fact, that pure air is the great supporter of life, and 
health, not only of the body, but of the intellect, it must 
be conceded in reason, as it is established in proof, that 
mankind does, both in the relation of employer and em- 
ployee, suffer a privation, more or less great, of all the 
benefits, moral, physical, and pecuniary, that naturally 
flow from a sound and healthy condition of mind and 
body. 
In pursuing this elucidation, we find the evil is not 
confined to the laboring classes, or to the less intelligent 
portions of society. Wherever we find a civilized being 
domiciled, whether pursuing interest, pleasure, worship, 
or justice, alone or in society, at home or travelling, we 
find him breathing an atmosphere more or less impure. 
Very often the effects are demonstrated at the moment, 
in flushings of face, perspiration, drowsiness, headaches, 
vertigo, and fainting, and very frequently at more remote 
periods, by the developments of more profound and seri- 
ous diseases of the lungs, heart, head, or stomach. 
For the immediate effects, we need but look into 
almost any court-room, church, lecture-room, theatre, 
ball-room, or place of assembly of any name, where 
many persons are crowded together without ventilation, 
and that is in almost every one yet known. Nay, one 
need but form one of a numerous crowd in the open air, 
in a day when the atmosphere is perfectly still, to feel 
the oppressive effects of an insufficiency of pure air. 
This has been the experience of many a one, in the 
crowded meetings which assemble occasionally on the USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
55 
platform in the Park, in front of the City-Hall, a spot 
very advantageous for both speakers and hearers, but 
whose sheltered position on certain days, renders the air 
decidedly oppressive, though it has neither walls nor 
roof to confine it. 
The volume of carbonic acid gas and watery vapor 
which are exhaled from the lungs of the crowd, together 
with the other natural corporeal emanations, accumulate 
to so great a degree under such circumstances, as to re- 
quire a long time to escape, when there is no current of 
air to disperse them ; and it is not an unknown thing for 
some to fall faint and exhausted under the want of air, 
even with the canopy of heaven in full view, and its deep 
ocean of air, within a few feet, in perfect purity. 
If such things come to pass in the open air, where 
these accumulations would, a priori, be supposed impos- 
sible, how much worse must it it be with a crowd con- 
fined within impervious walls and roof, having the air 
artificially heated, and lighted by the glare of burning 
gas or oil, both of which aid powerfully in using up the 
oxygen, while there is no means for a due supply of it 
from without. 
The foolishness of human wisdom can scarce go 
further. 
There is indeed scarcely a position in which a civilized 
being can be placed, in which he is not subjected, in a 
greater or less degree, to a vitiated atmosphere. It is 
not only in the public assembly, or the private soiree, the 
church, or the court-room, that he breathes an air which 
has already been inhaled by his own or others' lungs; - 
but it is also in his private chamber, in his parlor, kitchen, 
office, store, or workshop, that we find him confined 
to an atmosphere incapable of ready renewal. The 
fact that he erects a house with solid walls, and covers 
it with an impervious roof, thus separating for his own 56 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
exclusive use, a small portion of the great atmospheric 
ocean, in which he immures himself, and exerts his inge- 
nuity to exclude any more of the vital fluid :-this fact 
alone is evidence of the unnaturalness of his position and 
habits, and of his ignorance or disregard of one great 
duty to himself and family. 
The air breathed by a single individual becomes de- 
oxygenized in proportion to that breathed by a score or 
a hundred - and in a proportionate length of time a 
quantity of unventilated air will become as thoroughly 
foul and unwholesome, under the operation of a single 
pair of lungs, as of any greater number. The number 
of people, and the amount of air, are relative merely :- 
vitiation of the latter, and danger to the former, are alike 
inevitable and avoidable. 
So universal is inattention to supplies of fresh air in 
private dwellings, even the most palaceous, it were 
almost a work of supererogation to quote an instance 
of the effects' of the impure air upon their inmates, but 
one case which came to the writer's personal notice, was 
so striking, as to be deemed worthy of record. 
In the month of December, 184-, in the evening of a 
day remarkable for the intense coldness of the air, the 
thermometer being twelve degrees below freezing, the 
executive committee of an important charitable institu- 
tion assembled in the house of one of its members, a pro- 
fessional gentlemen, residing at the corner of two of the 
most fashionable streets. Twenty-one were present, 
and occupied an apartment about eighteen feet square. 
The principal hall of the house was warmed by a large 
Nott's stove, and in the room occupied by the committee 
an additional stove was necessary to make it comforta- 
ble. The builder of the house had evidently performed 
his duty faithfully, for the doors and windows fitted their 
frames with accuracy, preventing as much as possible USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
57 
any ingress of air from without, or any exit of that 
within. 
Here were assembled judges, physicians, merchants, 
editors, and. others, of the highest standing for intelli- 
gence and philanthropy. For a short time the business 
went on, under the direction of tlm able chairman, 
with despatch. Soon he began to complain of the 
closeness of the room, and opened the door leading 
to the hall, and placed himself in the opening. He 
was cautioned against " catching cold," but his feelings 
of oppression overruled all such scruples. Unsatisfied 
wifh the air from the hall, scarcely better than that of 
the room, he went to a window on the opposite side, 
and, lowering the upper sash some six inches, placed 
himself directly under it, to allow the cold external air 
to fall immediately upon his feverish head. This move- 
ment was a signal foi' a general disruption of the com- 
mittee, and the effects of the atmosphere upon the dif- 
ferent individuals in the room, was watched with no 
little interest by those who knew too well the true cause 
of the difficulty. 
The cases of three of the gentlemen will be offered as 
examples of the varied effect of deficient or impure air 
upon different constitutions and temperaments. They 
sat upon the same sofa. One was a gentleman alike 
venerable for his years and lore, one of the most active 
members of the institution ; another was in the prime of 
life, enjoying a high reputation as a lawyer, and of dis- 
tinguished name in the ranks of literature ; between them 
was seated a universally respected professor in a medi- 
cal school, who has since been carried to the grave. 
The first-mentioned complained of the great heat of 
the room, and wished the fire might be extinguished; 
the second said he felt very cold, even in that high tem- 
perature, and actually rose and put on his greatcoat; 58 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
while the third, as if mysteriously influenced by the two 
extremes by which he was flanked, complained of alter- 
nate feverishness and chilliness, and expressed himself 
unable to account for the singular sensations. 
Thus was given an exhibition of the manner in which 
different temperaments are affected by one cause, which 
in this case was undoubtedly a deficiency of oxygen gas 
in the atmosphere, that important principle having been 
in a great measure consumed by the respiration of the 
company, the burning of the fuel in the stove, and of the 
gas and candles, while the high temperature served to 
rarify the air, and thus reduce the quantity below wliat 
it would otherwise have been. Doubtless a good system 
of ventilation would have obviated the whole difficulty, 
and avoided evils for which neither the beautiful paint- 
ings, the costly furniture, nor the downy carpets, could 
compensate. 
Of the various apartments of the wealthier, as well as 
the poorer, class of dwellings, the worst for health, in 
respect to the atmosphere, are doubtless the dormitories. 
The reasons for this distinction are obvious: 1st, they 
are occupied for a greater number of successive hours. 
2d, during the hours of sleep, there are no opening and 
shutting of doors and windows, no movements of per- 
sons or furniture, which, in rooms occupied in the day- 
time, produce more or less motion, and consequently 
change, in the air. 3d, fires, which always cause cur- 
rents in the air, are, during the hours of sleep, extin- 
guished, and the doors and windows of the apartment 
are generally shut close, from apprehension of the effects 
of night-air. 4th, from the quiescent state of the atmo- 
sphere of bed-rooms, the poisonous emanations from the 
body move off, and become mingled with the adjacent 
air more slowly, and hence are more readily reinhaled. 
5th, the relative dimensions of parlors and chambers are USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
59 
almost universally, as the previous reasoning will show, 
inversely what they should be. The longer occupation 
of a bed-room at night, without any means of a renewal 
of the air, requires a proportionate larger amount of it 
for healthful respiration : whereas we find the bed-room 
actually of smaller dimensions. 
There are few persons who have not noticed the pe- 
culiar disagreeable odor of a bed-room in the morning, 
after a night's occupation by only two persons. If any 
reader should happen not to have noticed it, let him 
leave his chamber, some morning, and after spending 
half an hour in the open air, return to it. If it has been 
undisturbed during his absence, his senses will at once 
discover the condition of the contained air, and he will 
be able to appreciate the nauseous nature of the gases 
he has been inhaling for hours. He may then be able 
to account for his unrefreshed feeling's, and no longer 
wonder that he should rise in the morning with a 
sense of fatigue, as great as when he retired the night 
before. 
Of all the chambers which are occupied by those who 
possess the most means, and those who most cultivate 
refinement of taste and manners, the chambers of hotels 
may be regarded as the worst, from their small size, 
their great number in proportion to the space, and the 
total absence of ventilation in them. 
Now, this retention and concentration of the gaseous 
emanations of the lungs, the skin, etc., are, in general, 
as easily avoided as they are certainly injurious. There 
is scarcely a room in an ordinary dwelling whose atmo- 
sphere can not be, more or less, changed; while there 
are many which may be readily ventilated, with little or 
no cost, and an opportunity given for an escape of the 
foul air of the room, sufficiently rapid to insure a com- 
plete avoidance of all danger of re-inhaling it. 60 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Who that has passed a night on one of those floating 
palaces, which have contributed, almost as much as the 
natural scenery, to give a character to the Hudson river, 
- and been obliged to occupy a berth or a settee in the 
cabin below deck-has not most earnestly, in the morn- 
ing, wished that the owners would adopt some method 
of exhausting the foul air? Those who have never 
been in that situation, can not realise the sickening sense 
of oppression experienced in the morning, on awaken- 
ing to the reality of having breathed the same air for 
six or eight hours, with three hundred to four hundred 
others, without any renewal whatever. 
And yet the intelligent, sensitive, and delicate public, 
which will not knowingly drink from the same glass as 
another, nor permit a particle of dust to remain upon 
its clothing any longer than it can possibly be brushed 
off, will continue to crowd those sub-aqueous cellars, 
sleep in those narrow boxes in treble tiers-(if sleep 
the feverish, restless, semi-obliviousness can be called) - 
will inhale, a score or more times, the air reeking from 
the mouths of hundreds of others, and submit to the 
disgusting and dangerous infliction without a murmur or 
remonstrance ; and this, too, when the engine which pro- 
pels them along, affords the most powerful and cheapest 
means known for complete ventilation. As an instance 
of the utter indifference of the owners of these craft to 
the genuine comfort of the passenger, it is related, that 
the builders of the engine of the "Oregon," of New 
York, when putting in the machinery, suggested that a 
ventilating apparatus might easily be appended, so as to 
keep all the apartments of the boat supplied-with pure 
air; but the wealthy proprietor contemptuously refused 
the notion. 
Such is the case, also, almost without exception, with 
rail-cars and omnibuses, - into the latter of which, we USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
61 
often see twelve, and occasionally fifteen or eighteen 
people crowded, with the windows and doors closed as 
tightly as possible. Now, an ordinary-sized omnibus 
can not contain more than two hundred and fifty cubic 
feet of air when empty; but when crowded with pas- 
sengers, the actual amount of air must be reduced to at 
least one half, sometimes to one quarter, thus leaving 
only from three to ten cubic feet for the supply of each 
one. It is not possible to make more than one or two 
respirations, under these circumstances, without inhaling 
a portion of the breath of one's fellow-passengers, - the 
small crevices of the vehicle being utterly inadequate to 
a sufficient change of air. Nearly all this disgusting 
evil might be obviated by ventilating arrangements 62 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER VII. 
Rationale of " Taking Cold," on emerging from a Crowded Room into the 
Open Air.-Oxygen the Vital Element, and Carbonic Acid the fatal Ele- 
ment of Air.-Amount of Air required by each Person.-Different Esti- 
mates.-House of Commons.-Case of a Schoolhouse supposed.-Amount 
of Solid Carbon thrown off from the Body.-Peculiar demand of the 
Brain for Pure Air-especially in the Hours of Study.-Evil Effects of 
School Atmosphere.-Illustration. 
The necessity of an abundant supply of oxygen, for 
the maintenance of a vigorous condition of health, and 
a reactive energy of the system, has been asserted in the 
foregoing pages. This, one of the cardinal points of the 
philosophy of atmospheric influence, if clearly under- 
stood, will enable the reader to comprehend the reason- 
ing by which it will now be attempted to be shown, why 
it is, that, on emerging into the open air, after a continu- 
ance of a few hours in a crowded room, whether a lec- 
ture-room, church, ball-room, or school-room, there is 
always so great a danger-to use the common phrase - 
of " taking cold," in other words, of exciting an inflam- 
mation of some organ or tissue of the body.^ 
This occurrence, so justly dreaded, yet so very com- 
mon, is attributed, generally, to the elevated temperature 
of the room, by which an excited action of the skin, and 
a copious perspiration, are induced, the sudden suppres- 
sion of which, and the consequent determination of the 
blood from the surface of the body to the central organs, 
throwing upon the latter a greater burden than they can 
bear, excites in them an inflammation, whence other 
diseases, more or less serious and severe, often result. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
63 
This is, indeed, as far as it goes, the explanation of 
the mode in which the effect is produced; but the rea- 
son why this effect should be produced, - why the mere 
assembling of people together, should be followed by 
such terrible results as we are often compelled to wit- 
ness- why there should lurk in the path of duty, or in- 
struction, no less than of pleasure, so venomous a poison, 
as we too often find developing itself in the human sys- 
tem,- the reason for all this lies deeper than the skin, 
and these effects are not to be accounted for by a change 
of temperature merely. 
If the proposition is admitted, that the absorption of 
oxygen into, and the removal of carbon from, the sys- 
tem, are necessary to its energy and healthfulness, the 
converse proposition, that a deficient supply of oxygen, 
and the retention and accumulation of carbon will be 
productive of a depressed energy and tone, must also be 
admitted. The presence of carbonic acid in undue quan- 
tity, in the respired air, it has also been demonstrated, 
operates directly to impaii- the energy of the vital func- 
tions ; even, when very abundant, to the total extinction 
of life. There is, moreover, in a crowded room, a 
diminished quantity of air, in consequence of the high 
temperature causing rarefaction, and the great amount 
of solid substances, which exclude an equal amount of 
air; - each piece of furniture and each individual, dis- 
placing of course, a bulk of the fluid equal to itself. 
The combustion necessary for warming and lighting, 
also, is an additional source of abstraction of the vital 
properties of the atmosphere. 
From these various causes, we find, in the area occu- 
pied by the company, in the first place a diminished 
amount of air, and, secondly, a rapid deterioration of it. 
The two important conditions of the air, viz., the de- 
crease of oxygen and the generation of carbonic acid, 64 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
rapidly result, tending to produce the effects upon the 
system already adverted to, viz., an accumulation of car- 
bon, and the inhalation of a poisonous gas. 
Now the reverse of these circumstances is essential to 
the maintenance of a vigorous reactive energy, without 
which it is impossible for the system to sustain itself 
healthfully under the depressing influences to which it 
is continually subjected, - but with which, the variations 
of temperature, moisture, and the like, are calculated to 
act, within certain limits, rather as healthful stimuli to 
the different functions. 
In a highly-heated and crowded room, therefore, the 
system is not only deprived, in a great degree, of the 
means necessary for its invigoration, but it is also sub- 
jected to circumstances which directly depress its vital 
powers, and render it unable to meet the attack of the 
cold air which it encounters on leaving the house. Both 
the nervous and circulatory functions of the skin are in 
an excited and active condition, - a double duty devolv- 
ing upon this organ, to compensate for the deficient 
exercise of the functions of the lungs. Thus circum- 
stanced, the sudden contraction of the cutaneous vessels 
by the cold air, drives an unusual amount of blood to 
the central organs, overwhelming them with its influx. 
In a healthy, vigorous condition, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, the internal organs, instead of being over- 
come by the sudden irruption, and succumbing under 
the shock, will be stimulated by it to a healthy reaction, 
and the whole system feel a genial and invigorating glow. 
The system is, under the hypothesis, depressed by a 
want of its natural stimulus, oxygen ; its reactive energy 
is greatly diminished, and it is unprepared to meet the 
emergency. 
But with a full supply of oxygen, and a sufficiently 
rapid removal of the carbon, the condition of the various USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
65 
organs would be such as to enable them not only to 
meet the attack, but to be benefited by it. 
Sudden changes of temperature, merely, in a healthy 
condition of body, do not necessarily cause disease, under 
common circumstances. It is said of the Russians, that 
a favorite exercise is to emerge from a hot bath and 
plunge in the snow; and with us, ablutions of cold 
water, by plunging or the shower-bath, in our hottest 
weather, are exceedingly grateful and invigorating. 
These vicissitudes are not more sudden, nor greater, 
than in the case under discussion; but there is a wide 
difference in the circumstances under which they are 
made. 
Accumulations of carbonic acid, and other noxious 
gases, in crowded and heated apartments, are not un- 
avoidable ; and therefore, the depressing and unhealthful 
influences so commonly attendant upon the "assembling 
of ourselves together," are by no means inexorable. 
But well-devised systems of Ventilation, by discharging 
the room of its air, and supplying it with an equal amount 
from without, with a rapidity proportioned to the neces- 
sity of the case, will obviate the dangers otherwise 
imminent. Nothing else is needed to preserve the 
healthful tone of the system, than to remove the offend- 
ing substances, and supply it duly with its proper aliment 
and stimulant. 
With a sufficient means of maintaining its purity, the 
atmosphere of a crowded room would be innocuous,- 
both body and mind more vigorous and elastic, - and a 
most potent cause of disease and death happily obviated. 
As oxygen is the vital element of air, so carbonic 
acid may be designated its fatal element - at least, when 
it exists in too large a proportion ;* and though oxygen 
*A certain proportion of carbonic acid is thought, by some, to be a neces- 
sary ingredient in the atmosphere; but when it exceeds one half per 
cent., all are agreed that its presence is injurious. 66 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
is indispensable to the maintenance of life, its activity 
in that capacity is far from being so great as that of 
carbonic acid in destroying vitality. 
Dr. D. B. Reid has shown, by experiment, that it is 
not so much the deficiency of oxygen, as the presence 
of carbonic acid, in the air inspired, which impedes the 
aeration of the blood ; and he has shown that an animal 
may be kept alive in a limited quantity of air, until 
nearly all its oxygen is exhausted, if an effectual pro- 
vision be made for drawing off the carbonic acid as fast 
as it is generated. 
The. amount of air required by a human being, varies 
according to circumstances; the mature and robust re- 
quiring more than the weak, infant, or aged - the male 
more than the female. Also, under all circumstances, 
more is used during the day than at night - in health 
than in sickness - in a high temperature than alow - 
during muscular exercise than at rest - after a meal 
than when hungry-when the attention of the person 
experimented upon is drawn to the function of respira- 
tion, than when he is unconscious of its performance. 
These modifying circumstances, lately discovered by 
Prout, Edwards, and others, were, altogether or in part, 
overlooked by Black, Priestley, Lavoisier, Davy, and 
the earlier experimentalists, on this important point; 
and hence the discrepancy in their calculations, and the 
difficulty of coming to correct results at the present day. 
The point of greatest practical utility is not, however, 
disputed : when air contains above one half per cent, of 
carbonic acid, it may not be immediately, or rather pal- 
pably, injurious to the organism, but it is eventually so • 
while, on the other hand, if it contains above seven or 
eight per cent., it will prove suddenly fatal. According 
to some, three or four feet of pure air per minute is 
sufficient for a proper aeration of the blood. Others, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
67 
though they admit that tins quantity might possibly be 
endured for a considerable time, without any well- 
defined deterioration of constitution, contend that this 
circumstance is no proof of its sufficiency, and advise at 
least ten, cubic feet per minute for each individual. It 
was observed in the British House of Commons, that any 
less than ten feet was soon noticeable on the health of 
the members ; and they even expressed feelings of dis- 
comfort, in a high temperature, with any less than forty 
or fifty. According to the most reliable experiments 
and calculations, it is found that ten cubic feet is a fair 
standard to test the sufficiency of an atmosphere inhaled ; 
as no smaller quantity is capable of removing all doubts 
as to the latent and eventual evils of a deficiency. 
Let us suppose the case of a school-room, containing 
10,000 cubic feet (50x20x10) of perfectly pure air (if 
such there be), with two hundred pupils. To each of 
them will be allowed ten cubic feet of air per minute. 
To avoid every chance of exaggeration, and to adapt 
the calculation to age and size, no deduction will be 
made for the pupils themselves, or for their seats, desks, 
furniture, books, &c., all of which substances do displace 
an equal bulk of air, and by so much reduce the quan- 
tity actually in the room. 
According to these premises, there would be fifty feet 
for each pupil; and supposing that there existed no 
communication with the external air (which would gen- 
erally be the case if the doors and windows were closely 
shut), the air of the room would be rendered unfit for 
respiration by the carbonic acid alone, without including 
the other exhalations, in just five minutes. Or in other 
words, the pupils would, at the end of five minutes, 
begin to inhale, again and again, the excrementitious 
matter from their own and one another's bodies. Again, 
suppose, with Liebig, that ten ounces of solid carbon 68 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
would be excreted from each of their bodies in twenty- 
four hours, - at the end. of one hour, eighty-four ounces, 
or seven pounds troy, of this poison, would, be held in 
solution in the air of the room, and. be constantly going 
the round of the circulation, sowing the seeds of death. 
These seven pounds of carbon would, in an hour, form 
one hundred and seventy-six cubic feet of carbonic acid, 
which implies the removal of one hundred and eighty 
feet of oxygen. And as the oxygen originally amounted 
to (as 80 :20 :: 10,000 : 2500) twenty-five hundred cubic 
feet, this gas would (supposing the circumstances favor- 
able for its combination with carbon) be entirely ex- 
hausted in fourteen or fifteen hours. But as the accumu- 
lation of carbon in the atmosphere of the room, impedes 
the excretion of more from the beginning, and as this 
substance is as fatal to life when retained as when 
inhaled, many of the pupils would not be living, a long 
time before the entire removal of the oxygen. 
It may be objected that cases such as the above seldom 
occur.-Admitted; but this depends upon the fact, that 
there are generally broken panes,* keyholes, or crevices 
of some kind, through which there is an ingress for the 
fresh, and an exit for the impure, air; and it is true, that 
when there is a certain amount of ventilation, there is a 
limit to the concentration of carbonic acid. This cir- 
cumstance, however, instead of divesting impure air of 
its terrors, in reality enhances them, as the inmates are 
thus lulled into a false security, whose deceptiveness is 
only discovered, if it ever is, when the seeds of disease 
which have been thus sown, germinate and ripen into 
fatal maturity. 
There are certain physiological truths which have a 
most important connexion with the subject of ventilation, 
* How many lives have broken panes been the means of saving, as well 
as destroying! USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
69 
when considered in relation to the functions of the 
Brain. 
The first of these truths is, that the brain, though its 
weight is only one fortieth of that of the whole body, yet 
it is estimated to receive one fifth of all the blood which 
flows from the heart. In proportion to its bulk, its arte- 
ries are more numerous, and larger, than any other. 
The reason for this most extraordinary distinction, is 
found in the peculiar character of its duties. It is the 
immediate seat of the mind; it never sleeps; as the or- 
gan of thought, it is ever at work : while the organs of 
digestion, of motion, and others, are in repose, and ob- 
taining a renewal of strength, it is in action, superintend- 
ing, as it were, the performance of all the others, and 
has no rest. 
The next fact to be noticed in this connexion is, that 
it is especially in the hours of study, when the brain 
works hardest, it requires the blood with which it is fur- 
nished to be decarbonized to the utmost degree. It was 
the opinion of the celebrated physiologist Boerhaave, 
that the blood sent to the brain is more aerated than any 
other, an opinion probably formed from the fact that 
it is sent to it sooner' and more directly, after passing 
through the lungs. 
In addition to these physiological truths, we have, in 
proof of the greater necessity of supplying the brain with 
pure blood, the pathological fact of the greater and more 
immediate liability of this organ to disease, by the inha- 
lation of impure air. Its effects are first seen upon the 
mental and other faculties directly dependent on this 
organ, and then through it upon other functions. Sud- 
den and fatal results are well known to ensue from the 
respiration of carbonic acid gas in a more concentrated 
form, but serious pathological effects are scarcely less 
certain, though they may be less immediate, when this 70 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
noxious gas is breathed in the more diluted form, in 
which it is found in long-used and pent-up apartments. 
Among the effects produced by remaining in an impure 
atmosphere, there is an almost immediate one to which the 
attention of teachers, and all concerned in the care of 
schools, should be constantly drawn ; it is, that condition 
of listlessness, languor, and irritability, so often observed 
in both pupils and teachers. Irritability of the nervous 
system, as well as dullness of the intellect, is unquestion- 
ably the direct result of a want of pure air. The vital 
energies of the pupil are more or less prostrated by it - 
he becomes restless and indisposed to attend to'his books 
and rules-his mind wanders from his studies - and he 
unavoidably seeks relief for the natural appetite for air, 
in disorderly actions which call for reprimand from his 
teacher, who, from the same cause, is perhaps in the 
same irritable and unhealthy condition of mind and body, 
which must also find a vent some how and upon some 
thing. Thus irritability grows to irritation, until it be- 
comes a question of serious import, how far, as a cor- 
rective, or, rather, preventive, of this evil, pure air would 
serve in substitution for the ferule, and whether the nat- 
ural stimulation of oxygen would not be more easy of 
application and more sure of effect, than the artificial 
sedative of the strap. 
It has fallen to the lot of the writer to see many in- 
stances of the injurious influence of the foul air of 
school-rooms, both private and public, on the health of 
pupils, even to fatal terminations. He has seen children 
grow pale and thin, and gradually droop and sicken, 
without any cause visible to the parents, who, in their 
grief, have attributed all to the dispensation of an inscru- 
table Providence, without a thought of the true source 
of the calamity, until it has been (alas, too late !) pointed 
out to them. It were easy to cite, from actual experi- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
71 
ence, cases of sickness and death of pupils, the com- 
mencements of which were undoubtedly laid in the places 
which, of all others, should be least obnoxious to the 
charge ; the most unhappy feature of which is, that the 
teachers themselves are, in too many instances, ignorant 
of the true merits of pure air, and unwilling to admit 
the humiliating fact, so easily demonstrated, that the 
atmosphere of their school-rooms is offensive and dan- 
gerous. 
The following, however, quoted from an official docu- 
ment,* will suffice to exhibit the subject in its true 
light:- 
" Before dismissing this subject, I will refer to a 
school which I visited during the winter of 1841-'2, in 
which the magnitude of the evil under consideration was 
clearly developed. Five of the citizens of the district 
attended me in my visit to the school. We arrived at 
the schoolhouse about the middle of the afternoon. It 
was a close, new house, eighteen by twenty-four feet on 
the ground. There were present forty-three scholars, 
the teacher, five patrons, and myself, making fifty in all. 
Immediately after entering the schoolhouse, one of the 
trustees remarked to me, ' I believe our schoolhouse is 
too tight to be healthy.' I made no reply, but secretly 
resolved, that I would sacrifice my comfort for the re- 
mainder of the afternoon, and hazard my health, and my 
life, even, to test the accuracy of the opinion I had en- 
tertained on this important subject. I marked the unea- 
siness and dullness of all present, and especially of the 
patrons, who had been accustomed to breathe a purer 
atmosphere. School continued an hour and a half, at 
the close of which I was invited to make some remarks. 
I arose to do so, but was unable to proceed, till I opened 
* Annual Report of Ira Mayhew, Superintendent of Public Instruction 
of the State of Michigan, for the year 1847. 72 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
the outer door, and snuffed a few times, the purer air 
without. When I had partially recovered my wonted 
vigor, I observed, with delight, the renovating influence 
of the current of air that entered the door, mingling 
with and gradually displacing the fluid poison that filled 
the room, and was about to do the work of death. It 
seemed as though I were standing at the mouth of a 
huge sepulchre, in which the dead were being restored 
to life. After a short pause, I proceeded with a few re- 
marks, chiefly, however, on the subject of respiration 
and ventilation. The trustees, who had just tested their 
accuracy and bearing upon their comfort and health, 
resolved immediately to provide for ventilation accord- 
ing to the suggestions about to be given. When I next 
heard from the neighborhood, their arrangements were 
effected. Before leaving the house on that occasion, I 
was informed an evening meeting had been attended 
there the preceding week, which they were obliged to 
dismiss before the ordinary exercises were concluded, 
because, as they said, "We all got sick, and the candles 
went almost out." Little did they realize, probably, that 
the light of life became just as nearly extinct as did the 
candles. Had they remained there a little longer, both 
would have gone out together, and there would have 
been reacted the memorable tragedy of the black hole in 
Calcutta, into which were thrust a garrison of one hun- 
dred and forty-six persons, one hundred and twenty-three 
of whom perished miserably in a few hours, being suffo- 
cated by the confined air." USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
73 
CHAPTER VIII. 
EFFECTS OF VITIATED AIR UPON THE HUMAN SYSTEM. 
Impure Air one of the Scourges of Mankind.-No Age or Sex Exempt.- 
Pestilential Winds.-Maladies from preventible Causes.-Carbonic 
Oxide Gas.-Carburetted Hydrogen.-Two Species of Aerial Poison.- 
Gaseous Compounds of Sulphur and Ammonia.-Causes of Never.- 
Opinion of F. Southwood Smith, M. D.; of Dr. Arnott; of Dr. Emerson. 
- Effects of Indoor Labor on the Health-Examples.- Epidemic stop- 
ped by Ventilation.-" Black Hole of Calcutta''-Further Illustrations 
from E. Chadwick.-Dr. Rush, and the Yellow Fever in Philadelphia. 
-Prudence of the Chinese-Cleanliness contributive to Health.-Ro- 
man Enterprise.-Cloacae.-Sanatory Movements in Turkey and Egypt. 
-Unfavorable Circumstances attending Ships, greatly Remediable.-Il- 
lustrative Anecdote.-Awful Catastrophe.-Child-Bed Fever.-Exam- 
ination of Dr. Rigby.-Influence of Foul Air in Producing and of Pure 
Air in Preventing it.-Peculiar Odor of Bedrooms.-Other Contagious 
Viri communicated through the Atmosphere; as of Small Pox, Measles, 
Scarlet Fever, &c.-Secondary Influence of Miasmata on the Consti- 
tution.-Further Observations of Dr. T. S. Smith.-Diseases of the 
Digestive Organs.-Particular Influence of Bad Air on Mothers and 
Children.-Its Influence not confined to the Physical Functions; but ex- 
tends to the Mental Faculties.-Examples. 
In the foregoing pages, an attempt has been made to 
explain the composition of atmospheric air, in its pure 
and vitiated states;-the machinery which is employed by 
Nature, when unimpeded in her operations, to vivify, by 
means of oxygen, the circulating fluid;-and the uniform- 
ly injurious consequences, resulting to organic life, from 74 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
respiring impure or contaminated air. It has also Been 
demonstrated, in a general manner, that, while the air, in 
its purity, contains, within itself, the elements of life, and 
health, and corporeal, and mental energy: it is in its vi- 
tiated state, pregnant with the hidden causes of physical, 
moral, and social degeneracy and decay. It now re- 
mains to detail, more minutely, the effects of the in- 
halation of air, mixed with chemical or mechanical im- 
purities, on the human constitution, as exhibited in 
the consequent diseased conditions of both body and 
mind. Volumes might be profitably filled with this im- 
portant subject, as impure air is the direct cause of very 
many, and an aggravation of all the diseases incident to 
the human frame ; but it would be incompatible with the 
limits assigned to the present work, to aim at a full in- 
vestigation of all the evils, referrible to partial or complete 
derangements of the function of respiration. 
Impure air is, indeed, one of the scourges of mankind. 
No age or sex is exempted from its influences, but espe- 
cially are they obnoxious to its evils who have adopted, 
or complied with, the modern ideas of civilization, and 
refinement-and this prime and ever-operating cause of 
disease, depopulation, and premature mortality, has ex- 
isted in its various modifications, and produced its dele- 
terious effects, in a greater or less degree at all times, 
and in all countries and climates. 
Some of the vitiated conditions of the atmosphere de- 
pend, it must be acknowledged, on causes, over which 
mankind have, as yet, no control : such as the simoom, 
sirocco, harmattan, and other poisonous and pestilential 
winds of eastern countries; as also the conditions which 
produce plagues, and many contagious, endemic and 
epidemic diseases, which up to the present time, have 
baffled human investigation; but it may be fully shown, 
as a fact (at which influential and scientific men may USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
75 
well blush), that at least one half of the maladies daily 
hurrying their victims to untimely graves, arise from 
easily understood and preventible causes. 
No doubt great uncertainties have prevailed, and still 
prevail, respecting the origin of diseases from certain 
gases, vapors, and mechanical impurities, floating through 
the air; but speculation will be avoided as much as pos- 
sible and well-ascertained facts, and the opinions of emi- 
nent men founded on facts, only, will be depended on in 
the following pages. 
It has already been explained that carbonic acid gas, 
when inspired, is a fertile source of disease, and even 
death. Other compounds of carbon are often present 
in the atmosphere, and are equally deleterious, and 
morbific, though generally slower in their operation. 
One oi- two instances will suffice ;-Sir Humphry Davy 
took three inspirations of carbonic oxide,* mixed with 
about one fourth of common air; the effect was a tem- 
porary loss of sensation, which was succeeded by gid- 
diness, sickness, acute pains in different parts of the 
body, and extreme debility; some days elapsed be- 
fore he completely recovered.-Mr. Witter of Dublin 
fell down, apoplectic, while breathing this gas, but was 
restored by the inhalation of oxygen (Phil. Mag., vol. 43). 
In chambers, especially those that are ill-ventilated, 
where anthracite coal is burning, it is often present in 
considerable quantities, and may be seen burning in a 
dark blue flame on the surface of the fire. It is, though 
combustible, a non-supporter of combustion or of life, 
hence it is impossible to light a paper on the top of an 
anthracite fire. 
Carhuretted hydrogen gas, a compound of carbon and 
hydrogen, containing no oxygen, is also highly fatal to 
* A combination of oxygen and carbon, containing one proportion- less of 
oxygen, than carbonic acid gas. 76 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
animal life. It is the " chohe-damp" or fire-damp" that 
has poisoned so many miners: and may possibly be gen- 
erated in damp cellars, and underground basements 
(from which the fresh air has been excluded) to such an 
extent as gradually to impair the constitution of those 
subjected to it. It also constitutes an effluvium from the 
mud of stagnant pools, open sewers, and ditches, "and to 
procure it," says Dr. Ure, " we have only to fill a wide- 
mouthed vial with water, and inverting it in the ditch, 
stir the bottom with a stick. G-as rises into the goblet." 
But of all morbific agents in the production of disease, 
perhaps the compounds of sulphur are most to be dread- 
ed, because they are least easily to be guarded against. 
When coal containing sulphur (and it is rarely found 
without it), is burned, it not only forms with oxygen, 
carbonic acid, but also by the sulphur combining with 
the oxygen of the air-sulphurous acid, which, if not very 
largely diluted by fresh air, will be immediately followed 
by irritation of the air passages, inflammation of the 
lungs, and even, if inhaled in considerable quantity, 
spasmodic contractions of the windpipe, and occasionally 
suffocation. 
Writers on pestilence note two distinct species of virus, 
applied to the body through the medium of the air, viz.: 
1st, that arising from the putrefaction, or decomposition 
of dead animal or vegetable matter: as the exhalations 
of marshes, sewers, graveyards, bogs, uncultivated or 
undrained places, the accumulation of filth in cities, 
houses, &c.; 2d, effluvia generated by the decomposition 
of the natural exhalations, and excretions of the human 
body, accumulated, and confined in ill-ventilated habita- 
tions.-The first has been called marsh miasm, and is 
supposed on good grounds to give rise to yellow, remittent, 
bilious, and intermittent fevers, dysentery, and perhaps 
also cholera.-The second species, sometimes termed the USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
77 
typhoid, miasm, usually gives origin to common typhus, 
and low nervous fevers. A variety of opinion exists as 
to the nature of these miasms. Some affirm that the 
disorders caused by the first-named variety are not in 
any degree " dependent on the predominance of nitrogen, 
of carburetted hydrogen, of ammonia, of nitrous oxide, 
&c., in the air," while many others, e. g. Hooper (Med. 
Dicty., article Contagion}, after admitting that the " chem- 
ical nature of all these poisonous effluvia is little under- 
stood," goes on to state that " they undoubtedly consist 
of hydrogen united with sulphur, phosporus, carbon, and 
nitrogen, in unknown proportions and unknown states of 
combination." Later observations would tend to con- 
firm the last opinion. Liebig has succeeded in detecting 
ammonia in the atmosphere, and by a series of carefully- 
conducted experiments, Dr. Gardner of Hampden Syd- 
ney college, has well nigh established the identity of 
malaria with sulphuretted hydrogen. These opinions 
are held by the best authorities that could be cited, and 
on the whole it would appear that sulphur et of ammonia is 
the morbific agent exciting typhus fever, sulphuretted 
hydrogen being the pestilential virus producing yellow- 
fever, and the bilious remittents, and agues of tropical 
climates. It is quite probable however, that both miasms 
when acting at the same time, produce a disease of a new 
type. Prof. Smith, of New York, says, " Let us suppose 
the circumstances in w'hich typhus originates to occur in 
summer, such as the crowding of individuals into small 
apartments badly ventilated, and rendered offensive by per- 
sonal and domestic filth; these causes w'ould obviously pro- 
duce typhus in its ordinary form. But suppose there exist 
at the same time those exhalations which occasion plague 
and yellow-fever or remittent and intermittent fevers; un- 
der such circumstances we would not expect to see any 
one of those diseases fully and distinctly formed, but a 78 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
disease of a new and modified character. It is therefore 
beyond probability, that a few deleterious gases are quite 
sufficient to produce an infinite variety of pestilential and 
contagious maladies." 
It is easy to account for the prevalence of these dis- 
eases, in the middle and torrid regions of the earth, 
where there is a superabundant quantity of dead animal 
and vegetable matter, and where heat and moisture, the 
two necessary agents for its decomposition, are always 
present to a greater or less extent. Dr. Carmichael 
Smith discovered that the vapors of nitrous acid neu- 
tralize and render harmless the typhus miasm, which he 
ascertained to be sulphuret of ammonia, and on the utility 
of this discovery being duly tested and confirmed, a sum 
of ^£5000 was voted to him, by the British parliament, 
as a national donation.* 
A few quotations will be made to show the opinions 
of men who have given their attention to this important 
subject, and who are well qualified to estimate the influ- 
ence of atmospheric impurities and want of ventilation 
in the production of febrile and other malarious diseases. 
"I conceive the immediate and direct cause of fever to 
be, a poison generated by the decomposition of animal 
and vegetable matters. It is only by a good and general 
sewerage, that the animal and vegetable refuse which 
there must always be where there are human beings, and 
the quantity of which must of course be great, in pro- 
n This method is still used, with the best results, in disinfecting ships, 
jails, hospitals, &c., and clothes that may have been imbued with the 
poison. The gas is readily obtained by pouring oil of vitriol, or sulphuric 
acid, on an equal weight of powdered nitre, in a cup, placed on a heated 
iron plate, stove, &c. It is to be cautiously stirred, and the first fumes 
carefully avoided. Chlorine has also been efficaciously used as a disin- 
fecting agent. It is also easily obtained-chloride of lime is to be put into 
a shallow vessel, and made into a paste with water, and spread thinly 
over the bottom of the vessel. Sulphuric acid, diluted with water, is then 
poured over it, and chlorine gas in large quantities is rapidly evolved. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
79 
portion to the number of persons that are congregated 
together, and therefore must always be largest in the 
largest towns and in the most densely-populated parts 
of those towns, can be removed before putrefaction takes 
place, and consequently the poison of fever is matured 
and diffused. Hence the rapid and complete removal of 
this refuse matter, which it is the object of sewerage to 
effect, is the primary and fundamental means of prevent- 
ing the production of fever ; without this all other pre- 
cautions must be in vain; and next in importance to this 
is ventilation ; both because currents of air are to the 
poisonous gases when generated, what the sewers are to 
the solid matters from which the gases are produced- 
that is, the great means of carrying them off; and because 
the free admixture of pure air with poisonous gases, by 
diluting them, renders them innoxious."-T. Southwood 
Smith, M. D. 
" Our inquiries give us the conviction that the immedi- 
ate and chief cause of many of the diseases which im- 
pair the bodily and mental health of the people, and 
bring a considerable portion prematurely to the grave, is 
the poison of atmospheric impurity, arising from the ac- 
cumulation in and around their dwellings, of the decom- 
posing remnants of the substances used for food, and in 
their arts, and of the impurities given out from their own 
bodies."-li If you allow the sources of aerial impurity 
to exist in or around dwellings, you are poisoning the 
people ; and while many may die at early ages of fevers 
and other acute diseases, the remainder will have their 
health impaired and their lives shortened. An unhealthy 
race will have arisen in consequence of the great defect. 
. . . They may tell their medical man, when he makes 
any representation to them on the subject (ventilation) 
that 'ventilation is a hobby of his and that hitherto peo- 
ple have got on very well without attending to it.' If 80 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
they hear of such occurrences as that in the first Ameri- 
can war, of two thousand British seamen dying in one 
fleet from fever and want of ventilation, it is not their 
case, and they can not understand it."-Dr. Arnott, to 
the " Commissioners for inquiring into the state of large 
towns and populous districts in England." 
Notwithstanding the great numbers of those who die 
annually of cholera, we feel ourselves warranted in as- 
serting that deaths from this disease are rare in houses 
with large and well-aired apartments. 
" It is common to attribute the greater mortality known 
to take place under ordinary circumstances in large towns, 
among the poorer classes, chiefly to meager or unwhole- 
some food, and immoderate indulgence in strong liquors. 
But in this country, where for a part of the year we are 
subjected to a degree of heat little, if at all, below that 
of the tropics, the influence of both these causes in the 
production of disease is, in our opinion, insignificant, 
when compared to that of breathing air that has been 
previously respired, and which moreover is commonly 
charged with animal and vegetable effluvia. That the 
same diet and habits of life in the country, or small towns, 
would not be attended with a degree of sickness and 
mortality corresponding to that found in the crowded 
portions of large towns, is, we think, beyond a doubt." 
-Dr. Governeur Emerson, on the Medical Statistics of 
Philadelphia. 
Dr. Emerson's opinion is confirmed in other quarters. 
The following corroborations are taken from Dr. Arnott: 
" In Spitalfields, London, a severe epidemic broke out 
in a time of comparatively full employment. Subse- 
quently the employment diminished, so that not more 
than one half the handloom weavers [who make up al- 
most all the population] were at work. The medical 
officer of the district found that immediately aftei- the USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
81 
diminution of employment there was a decrease of fever 
patients from eight hundred to two hundred and fifty. 
He states that ' The greatest number of fever cases we 
have is of persons who fall ill during the time they are 
in employment. I think they are more attacked when 
in work, when fhe windows are closed, and there is no 
ventilation; - when they are out of work they are more 
out of doors, looking after work - more in the open air; 
and that very exercise may be the means of keeping them 
in health.' ... In May, 1832, there was an almost entire 
cessation of work at Paisley [a manufacturing town in 
Scotland] so extensive, that extraordinary means were 
taken, by general subscriptions, and with the aid of the 
government, to relieve the distress. At that precise time, 
the medical men having the charge of the fever hospital 
were surprised by an extraordinary diminution in the 
number of cases of fever. There were during that 
month just one eighth less than the average during five 
preceding years. But the demand for goods and labor 
subsequently returned, so that the whole population was 
again employed, and warehouses were cleared of goods 
that had not been empty for ten years before. In this 
restored state of the labor-market, anew epidemic broke 
out." 
Many instances, are on record where the progress of 
an epidemic has been suddenly stopped by ventilation. 
" When I visited Glasgow," says Dr. Arnott, " with Mr. 
Chadwick, there was described to us one vast lodffinff 
house, in connexion with a manufactory there, in which 
formerly fever constantly prevailed, but where, by making 
an opening from the top of each room through a channel 
of communication to an air-pump, common to all the 
channels, the disease had disappeared altogether. The 
supply of pure air obtained by that mode of ventilation, 82 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
was sufficient to dilute the cause of the disease, so that 
it became powerless." 
In the famous " black hole" of Calcutta, one hundred 
and forty-six Englishmen were shut up at night by order 
of Surajah Dowlah, only twenty-three of whom were 
found alive in the morning. In this case, as they had 
not more than four or five thousand cubic feet of air, and 
as, for healthful purposes, there are required at least three 
hundred cubic feet for each man, many of them must 
have been almost immediately poisoned by the large vol- 
ume of carbonic acid gas emitted from their lungs. This 
volume of course diminished as they died, the oxygen 
decreased less rapidly, and thus a remnant was left. 
But these also must have received a highly concentrated 
dose of the ammoniacal effluvia arising from the putrify- 
ing exhalations of their bodies. Accordingly, they are 
said " to have been attacked with a fever analogous to 
typhus." 
Besides the above facts, thousands of instances could 
be adduced to show that when the alleged causes of fever, 
viz., deficient ventilation and impure air, were removed, 
fever disappeared also. Mr. Chadwick, in his report on 
the sanatory condition of the laboring classes in Great 
Britain, says " there was in Glasgow," previously to his 
visit to that city, "attached to one of the factories, an as- 
semblage of dwellings for the work people, called from 
its mode of construction, and the crowd collected in it, 
' the barracks' This building contained five hundred 
persons ; every room contained one family. The conse- 
quences of this crowding of the apartments, which were 
badly ventilated, and the filth, were, th at fever was scarcely 
ever absent from the building. There wrere sometimes 
as many as seven cases in one day, and in the last two 
months of 1831 there were fifty-seven cases in the build- 
ing. All attempts to induce the inmates to ventilate their USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
83 
rooms were ineffectual, and the proprietors of the work, 
on the recommendation of Mr. Fleming, a surgeon of 
the district, fixed a simple tin tube, of two inches di- 
ameter, the extremity of which was inserted into the 
chimney of the factory furnace. By the perpetual 
draught thus produced upon the atmosphere of each room, 
the inmates were compelled, whether they would or no, 
to breathe pure air. The effect was, that during the en- 
suing eight years fever was scarcely known in the place. 
The cost of remedies previously applied in the public 
hospitals, to the fever cases continually produced, as de- 
scribed in ' the barracks,' was stated by Dr. Cowan to 
have afforded a striking contrast to the cost of the means 
of prevention." Before the days of Howard (deservedly 
called "the good") jail fever existed almost constantly, 
in all the jails of Europe. At present, at least one fourth 
of them are somewhat better ventilated, and it is notori- 
ous that there is not one fourth the amount of fever now 
in those institutions, that formerly existed. It would 
seem from the statement of Dr. Rusli, that yellow fever 
in Philadelphia has yielded to the progress of sanatory 
reform. "And Philadelphia must admit," says Doctor 
Rush, " the unwelcome truth, sooner or later, that the 
yellow fever is engendered in her own bowels ; or she 
must renounce her character for knowledge and policy, 
and perhaps with it, her existence, as a commercial city." 
However, the cleanliness and ventilation of Philadelphia 
(though like those wholesome measures in all large towns, 
still defective) present astrong contrast, with her sanatory 
condition at the time when Dr. Rush made bis observa- 
tion ; and it is to be presumed that her " knowledge ' 
and "policy" have fortunately averted the calamities re- 
ferred to, by adopting the measure the " Sydenham of 
America" has suggested. 
It might be supposed at first thought, that China and 84 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR, 
Japan would be frequently ravaged witlifever, the in- 
habitants being so much crowded, and the cities so pop- 
ulous. But such is not the case, and the Chinese are pro- 
verbially exempt from fever. Such is the value laid on 
manure, and the animal and vegetable filth of towns, 
that these substances are promptly carried away, and 
applied to their proper uses, before their precious gases 
escape ; and thus those pestilential effluvia, which in 
other countries destroy life, are here turned into the 
means of supporting it. But, in this country, with its 
boasted civilization, so much indifference prevails on this 
point, that we may often see a farmer, who stands high 
in the scale of intelligence, mortified at the parching in- 
fluence of a hot season on his crops, but without ever 
bestowing a sigh on the bright gold, which under the 
form of ammonia, is constantly making its escape from 
the farmsteading, and perchance, communicating disease 
and death to his family or his cattle. 
Mankind appear to have soon discovered that cleanli- 
ness contributed to their health, and plague and pestilence 
seem to have been considerably under the control of their 
sanatory measures ; otherwise cleanliness would not have 
constituted a part of their religion. It is almost unne- 
cessary to refer to the scrupulous regard to cleanliness, 
inculcated in the laws of Moses. Similar laws prevailed 
in Egypt and Greece. Cloacae, or sewers, on a magnifi- 
cent scale, were commenced shortly after the foundation 
of the Roman city. Their object was "to remove all 
filth, and ordure, which in a great capital too often breed 
pestilence and diseases." A brief description from Lem- 
priere (Classical Dictionary) will give some idea of the 
enterprise of the ancient Romans in this important branch 
of civilization. " The cloacae were large receptacles, for 
the filth and dung of the whole city. They were begun 
by Tarquin, the fifth king of Rome, and finished by his USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
85 
grandson, Tarquin the proud,, about six hundred years 
before the Christian era. They were built under the 
city, and the arches were so high that according to Pro- 
copius, a man on horseback might ride through them, 
even in the ordinary course of the channel, and a wain, 
loaded with hay, might pass, and vessels sail in them. 
There were in the streets, at proper distances, openings 
for the admission of dirty water, or any other filth, which 
persons were appointed always to remove, and also to 
keep the cloacae clean. The principal sewer, now ex- 
isting, with which the rest communicated, was called the 
cloca maxima (great sewer), and was principally the 
work of the younger Tarquin. The cloacae were at first 
carried through the streets, but from the want of reg- 
ularity in building the city, after it was burned by the 
Gauls, they, in many places, passed under private houses. 
The cleaning of the cloacae was the more easily effected 
by means of the declivity of the ground, and the plenty 
of water with which the city was supplied. Under the 
republic, certain officers, called censors, and who had 
other duties to perform, had charge of them ; but under 
the emperors regular curators were appointed, and a tax 
was imposed, for keeping them in repair." 
The Romans were also convinced, that the marshes, in 
the neighborhood of the city, were very unwholesome ; 
and they took incredible pains, to render their city and 
territory healthful, by draining off all stagnant wraters. 
Accordingly, Livy informs us that Cethegus, one of the 
consuls about five hundred and seventy-two years after 
the founding of the city, drained the famous Pontine 
marshes, and converted them into cultivable land. The 
Appian way, another great work of the ancient Romans, 
ran through marshes south of the city, that can not now 
be even approached. But in modern Italy, the energy 86 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
of their ancestors has departed, and malaria has pro- 
gressed with fatal malignancy.* 
Ancient Egypt was alike the nursery of the plague, 
and the fine arts. The people, however, learned, by ex- 
perience to mitigate its attacks, and plague was on the 
decline until the subjugation of the country by the Turks, 
whose habits of living are said to have revived it.-Han- 
cock on Pestilence, p. 289. Lately, however, in Turkey, 
the government is encouraging sanatory measures, and. 
even in Egypt, where stagnant water, holding animal 
and vegetable impurities in solution, is the main depend- 
ence of the people, the necessity of drainage and sanatory 
laws has not been overlooked ; and these measures are 
evidently attended with success. 
Ships have always been miserably circumstanced, for 
want of proper ventilation ; their peculiar structure pre- 
venting, in some measure, the adoption of efficient means. 
To economize space, it was formerly the custom of the 
masters of ships, engaged in the slave-trade, to cram be- 
tween decks, without regard to ventilation, as many of 
their miserable captives as could sit or lie ; and from the 
natural activity of their exhalent systems, and especially 
the copious secretion of the skin, a miasm was soon 
generated, and very frequently one half, and sometimes 
almost all, their number, fell a prey to typhus. Self- 
interest, in a short time, administered the remedy that 
humanity had denied, and slave importers have very 
shrewdly taken the lead in ship ventilation. Even brutes 
(because they have owners) are often treated with more 
humanity than human beings themselves. On this prin- 
ciple, emigrants are usually deprived of the benefits of 
ventilation, and legal enactmentshave, in most instances, 
* Rome, once the mistress and wonder of the world, seems destined to 
destruction by malaria, which is making its annual encroachments on the 
city. M'Culloch thus describes modern Italy: " A land whose fragrant 
breezes are poison, and the dews of whose summer evenings are death." USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
87 
failed to reach the evil. The following will suffice as an 
exhibition of the disregard of many in authority, of the 
comfort and safety of emigrant passengers. 
During the last summer (1848), fever broke out on 
board a British emigrant ship, bound to New York, and 
on the surgeon representing to the captain the necessity 
of making a small opening through the deck, to carry 
the vitiated air up behind the forecastle, and thus ventil- 
ate the part of the ship where all the patients lay, he 
very decidedly declined "injuring the. s h ip f and when 
one of the patients died, did not betray any observable 
qualms of conscience. But his canary-bird, whose cage 
hung in the cabin, enjoyed daily a current of fresh air, 
except in wet weather, when the cabin passengers all but 
monopolized the fresh air, and deprived poor Dickey of 
his share of the oxygen, which made him very stupid, 
and put a full stop to his melodies. His master, however, 
soon discovered the true nature of his complaint, and 
suddenly seemed to understand and appreciate the prin- 
ciples of ventilation, which he forthwith reduced to prac- 
tice, by breaking open the cabin window. 
The following awful catastrophe is related by Trotter, 
in his "View of the Nervous Temperament," and serves 
to illustrate the combined effects of self-interest and io? 
o 
norance in connexion with this subject: " In 1797-'8, a 
small passage vessel belonging to Southampton, had on 
board seventy men, women, and children, coming from 
Jersey, among whom were many soldiers and their fam- 
ilies. It began to blow fresh breezes, and for the safety 
of his sloop, the master laid the hatches over and cover- 
ed them with a tarpaulin, which he battened down for 
better security. When the vessel came within the isle 
of Wight, the hatches were opened, but dreadful to be 
told! the whole of the passengers were found dead! !! 
The master, who did all (?) this through ignorance 88 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
of the effects of foul air, became mad, and died soon 
after." 
Only another species of febrile complaint will at present 
be noticed, but it is one which is perhaps more under the 
control of ventilation; and more dependent on the im- 
purity of the air, than any yet mentioned, and which has 
especial claims on the attention of the patrons of benevo- 
lent institutions, viz.: child-bed fever. This formidable 
complaint very seldom makes its appearance in well-ven- 
tilated apartments. The answers of Dr. Edward Rigby 
to the commissioners, before alluded to, will throw some 
light on the connexion between such diseases and atmo- 
spheric impurities. We shall make a few quotations:- 
"E. RIGBY, M. D., EXAMINED. 
"Are you senior physician to the general lying-in hos- 
pital, Lambeth [London] ?"-" I am." 
" How long have you been a medical officer to that 
institution?"-" Since 1832 [12 years]." 
" It may be presumed, that a lying-in hospital, from the 
peculiar susceptibility of the patients, is a place in which 
the effects of atmospheric impurities or miasma, would 
be more strikingly manifested, than with any other class ?" 
-" Yes-the circumstances being the same in both cases 
-their effects would be more immediately manifest on 
such patients than upon any other class. From the va- 
rious circumstances connected with the puerperal state, 
few patients render the surrounding air impure from ani- 
mal effluvia more rapidly, than lying-in women, fever 
cases, perhaps, excepted." 
" In the management of the hospital, were any difficul- 
ties encountered, either from the locality of the building, 
defective state of the house-drains, or adjoining sewers, 
or from deficient internal ventilation 1"-" The hospital 
was seldom free, for any length of time, from puerperal USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
89 
fever, occasionally producing frightful ravages, and re- 
quiring the building, every now and then, to be closed. 
After the greatest attention had been paid to cleanliness, 
in every respect, the wards left open night and day for 
weeks, fumigated, the walls lined and painted, the beds 
thoroughly cleaned, fumigated, repaired, and frequently 
renewed, and the most scrupulous attention paid to clean- 
liness, the fever reappeared on some occasions, immedi- 
ately on the hospital being reopened. This circumstance 
made us look to external causes, when we ascertained 
that in the immediate vicinity of the hospital, there were 
upward of fifteen hundred feet of open ditches, receiving 
the drainage of the poor and dense population of the 
neighborhood, one of the ditches being not more than 
thirty feet from the walls of the building. It was black 
and stagnant, and in constant ebullition from the disen- 
gagement of gas. After great difficulty and trouble, the 
hospital having to bear a large proportion of the ex- 
pense, the commissioners of sewers were induced, though 
with much reluctance, to have a portion of these ditches 
cleaned and properly arched over; an immense quantity 
of black pestilential mud was excavated, but instead of 
being removed, it was spread over the adjoining ground. 
At that time the hospital was free from disease, but two 
cases of puerperal fever occurred within twenty-four 
hours after this unjustifiable act." 
"Had you still cases of fever?"-"Puerperal fever 
still continued to make its appearance, from time to time, 
and occasionally with great severity. As the physicians 
were dissatisfied with the existing means for ventilating 
the wards, to such an extent as could be done with safe- 
ty to the patients, and as it was found that unless quick- 
ly changed, the air became speedily loaded with effluvia, 
it was deemed advisable, in April, 1842, to adopt Dr. 
Reid's plan of ventilation; and accordingly a large sum 90 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
was expended in the necessary alterations. When this 
new plan came into operation, much opposition was ex- 
perienced by the female attendants, and great difficulty 
in preventing them from closing the different valves for 
admitting fresh and emitting foul air. In November, 
1842, during a moist and unusually warm state of the at- 
mosphere, for that season of the year, I found on visiting 
the hospital, one evening, that the air of one ward which 
had its full number of patients, all of whom had been re- 
cently delivered, was exceedingly close and oppressive, 
and the thermometer at seventy-five degrees, and it was 
stated to have been even so high as seventy-eight de- 
grees; the air had a decidedly sour smell, and was evi- 
dently loaded with effluvia. This improper state of 
things had been produced by closing the valves and cut- 
ting off the ventilations in defiance of my strict orders to 
the contrary. I strongly remonstrated, declaring that 
puerperal fever would appear within twenty-four hours. 
In eighteen hours' time, I was called to see a woman 
with symptoms of the disease in that ward; she died, and 
several other women in the same ward were also attack- 
ed, but if I recollect rightly, recovered. The hospital 
continued in an unhealthy state until the following spring, 
when on finding (Feb. 1843), that water rose at times in 
the bottom of the shaft, where the fire is placed for pro- 
ducing the current of air. Dr. Reid carefully analysed 
some of it, and declared his conviction that it must have 
proceeded from some obstructed drain in the neighbor- 
hood. The entire drainage of thebuilding was thorough- 
ly examined and it was then ascertained the main drain 
was entirely blocked up by two logs of wood. The 
whole basement was flooded with every description of 
decomposing impurities, and it was impossible to tell how 
long this state of matters had existed. The whole ground 
must have been saturated with impurities to an extreme USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
91 
extent. In July, two of my own pupils became house- 
surgeons to the establishment; gentlemen in whom I 
placed the fullest confidence and who carried out my 
orders respecting the ventilation of the wards, in spite of 
much opposition and personal annoyance. From that 
moment we have not had a case of puerperal fever; the 
patients have been admitted broken down by poverty and 
misery; severe and dangerous labors have occurred 
among them, and there has been every possible variety 
of weather, but up to the present time since July, there 
has not occurred the slightest trace of puerperal fever." 
" What is the nature of puerperal fever?"-"It is of 
the same class of diseases as the plague, yellow-fever, 
and the putrid marsh intermittents of tropical climates, 
&c.; diseases which essentially depend on a vitiated state 
of the blood, arising from the introduction of some (usu- 
ally animal) poison into the circulating current." 
"Is it communicable in the same way as the diseases 
to which you have alluded?"-"It is;-it may, in the 
first instance, be generated, under the ordinary circum- 
stances which are known to favor the production of 
typhoid fevers; it may be propagated by contact; and it 
may become infectious, from the air being charged with 
effluvia, emanating from the patient, or her discharges. 
On this latter point I would, with permission, quote a 
passage from a work of my own, on these subjects : ' The 
lungs afford a ready and ample means by which effluvia 
may be conveyed into the circulating current, and enables 
us to account for the fact adduced by Dr. Stevens, that 
in situations favorable to the production of fevers, the 
blood is frequently found in a very unhealthy state, even 
before the outbreak of the disease itself." 
Dr. Rigby goes on to say: "I have every reason to be- 
lieve, that in a large majority of cases, the ventilation of 
private houses is very inferior to that of our large hos- 92 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
pitals, more particularly as regards the effluvia from 
drains, &c. The arrangements also for ventilating the 
sleeping rooms, especially the servant's bedrooms, are 
very defective; the peculiar close disagreeable smell of 
the latter chambers, must be familiar to all." 
We may here add that this peculiar bedroomy odor is 
not, as Dr. Rigby would seem to say, peculiar to the dor- 
mitories of servants, but there is not a chamber, however 
costly in its furniture, or ample in its dimensions, though 
occupied by the most cleanly and fastidious, that will not 
exhibit it, if unventilated. 
Physicians have the most frequent opportunities of ob- 
serving this fact, in its universality, their duty calling 
them continually into these apartments, and the contrast 
between the internal and external atmosphere, from one 
to the other of which they make so many transitions, be- 
ing very striking. Nevertheless it may be safely said 
that there is not a chamber in any well-built modern 
house in which the accumulation of the effluvia which 
give rise to this peculiar odor, might not be totally pre- 
vented at the cost of a few shillings, and a little attention; 
and equally certain is it, that the inattention of the mem- 
bers of the enlightened profession of medicine to the 
prevalence of this evil, and its easy removal, is anything 
but creditable to them. The simple remedy which will 
be pointed out in the concluding chapter, if generally 
adopted would save many a doctor's visit, and dose of 
medicine. 
The contagious viri of small-pox, measles, scarlet fe- 
ver, and all others of that class, are also admitted to be 
communicated through the intermedium of the atmosphere, 
and actually inhaled by the lungs, and absorbed into the 
circulation. The chances of infection are, therefore, in 
proportion to the amount of the virus contained in the 
air inhaled. If the poison is allowed to concentrate, it USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
93 
will be obviously more dangerous than when diluted with 
fresh air. If, then, a person enters the chamber of a pa- 
tient, sick with typhus fever, his danger will diminish in 
proportion to the means used to ventilate the apartment, 
and if this has not been attended to, he would be much 
safer in a well-ventilated ward of a hospital where there is 
a score of patients. 
These destructive maladies are by no means confined 
to the places that have been alluded to. On the banks 
of the Tigris, Indus, Ganges, Niger, Amazon, in fact in 
all the torrid regions of the earth, and especially when 
cleanliness, drainage, and ventilation, have been neglected, 
they make their devastations; and in many of those places 
the probabilities of human life are alarmingly on the de- 
crease. Many places on our own continent have become 
"graves for foreigners and the acclimated and native 
inhabitants, though they seem to be comparatively ex- 
empt, are taken, as it were, by stolen marches, and their 
fate is scarcely less sure, though it perhaps may approach 
with slower pace. The origin of these miasmata, the laws 
which govern them, and the particular diseases they en- 
gender, are still subjects of considerable controversy, and 
of course somewhat involved in obscurity. 
This is not strange, but it is very remarkable that their 
effects are neithei' fully understood, nor thoroughly 
avoided. If this position required proof, we have only 
to turn to the few means that have been resorted to, to 
avert those effects. For example, when the plague visits 
Bagdad, Smyrna, or Constantinople, or when malaria 
visits Rome, or yellow fever New Orleans, or Portobello, 
those who are fortunate enough to survive, or are not 
openly attacked by the malady, only congratulate them- 
selves on their escape, but never attempt to avert its re- 
turn. Butthat escaped, to the most superficial observer, 
a serious delusion. The pallor of countenance, the lan- 94 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
guor of the corporeal, and the imbecility of the mental 
functions, the cadaverous aspect and premature decrepi- 
tude, are infallible indications that the poison has been 
imbibed, and is still lurking deeply in the circulating cur- 
rent, has distributed itself to every organ, physical and 
intellectual, and is slowly, but surely, preying upon the 
stamina of life, and sapping the foundations of both body 
and mind. 
It would be almost absurd to suppose that the constant 
inhalation of vitiated air, should be confined to the mere 
generation and extension of fever. The aerial poison, 
when acting with less intensity, is still sufficient to affect 
the general health, less or more, and call into action the 
latent germs of other diseases. The observations of Dr. 
Southwood Smith on this point are so relevant, and con- 
sistent with facts daily occurring, that they must not be 
omitted. 
" I particularize fever" (says Dr. Smith to the com- 
missioners),* " because fever is the most obvious and the 
most rapidly fatal, of the diseases arising from the neglect 
of sewerage, ventilation, and cleanliness; but it would 
be a very inadequate view of the pernicious agency of 
the poison unceasingly generated in these filthy and neg- 
lected districts, to restrict it to the disease the most ob- 
viously produced by it. Its indirect action is highly nox- 
ious, though the evil is not so manifest. It is a matter 
of constant observation, that even when not present in 
sufficient intensity to produce fever, by disturbing the 
function of some organ or some set of organs, and thereby 
weakening the general system, this poison acts as a 
powerful predisposing cause, of some of the most com- 
mon and fatal maladies to which the human body is sub- 
ject. For example, the deaths occasioned in this coun- 
* Vide " First Report of the Commissioners for inquiring into the State 
of large Towns and Populous Districts," p. 10. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
95 
try by diseases of the digestive organs,* by inflammation 
of the air passages and lungs, and by consumption, form 
by far the largest proportion of the annual mortality. 
Now no one who lives long in or near a malarial district, 
is ever, for a single hour, free from some disease of the 
digestive organs. But disordered states of the digestive 
organs not only constitute in themselves highly painful 
and even fatal maktdies, but they lay the foundations of 
several other mortal diseases. By a disordered state of 
the digestive organs for example, the body is often so 
much enfeebled that it is wholly incapable of resisting 
the frequent and/sudden changes of temperature to which 
this climate is subject; the consequence is, that the per- 
son thus enfeebled, perishes by inflammation set up in 
some vital organ, and more especially in the air-passages 
and lungs ; or by consumption, the consequence of that 
inflammation ; so that to the total number of deaths, that 
take place, annually, from fever, in its different forms, 
must be added those caused by the indirect operation of 
the same poison that produces fever. Even when they 
(the-causes above referred to) do not produce acute dis- 
eases, and at once lay the individual aside, they produce 
diseases of the nutritive system, and thus injure the con- 
stitution, diminish its power of resisting the numerous 
causes of disease to which the body is commonly exposed, 
and so enfeeble it, that the individual is very much in- 
capacitated from labor. The gradual deterioration of 
health, caused by badly-ventilated dwellings, and un- 
cleanliness, " is universally and strikingly indicated in 
two ways. First, by the incapacity of the mothers to 
attend to their children; and secondly, by the bad health 
of the children, and their great mortality. It has been 
already shown, by the experience of the fever hospital, 
* Probably even more deaths proceed from diseases of the digestive 
organs in America than in England. 96 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
that the mothers are more susceptible of fever than the hus- 
bands, but when not laboring under any acute disease, the 
mothers are often so enfeebled as to be unable to attend 
properly to theii' domestic duties ; so that the children 
are not taken due care of, while the sickness of the chil- 
dren becomes an enormous tax on the time and wages 
of the parents. In consequence of the disease and weak- 
ness generated by the condition in which they live, the 
ability of the laboring classes to support themselves is 
very much diminished, and in very many instances, this 
has the effect of throwing them on parish relief. The 
consequent burden on private individuals and public in- 
stitutions, is the least part of the evil. The great evil of 
this state of things, is its tendency to break down the 
spirit of independence, and to reduce large classes of 
the people to the degradation and wretchedness of de- 
pending for their support on charity, and not on their 
own industry." 
But the deleterious effects of atmospheric poisons do 
not stop here, and it would be happy for the human race 
if those effects were only inflicted on the physical constitu- 
tion ; unfortunately, their ravages extend to the mental 
faculties also. On this subject, the writer just quoted 
says : " There is evidence that as they have not the 
bodily vigor, and the industrious habits of a healthy and 
independent peasantry, so they have not the intelligence 
and spirit proper to such a race. One of the most mel- 
ancholy proofs of this is in the quiet and unresisting man- 
ner in which they succumb to the wretchedness of their 
lot. They make no effort to get into happier circum- 
stances; their dulness and apathy indicate an equal de- 
gree of mental as of physical paralysis, and this has 
struck other observers, who have had opportunities of 
becoming acquainted with the real state of these people. 
In the poor law commissioner's report on the sanatory USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
97 
condition of the laboring population, there is the follow- 
ing statement, which impressed my mind the more be- 
cause it recalled to my recollection, vividly, similar cases 
witnessed by myself. ' In the year 1836,' says one of 
the medical officers of the West Darby Union, ' I at- 
tended a family of thirteen - twelve of whom had ty- 
phus fever, without a bed, in the cellar, without straw or 
timber-shavings - frequent substitutes. They lay on the 
floor, and so crowded that I could scarcely pass between 
them. In another house, I attended fourteen patients - 
there were only two beds in the house. All the patients 
lay on the boards, and during their illness never had their 
clothes off. I met with many cases, in similar conditions, 
yet amidst the greatest destitution and want of domestic 
comfort, I never heard, during the course of twelve years' 
practice, a complaint of inconvenient accommodation.' 
Now this want of complaint, under such circumstances, 
appears to me to constitute a very melancholy part of 
this condition. It shows that physical wretchedness has 
done its worst on the human sufferer, for it has destroyed 
his mind. The wretchedness being greater than human- 
ity can bear, annihilates the mental faculties - the facul- 
ties distinctive of the human being. There is a kind, of 
satisfaction in the thought, for it sets a limit to the capa- 
city of suffering, which would otherwise be without 
bound." 98 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER IX. 
Consumption.-Number of Deaths by it in Great Britain and the United 
Stat ss.-Statement of Dr. Guy.-Its relative Prevalence among Profes- 
sional Men, Tradesmen, and Artisans.-Experience of a London 
Tradesman--Fresh Air retards its Development when Hereditary.- 
Its relative Prevalence among Males and Females in Town and Coun- 
try.-Table.-Workshops.-Inhalation of Dust, Fumes, metallic Parti- 
cles, &c.-Schofih.a.-Tubercles.- Food not Nutritive unless Aerated. 
-Opinion of M. Baudelocque of the Causes of Scrofula.-Long-contin- 
ued Respiration of Foul Air not necessary to Produce it.-Shepherds.- 
Sleeping with the Head Covered.-Illustration.-Village of Oresmeaux. 
-Opinion of Sir James Clark.-Scrofula Producible in a healthy Infant. 
-Prevalent among Rabbits, Monkeys, Cows, Horses.-Curious Medical 
Practice in Scotland.-Physical Education.-Scrofula in the Norwood 
School; its cause and Cure.-Relation of Animal Composition and the 
Development of Respiratory Apparatus.-Constructions of the Chest.- 
Leaning against Desks.- Tight-Lacing; its Effects.-Coroner's Ver- 
dict in such Cases. 
Next to those maladies which are the more obvious 
products of the respiration of vitiated air, and which 
have been called pestilential, or contagious, may perhaps 
be classed those of the respiratory organs themselves. 
These are too numerous to be mentioned in detail, and 
may all be directly produced by breathing air insufficient 
in quantity, bad in quality, or of improper temperature. 
Consumption has been looked upon, in all ages, as one 
of the most formidable diseases, and though it proceeds 
from a variety of causes, none operate more effectively 
in its production than sedentary occupations, changes of 
the atmospheric temperature, unprovided against by 
proper means, and living in houses or working in manu- 
factories, or coal-pits, &c., where ventilation has not been 
attended to. Hence, in England, where these causes USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
99 
are in constant operation, and where pit coal is burned, 
to a great extent, consumption is particularly prevalent. 
In the days of Arbuthnot, consumption made up one 
tenth of the bills of mortality in the city of London, an 
estimate which has been lately increased to one fourth. 
It is also probable that as many as 100,000 die of con- 
sumption, in the British isles, in one year. Dr. Alcott 
supposes himself safe in stating the annual mortality from 
consumption, of the United States, at 50,000, or 1,000,000 
every twenty years. In fine, consumption is found to 
prevail to the greatest extent in crowded cities, where 
the air is confined or impregnated with noxious matters, 
and this fact sufficiently proves of itself, that impure air 
is at least one of the most prevalent causes of consump- 
tion. Dr. Guy, in his examination on this point, before 
the commissioners, affirms, " This [deficient ventilation] 
I believe to be more fatal than all other causes put to- 
gether." He briefly states the result of his inquiries re- 
specting the cause of consumption, with a view to prove 
its origin, from impure and confined air, thus: - 
" 1st. Consumption is relatively more frequent in per- 
sons working in doors, than those employed out of doors 
" 2d. In those employed within doors, it is most fre- 
quent in men using little exertion. 
" 3d. It makes its attacks earlier where it is of most 
frequent occurrence. 
" 4th. It is very common in the intemperate, and in those 
exposed to the inhalation of dust. 
"5th. It is more frequent in men than women, at least 
in the metropolis (London)." 
It also appears from Dr. Guy's evidence, that of the 
three classes, of gentlemen (including professional men), 
tradesmen (storekeepers), and artisans, including labor- 
ers of every class, the cases of consumption stand as the 
numbers, 16, 28, and 30. From this it follows that the 100 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
tradesmen of London (and they are pretty similarly cir- 
cumstanced in New York and the other great cities of 
this country), are nearly twice as liable to consumption as 
the gentry. This great mortality Dr. Guy mainly at- 
tributes to the confinement during so many hours of every 
day, in ill-ventilated shops. In large cities, tradesmen 
and shopmen suffer occasionally from the way in which 
they are lodged or housed. They give up to their busi- 
ness all the space they can command, and let the upper 
part of their houses to lodgers, living themselves in small 
back rooms, connected with theii' stores, which rooms are 
not larger or better ventilated than those of the poor. 
This leads to much sickness among them. "It is," con- 
tinues Dr. Guy, "only within a few days, that a London 
tradesman gave me this account of himself.-He had 
been originally a workman, and having saved a little 
money, opened a small shop in a back street. Foi' some 
years he slept in a small close back room, behind his shop; 
and during the whole time was subject to frequent attacks 
of cold, with affection of the chest. These attacks were 
often so severe as to require medical advice and attend- 
ance, for weeks together. He has since moved into an 
open airy situation, with ample accommodation for him- 
self and family, and he is not only very rarely subject to 
colds, but these when they do occur, are readily cured, 
by the most simple means. He states that he saves in 
this way a large sum, previously expended on medicine." 
Had the tradesman in this case persisted in his former 
way of living and sleeping, consumption, in its incurable 
form, would in all probability have been the result. 
It has been observed that where there is a predispo- 
sition to consumption, pure air retards the progress of 
the disease, and prevents its development until late in life, 
and vice versa. Hawkers and carriers who stand, sit, or 
journey from place to place, exposed to the inclemency, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
101 
and all the vicissitudes of the weather, are known to be not 
only less subject to consumption, but if they die of it, die 
later than those who work indoors, and are protected from 
the weather. Except imperfect ventilation be assumed as 
the cause of the greater frequency of consumption, and 
its more rapid termination, among indoor laborers, than 
among those engaged in the open air, we are unable to 
account for this well-ascertained fact. All circumstances 
but the one specified, are in favor of the former class. 
Their wages are higher, and consequently their food, 
clothing, lodging, &c., are of better quality, and it is 
probable they are sopjewhat less addicted to intemper- 
ance, yet all these advantages do not compensate for the 
want of pure air. The greater mortality of males, com- 
pared with that of females, Dr. Guy attributes to the 
fact that the latter are not so much employed in working 
in companies together, but frequently work in their own 
rooms. Though this is true with regard to London, the 
result is just the contrary in manufacturing districts and 
towns where many females are employed. Their more 
delicat? constitutions are not so able to withstand the 
gradual deterioration of the pulmonary apparatus, pro- 
duced by breathing air that has passed through many 
lungs, and lost the great bulk of its vivifying principle, 
before it arrives at theirs, and they of course contract 
consumption, and sink under it more readily than the 
other sex, whose lungs and constitution are more robust. 
Milliners, dressmakers, tailors, shoemakers, pressmen, 
and compositors, apart from the injurious effects of the 
bent positions of their bodies, and the consequent dimin- 
ished capacities of their chests, are particularly exposed 
to the influence of repeatedly-inhaled and otherwise 
vitiated air. The high rents of large rooms in large 
cities, demand economy of space, and therefore the em- 
ployers are disposed to huddle together the workers, or 102 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
as the London tailors express it, set them " knee to knee 
and elbow to elbow." The employers are not solely to 
be blamed ; we must suppose the workers to be instru- 
mental in lowering the standard of their own health and 
morality, and knowingly or unwittingly inflicting upon 
themselves a lingering but generally certain self-destruc- 
tion, while their heartless masters or mistresses are all 
but guilty of the slow and insidious murder of a class 
of their fellow-creatures, which comprises some of ihe 
most useful members of the community. Indeed, these 
classes are seldom without catarrh, headache, rheuma- 
tism, pains in the chest, debility, indigestion, or spitting 
of blood, which usually pave the way for incurable con- 
sumption, and in a short time, by undermining the con- 
stitution, realize the picture that has been just drawn. 
As a confirmation of the injurious effects attributed to 
impure air, Dr. Guy gives the following table, founded 
upon a careful inquiry into the condition of some letter- 
press printers, as to health, and an accurate measure- 
ment of the rooms in which they were employed : - 
Spitting 
of 
Blood. 
Ca- 
tarrh 
Other 
Dis- 
eases. 
Total 
Percentage proportion. 
Spitting 
of 
Blood. 
Ca- 
tarrh. 
Other 
Dis- 
eases. 
Total 
104 men having less 
than 500 cubic feet 
of air to breathe, 
13 
13 
18 
44 
12 50 
12 5 
17-31 
42-31 
115 men with from 
500 to 600 cubic ft. 
of air to breathe, 
5 
4 
23 
32 
4-35 
3-48 
20 00 
27 82 
101 men vyithmore 
than 600 cubic feet 
of air to breathe, 
4 
2 
18 
24 
396 
1-98 
17-82 
23-76 
So far from limiting the influence of vitiated air to the 
production of consumption, or even confining the conse- 
quences of that influence to the body, Dr. Guy further 
states, "I consider the heated and impure atmosphere of USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
103 
workshops, and a similarly unwholesome state of the 
dwellings of the poor, as the cause of a large number of 
diseases-of scrofulous diseases in childhood, of inflamma- 
tion of the lungs, of the febrile affections, to which the 
children of the poor are so subject, and of those chronic 
disorders of the bowels, which are so apt to terminate in 
mesenteric disease.-A great proportion of the deaths of 
children entered in the reports of the registrar-general, as 
consumption, are of this nature, and chiefly due to this 
cause. In adults the effect of the depressing atmosphere 
of places of work, such as those described, extends much 
beyond the production of pulmonary consumption. Both 
the mind and the body are injured ; the one is in a state 
to be excited by slight causes, and the other to require, 
or to seem to require, the aid of intoxicating liquors. Each 
ministers to the other's weakness, and each reacts upon 
the other. I believe that as a general rule men who 
work out of doors drink more than those employed with- 
in doors ; they have more temptations; they are more 
in the way of it. But I believe that the unwholesome 
state of places of work, by the depressing effect it pro- 
duces, is a great cause of intemperance. It can scarce- 
ly be otherwise."-Dr. Guy sums up his evidence in the 
following terms : " There is no sufficient reason for con- 
sidering consumption as an English disease. A certain 
amount of consumption, probably about one in seven of 
all deaths above fifteen years of age, which is nearly the 
proportion occurring in the higher orders, and in the 
most healthy professions, may be considered as inevita- 
ble ; but all beyond that proportion admits of prevention. 
The annual waste of adult-life from pulmonary consump- 
tion alone, may be safely stated at upward of five thou- 
sand, and this estimate is probably much below the truth. 
The chief cause of this great mortality is the defective ven- 
tilation of houses, shops, and places of work. Next to this, 104 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
in point of importance, is the inhalation of dust, metallic 
particles, and irritating fumes. One cause, over which 
the poor themselves can exercise control, is the abuse of 
spirituous liquors, a very fruitful source of consumption. 
I will venture to add my own strong conviction, that the 
sacrifice of so large a number of grown-up n^n and 
women, has the indirect effect of decreasing the popula- 
tion, of substituting young and helpless children, for adults 
capable of earning their own subsistence, and of contrib- 
uting to the wealth and greatness of their country; that 
this waste of adult-life is, in every sense and view of the 
matter, a great calamity, and very bad economy, and to 
the extent to which its causes are generally understood 
by individuals, or by the public, a great and cruel in- 
justice." 
Consumption is very often, if not always, a symptom 
of a disease which assumes different forms, and which is 
known by the generic term scrofula. Many have at- 
tempted to draw a distinction between the two but not 
succesfully. S. Cooper,* Alison, and many of the best au- 
thorities recognise the full identity of these diseases. Scrof- 
ula usually shows itself in suppurating tumors, in various 
parts of the body, internally and externally, enlargement 
of the glands of the neck, and mesentery, and often in the 
development of small bodies in the substance of the lungs, 
and other parts, named tubercles. These tubercles are of 
various forms, colors, and consistence, and generally of 
a pale yellowish color, and seldom exceeding the size of 
a small pea. As to their origin and chemical composi- 
tion, little certain is known, though these pointshave been 
made subjects of the most careful investigation. From 
the very discrepant analyses that have been made from 
time to time, to ascertain their elements, it may be in- 
ferred that their chemical constituents are variable in 
* Vide Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, article Scrofula. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
105 
different subjects. They are developed in almost every 
tissue of the body, especially in the lungs, in which case 
the disease is called pulmonary consumption or tubercular 
phthisis. They are also frequently found in the liver, the 
reason of which will be attempted to be explained. The 
circumstance of their being found in large numbers in 
the lungs, even when the other structures are compara- 
tively exempt, is of itself strong presumptive evidence 
that their original formation is intimately connected with 
the function of respiration, though it does noty?rorc that 
an obstruction in that function is the proximate cause of 
their growth. The ablest modern physiologists contend 
that tubercles are morbid products, resulting from abor- 
tive attempts at organization. This accident results 
from various causes affecting the nutritive process, or that 
process which prepares the blood, in sufficient quantity 
and quality, for the formation of living structures. 
As three principal causeshave been alleged, viz.: he- 
reditary predisposition, insufficient or unwholesome food, 
and an insufficient supply of pure air, the question for our 
immediate purpose naturally resolves itself into the in- 
quiry, which of these causes has been observed to op- 
erate most strongly in producing consumption, scrofula, 
or other disease, indicated more or less by the presence 
of tubercles? It is to be hoped the opinions about to be 
adduced will constitute a satisfactory answer. 
It is however necessary here to explain, that a univer- 
sality of cause producing scrofula, to the exclusion of all 
others, is not contended for. An attempt will only be made 
to bring forward satisfactory evidence, to show that de- 
ficient aeration of the blood is the principal cause, and 
that hereditary tendency, bad diet, depressing passions, 
too late, too early, or in-and-in marriages, sedentary oc- 
cupations, want of exercise, deficient clothing, bad wa- 
ter, &c., which have been separately and collectively 106 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
alleged by writers, are only secondary and auxiliary in 
their operation. 
In the first place, there is strong reason to believe that 
the blood corpuscles are mainly affected in the func- 
tion of respiration, and it is possible to show, by both 
philosophical principles and established facts, that the 
want of due arterialization of the blood, by a sufficiently 
oxygenated air, is essentially connected with the state 
of the blood which exists in this disease. Dr. Carpenter, 
one of the most successful pathologists of the present 
time, after enumerating the various effects of insufficien- 
cy of air, or suspension of the aerating process, says : 
"Again the due elaboration of the fibrin of the blood, is 
undoubtedly prevented by an habitually deficient respira- 
tion, and various diseases which result from the imper- 
fect performance of this elaboration, consequently mani- 
fest themselves. The scrofulous diathesis is thus fre- 
quently connected with an unusually small capacity of 
the chest. If there be an imperfect elaboration of the 
nutrient materials, as happens in the tuberculous diathe- 
sis, its effects are peculiarly liable to manifest themselves 
at this period [youth] when the demand for nutritive 
matter is greatly augmented by the activity of the mus- 
cular system." 
Nozu it is not disputed, that matter, carried from the 
digestive organs, and thrown into the circulation, can not 
be perfectly nutritive, unless it be perfectly aerated or 
oxygenated. This fact is fully established. A very small 
quantity of food, even when it is to a certain extent un- 
wholesome, may possibly be assimilated, and with a due 
supply of air to ventilate it when it arrives at the lungs, 
may become highly nutritive ; but the largest conceiva- 
ble quantity of what is called nutritious food, taken into the 
stomach, and there digested, can never be elaborated into 
nutritive blood, without a due supply of air to arterialize it. 107 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
M. Baudelocque, a celebrated French writer, has 
made the causes of this disease a subject of the most care- 
ful investigation, and as his opinions have been pretty 
generally adopted by the best physicans in Europe and 
America, and are in accordance with our own experi- 
ence, it will perhaps be necessary to make a few quota- 
tions from his treatise, " Observations sur les Maladies 
Scrofuleuse." 
" Invariably it will be found, on examination, that a 
truly scrofulous disease is caused by a vitiated air, and it 
is not always necessary that there should have been, a 
prolonged stay in such an atmosphere. Often a few hours 
each day is sufficient, and it is thus they may live in the 
most, healthy country, pass the greater part of the day in 
the open air, and yet become scrofulous because of sleep- 
ing in a confined place, where the air has not been re- 
newed. This is the case with many shepherds. It is 
usual to attribute scrofula, in their case, to exposure to 
storms and atmospheric changes, and to humidity. But 
attention has not been paid to the circumstance, that they 
pass the night in a confined hut, which they transport 
from place to place, and which guaranties them against 
humidity : this hut has only a small door, which is closed 
when they enter, and remains closed also during the day: 
six or eight hours passed daily in a vitiated air, and 
which no draught ever removes, is the true cause of their 
disease. I have spoken of the bad habit of sleeping with 
the head under the clothes, and the insalubrity of the 
classes where a number of children are assembled to- 
gether. The repetition of these circumstances is often 
sufficient cause of scrofula, although they may last but 
for a few hours a day." He supports this view by the 
following striking instance: "At three leagues from 
Amiens lies the village of Oresmeaux; it is situated in a 
vast plain, open on every side, and elevated more than 108 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
a hundred feet above the neighboring valleys. About 
sixty years ago most of the houses were built of clay, and 
had no windows; they were lighted by one or two panes 
of glass fixed in the wall; none of the floors, sometimes 
many feet below the level of the street, were paved. 
The ceilings were low, the greater part of the inhabit- 
ants were engaged in weaving. A few holes in the wall, 
and which were closed at will by means of a plank, 
scarcely permitted the light and air to penetrate into the 
workshop. Humidity was thought necessary to keep 
the threads fresh. Nearly all the inhabitants were seized 
with scrofula, and many families continually ravaged by 
that malady became extinct,-their last members as they 
write me, died rotten with scrofula. A fire destroyed 
nearly one third of the village: the houses were rebuilt 
in a more salubrious manner, and by degrees scrofula 
became less common and disappeared from that part. 
Twenty years later another third of the village was con- 
sumed ; the same amelioration in building with a like 
effect, as to scrofula. The disease is now confined to the 
inhabitants of the older houses which retain the same 
causes of insalubrity." 
It is unnecessary to cross the Atlantic to see the depopu- 
lating effect of damp and underground residences. New 
York has enough cellar-residents to make another Ores- 
meaux, and their mortality must also be nearly if not quite 
equal. 
In speaking of the hereditary descent of the disease, Bau- 
delocque admits that scrofula may be propagated from pa- 
rents to their offspring, but adduces numerous examples 
that tend to diminish very much the importance generally 
attached to hereditary constitution as a cause of the dis- 
ease, and. which prove that it is possible to destroy the pre- 
disposition, and to avoid the malady, by simply respiring 
pure air. He further asserts that " when the parents USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
109 
have ceased to be scrofulous, they can only transmit to 
their children a predisposition to the disease, of which 
they are cured. To develop this disease, it is necessary 
that the children find themselves placed under the at- 
mospheric condition of which I have spoken; that they 
habitually respire an air whose principal constituents 
are altered. In consequence of their predisposition to 
scrofula, it is true it will show itself more readily in their 
case, than in that of other children exposed to the same 
cause, but the action of a vitiated air is always necessary 
to the development of the disease ; to withdraw from 
the one is to avoid the other, whatever may be the hered- 
itary disposition. Finally, M. Baudelocque affirms, that 
the repeated respiration of the same atmosphere is a 
primary and efficient cause of scrofula, and that " if there 
be entirely pure air, there may be bad food, bad clothing, 
and want of personal cleanliness, but that scrofulous dis- 
ease can not exist," and supports this assertion by numer- 
ous cases and incontrovertible facts. Dr. Duncan, who 
has also devoted very great attention to the causes of 
scrofula, corroborates the opinions of M. Baudelocque in 
these terms : " It seems natural to expect that the organs 
with which the foreign gaseous ingredients of the at- 
mosphere come more immediately into contact, and whose 
blood-vessels they must enter on their passage into the 
system, should feel in a distinctive manner, their noxious 
influence, and this a-priori expectation is strengthened 
by the observation, in both man and animals, as well as 
by experiment on the latter. It has been observed that 
when individuals breathe habitually impure air, and are 
exposed to the other debilitating causes which must al- 
ways influence more or less the inhabitants of dark, filthy, 
and ill-ventilated dwellings, scrofula - and consumption 
as one of its forms - are very apt to be engendered, even 
when the hereditary predisposition to the disease maybe 110 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
absent." Professor Alison, one of the highest authorities 
on this subject, remarks : " It is hardly possible to observe 
separately, the effect on the animal economy of deficiency 
of exercise, and deficiency of fresh air, these two causes 
being very generally applied together, and often in con- 
nexion with imperfect nourishment. But it is perfectly 
ascertained, on an extensive scale, in regard to the in- 
habitants of large and crowded cities, as compared with 
the rural population of the same climate - first, that 
their mortality is very much greater, especially in early 
life, and the probability of life very much less ; and, 
secondly, that of this great early mortality in large towns, 
a very large proportion is caused by scrofulous disease. 
And from these two facts, it evidently follows that de- 
ficiency of fresh air, and of exercise, are among the 
most powerful and the most important, because often the 
most remediable, of the causes from which the scrofu- 
lous diathesis arises." 
Sir J. Clark, who has written the best monograph on 
consumption in our language, regards the respiration of 
a deteriorated atmosphere, as one of the most powerful 
causes of tuberculous cachexia, that is, the constitutional 
affection which precedes the appearance of consumption. 
He says: " If an infant born in perfect health, and of the 
healthiest parents, be kept in close rooms, in which free 
ventilation and cleanliness are neglected, a few months 
will often suffice to induce tuberculous cachexia."- 
"There can be no doubt," he adds, "that the habitual 
respiration of the air of ill-ventilated and gloomy alleys 
in large towns, is a powerful means of augmenting the 
hereditary disposition to scrofula, and even of inducing 
such a disposition de novo. Children reared in the work- 
houses of this country, and in similar establishments 
abroad, almost all become scrofulous, and this more, we 
believe, from the confined impure atmosphere in which USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
111 
they live, and the want of active exercise, than from de- 
fective nourishment." The same distinguished physician 
has actually succeeded in inducing consumption in rab- 
bits, by confining them in cold, damp, dark, close situa- 
tions, and supplying them with innutritions food. Mon- 
keys present the same phenomenon in this country, where 
they are often crowded together during the winter in a 
confined and heated atmosphere, and where true tuber- 
cular consumption commits more extensive ravages among 
them, than it does among the human race. 
It is believed also that this malady is very prevalent 
among cows which supply milk to the inhabitants of some 
large towns, where they are immured during part of ev- 
ery year, in close dairies, and which being too small for 
the number of animals they contain, soon become filled 
with heated, vitiated air, for the removal of which no 
provision has been made ! Can those persons who 
use the milk of such cows escape disease ? It is to 
be feared that a negative conclusion can not be escaped. 
Indeed, to suppose that the material of the milk could 
pass into, and through, four stomachs, be absorbed into 
the chyliferous ducts, and thence thrown into the circu- 
lation, perform many rounds in the blood-vessels, be elab- 
orated into milk by a complicated process in the glandu- 
lar apparatus, and after it has come in contact with dis- 
eased tissues in every step of its progress, possibly re- 
main a considerable time in the body of the animal, and 
yet not be tainted with morbific qualities, would be ut- 
erly repugnant to reason and experience. 
It is also more than probable, that horses kept in ill- 
ventilated stables are often attacked with contagious 
diseases, which are readily communicated to the human 
species ; and it is not very unusual to hear of hostlers and 
others falling a prey to the disease called glanders, which 
is commonly supposed to be a morbid secretion from the 112 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
mucous membrane lining the air passages of the nose, 
the result of a scrofulous condition of that tissue, and 
which is only a symptom of an extensive and latent tu- 
berculous disease. In these cases the culpable disregard 
of a proper supply of pure air to these poor animals, 
on the part of their keepers, is obviously the cause of 
the destruction of both. 
As an illustration of some of the unaccountable in- 
fatuations under which the comparatively well-informed 
labor, with regard to the purity of air, it may be men- 
tioned that in some parts of Scotland, even at the present 
day, when a person begins to complain of consumption, 
he is very gravely advised by his friends, or some old 
woman, who is often the "family doctor," to live for a 
certain number of days in the cowhouse ! To do jus- 
tice, however, to that enlightened nation, it must be ac- 
knowledged that this practice is generally ridiculed, and 
fast falling into the disrepute it so well merits.* 
Too much credit can scarcely be given to those few 
philanthropists, who have begun to interest themselves 
in, or rather revive, the cause of physical education. 
This will be admitted, when it is recollected that of late 
volumes above volumes have been written, on the best 
methods of " Mental Education," moral and intellectual 
training, &c., and a very unamiable controversial temper 
has occasionally been indulged in, by the advocates of 
the respective systems-so different are their theories. 
But they all seem to be agreed on one point: that physi- 
cal training is, at best, a merely secondary and unimport- 
ant consideration. They teach the children a whole 
encyclopedia of knowledge, classic, and modern. They 
make the schools, as it were, forcing beds for the growth 
of intellect; without seeming to reflect, that it is at the 
expense of the constitutions of their pupils. They ad- 
* Vide Dr. Andrews' Dictionary of Domestic Medicine. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
113 
mire the intellectual precocity of a child, without making 
allowance for that waste of physical, and consequently 
mental energy, which never can be restored, and which 
will be found wanting when most required. The best 
wish, and the most rational one, that can present itself to 
the human mind is contained in the proverb '■'■mens sana 
in corpore sano yet this principle, clear though it be, 
is in these schools hardly ever inculcated, and very gen- 
erally disregarded. Instances might be multiplied with- 
out number, to justify these statements, but one connect- 
ed with the subject, at present under discussion, will 
perhaps suffice. < In 1832, at Norwood school, in Eng- 
land, where there were six hundred pupils, scrofula 
broke out, extensively, among the children, and carried 
off great numbers. This was at once ascribed to bad 
and insufficient food. Dr. Arnott was, however, employ- 
ed to investigate the matter, and immediately decided 
that the food was " most abundant and good," assigning 
" defective ventilation, and consequent atmospheric im- 
purity," as the true cause. Ventilation was accordingly 
applied by his direction ; the scrofula soon disappeared, 
and eleven hundred children are now maintained, in 
good health, where the six hundred, before a proper 
system of ventilation was adopted, were scrofulous and 
sickly.* 
In all classes of animals there is found a certain rela- 
tion between the composition of the body and the develop- 
ment of the apparatus of respiration, which may account 
for the production of scrofula by breathing foul air. In 
a work on the " Lungs and their Diseases," by James 
Stewart, M. D., of New York, may be found the rudi- 
ments of an explanation of the mode in which scrofulous 
* For numerous other well-authenticated instances of a similar nature, 
see Toynbee's Evidence before the Commissioners, 1st Keport, p. 78, 
et seq. 114 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
tubercles result from the inspiration of too little, or too 
foul, an air. 
It is remarked that in the lowest form of animal organ- 
ization, albumen predominates greatly ovei- all other an- 
imalized substances. In the egg, it forms nearly the 
whole mass, and so in the oyster, the muscle, and other 
similar organizations. As animals rise in the scale of 
being, this substance is reduced in proportion to the 
whole mass of the body, growing less in the fish, still less 
in the reptile, and diminishing with each increase of per- 
fection of animal powers, until the highest is attained to 
in the bird, the more active quadrupeds, and in man 
himself. 
Now if we compare these different classes of beings 
in another particular, we find a remarkable coincidence, 
viz.: that in those of the lowest organization, respiration 
is least active, and as they rise in the scale, respiration 
becomes more and more elaborate. In other words, the 
greater the proportion of albumen in the animal, the less 
important is the function of respiration ; and the less the 
proportion of albumen, the more complicated, more de- 
veloped, and more important, is this function. 
Tims in the egg, respiration is at its lowest point.* 
Then in the oyster, muscle, &c., there is found a more 
elaborate, though still an exceedingly meager, respiratory 
apparatus. In the more active fishes, whose bodies con- 
tain less albumen, there is a still greater elaboration of 
respiration, though all the air they get is found in the 
water they inhabit, except in a few species which have 
lungs, and must rise to the surface to get the necessary 
amount of air. The latter (whales, &c.), have still less 
of albumen in their composition, its place being supplied 
* Some may think that an egg does not breathe at all. But a simple 
experiment will show that exposure to the air is necessary to the continu- 
ance of the life of an egg. Let the shell be covered with a thin coat of 
wax or even a single layer of varnish, and it will soon begin to decay. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
115 
by fat and oil. As we ascend in the examination to 
reptiles, &c., we find a more perfect respiration still, and 
less albumen, and so on upward, till we arrive at birds, 
and man, which have the largest proportionate breathing 
apparatus. 
The next fact to be noticed in connexion with this sub- 
ject, is, the composition of scrofulous tubercle. Chemical 
analysis shows this substance to consist almost wholly of 
albumen, the very substance of which those animals are 
formed, who possess the smallest respiration. As is stated 
by Dr. Stewart, " The matter contained in all scrofulous 
tumors, whether they are external or situated in the lungs, 
is precisely the same. It consists of pale, opake albu- 
men, more or less coagulated, resembling sometimes the 
whey, at other times the curds, of milk. Analysis shows 
that the animalized part of the matter contained in these 
tumors consists exclusively of albumen; being 98-15 parts 
in 100, the remainder 1-85 is nothing but salts of lime 
and soda." 
Now, it has been shown in the preceding pages, that 
scrofula in human beings and other animals, is the direct 
result of the respiration of too little, or too impure, an at- 
mosphere. Animal blood contains a considerable por- 
tion of albumen derived doubtless from the food con- 
sumed. A chemical combination of this fluid with the 
oxygen of the air, is necessary to fit it for nourishing the 
body properly, and to prevent the deposite of this albumen 
in its nearly pure form. If it does not combine with the 
oxygen of the air in sufficient quantity to change its 
character, it will be deposited in the form of tubercle, and 
we then have scrofula, indicated by those deposites. 
Man may, therefore, be reduced from his higher and 
more elaborate animal condition, to a condition nearer 
that of animals of inferior organization, by imperfect 
respiration, and the consequent development in his body, 116 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
of a substance of which those inferior beings are com- 
posed ; a substance which is entirely natural to them, but 
destructive to him; a substance which they can not live 
without, but which he can not live with. 
Exposed to the full influence of the atmosphere these 
albuminous animals can not live, though in their native 
element they appropriate to themselves some of the oxy- 
gen it contains. It may be that they die in the air, be- 
cause of too much oxygen being absorbed into their sys- 
tems, changing the character of the albumen of which 
they are principally and naturally composed; as man 
would die by the respiration of pure oxygen, or of an at- 
mosphere containing more than its natural proportion of 
that gas. 
On the other hand, man, and the other more perfect 
animals, must have a sufficiency of oxygen to exert a 
proper chemical influence upon the albumen contained 
naturally in their blood, otherwise, it will, if not thus 
changed, be deposited as albumen alone, and where thus 
deposited, it operates as a foreign substance, interrupts 
the natural function of the part where it is located, or 
excites inflammation by the irritation it produces, re- 
sulting in disorganization and death. 
This view of the subject will perhaps also reasonably 
account for the deposition of scrofulous tubercles in those 
tissues where they are most frequently found, viz., in the 
glands and in the lungs. 
The glands of the body are the principal organs of 
secretion; that is, the organs which separate from the 
blood, the different materials of which the body is com- 
posed. The lungs, as the reader has already learned, are 
the organs in which the blood is brought into direct con- 
tact with the air, and where the action of the oxygen of 
the air on the albumen of the blood is first exerted. The 
glands and lungs are the main points of the alteration of USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
117 
the blood, and. therefore, on the reasoning above, they are 
the points at which an imperfect operation would be most 
likely to be first noticed,-and where, in fact, scrofulous 
tubercle is most abundant. 
Thus there may be said to be established a uniform 
relation between the air and the albumen of all animal 
bodies. 
Anything that tends to restrict the chest to unnatural 
limits, must necessarily diminish the volume of air in- 
haled, and thus there is an insufficient quantity of oxygen 
to vitalize the hlood, even in a well-ventilated apartment, 
or in the open air. This is especially applicable to those 
persons of sedentary or studious habits, whose lungs are 
externally compressed by working with the body curved 
forward, as in the case of tailors, shoemakers, engravers, 
etc., and especially those who have contracted the habit 
of leaning forward on the table or desk on which they 
write. In ill-ventilated schools, where a number of cir- 
cumstances combine to depress the spirits, and render 
the body languid, nothing is more common than to see 
the children lean with the whole weight of their bodies, 
on the desks, while they read or write; and this cause 
(which is very often overlooked) operates as one of the 
most powerful and efficient auxiliaries, in producing con- 
sumption and scrofula. Tight-lacing, or theunnatural con- 
striction of the waists of females, has even a greater ef- 
fect in impeding the healthy exercise of the function of 
respiration, and is of course attended with more perma- 
nent and fatal results. In this function, the diaphragm 
plays by far the most important part. Indeed when a 
rib is broken, and absolute quiescence of the walls of the 
chest is enjoined by the surgeon, respiration may possi- 
bly be carried on by the diaphragm alone. But when 
the waist is constrained into an hour-glass form, the liv- 
er, stomach, and part of the bowels, lying immediately 118 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
below the diaphragm, are forced up and press against 
that mUscle, wholly, or partially, preventing its action, 
and exciting in it a morbid irritability, and sometimes 
excessive vomiting, as is often evinced in the case of sea- 
sickness,* but which is pretty common among those 
ladies, who have adopted the pernicious custom referred 
to, and who " always admire a slender waist," though the 
other sex are generally of an opposite taste! 
Passing over biliary derangements, rickets, curvature 
of the spine, &c., as somewhat irrelevant to the present 
subject, it will be easy to establish a connexion between 
consumption, and this absurd burlesque on the creative 
skill of the Almighty. 
It has been stated, in a previous part of this work, that 
respiration is produced mainly by the diaphragm, which 
is convex on its upper side, contracting and enlarging the 
cavity of the chest which produces a vacuum, into which, 
during the free and unrestricted action of the muscle a 
sufficient volume of air rushes. Now it is quite plain, 
that when the viscera, mentioned above, press forcibly 
upward, the contraction of the muscle is prevented, and 
the quantity of air inhaled, very much diminished. It is 
also as plain, that all the functions of life will become 
impaired, from the scanty oxygenation of the blood, 
dyspepsia, headache, diseases of the heart, peculiar ir- 
regularities of the female system, hysterics, consumption, 
and scrofula, will ensue, as a necessary consequence; 
and the pallor- of countenance, emaciation of frame, and 
meaningless aspect, too surely indicate that inroadshave 
been made, on both the physical and mental energies; 
and it will be found that hypochondriasis, that most mis- 
erable of all diseases, or rather class of diseases, derives 
* Sea-sickness is by some supposed to be chiefly the result of the pressure 
of the lower viscera upon the diaphragm, the immediate consequence of 
the body being rapidly carried downward, when the more yielding parts 
are as it were left behind, or make a sudden rash upward. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
119 
its origin oftener from the abuse of the respiratory func- 
tion. than any other cause. 
The assertion may be safely hazarded, that thousands 
of deaths have occurred, among females, which, had 
they been made subjects of investigation before a 
coroner's jury, would have truly warranted the ver- 
dict of self-murder. Such would be the verdict in an 
ordinary case of hanging, between which and suffoca- 
tion by the waist it is impossible to draw any further 
distinction, than that the constriction is applied to differ- 
ent parts of the body, and that, in one case, the opera- 
tion is more lingering, and not so rapidly fatal, as it is 
in the other. It is, however, a source of consolation to 
those interested in the progress of civilization, and the 
amelioration of public health, that " hour-glass waists" 
as they have been very appropriately termed, are fast 
giving place to true taste, and will shortly, instead of 
captivating the eye, be only looked upon with pity or 
disgust; exciting in those they are intended to please, 
as compassionate a smile as could be bestowed upon the 
fashionable follies of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when 
the toes of the shoes were tied up to the knees, to pre- 
vent them from tripping the wearers. Thus may they 
become matter of history, and no longer contribute their 
share, in the degeneration of the human race, by entailing 
a multitude of diseases, on a miserable, but irresponsi- 
ble offspring. 120 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER X. 
Further Considerations of the Ultimate Objects of Respiration.-B elations 
of the Liver and Lungs - Strasburg Pies.-Influence of checked Per- 
spiration.-Aqueous Vapor of Respiration.-Dysentery, occurring in 
Prisons.-Milbank Penitentiary.-Sing-Sing.-Auburn.-Law of "Sym- 
pathetic Association."-Action of Impure Air on the Eye.-Smoking 
and Drinking-Evidence of Dr. Toynbee.-Diseases of the Ear.- Ef- 
fects of Bad Air on Surgical Operations.-Hospital Gangrene.-Rights 
and Duties of Surgeons. 
Reverting to the ultimate objects of respiration, it is 
obvious, from their very nature, that various diseases, and 
even death, may be often produced, by any cause tending 
to obstruct the healthy operation of the function. The 
depurating process effected on the blood, by the absorp- 
tion of oxygen, and the liberation of carbon, is necessary 
to prevent the decomposition of that fluid, and eventually 
of all the tissues of the body. Indeed, the abstraction 
of carbon from the blood, is so indispensably necessary, 
that when suspended, all the processes of organic life, as 
nutrition, secretion, formation of the tissues, reproduc- 
tion, &c., together with the muscular and nervous energy, 
cease finally and for ever, and spontaneous decomposi- 
tion of the whole body takes place. This tendency to 
spontaneous decomposition is, therefore, impending every 
moment, and can only be avoided by the prompt and ef- 
ficient removal of the carbonaceous particles from the 
blood, which, if allowed to accumulate, would, in propor- 
tion to their amount, gradually or speedily induce de- 
composition, and complete disorganization. For exam- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
121 
pie, in the inflammatory stage of fever, the constitution 
makes extraordinary efforts to rid itself of carbon, but 
the low typhoid stage is always associated with diminished 
evolution of this substance, and it gradually decreases as 
death approaches. After death, animals give out carbon 
in very large quantities, which combines with the oxygen 
of the air, and forms carbonic acid, an invariable result 
of the decomposition of all animal matter. On these 
principles, it is easy and reasonable to account for the 
origin of a great number of diseases, especially that bad 
habit of body to which we have already adverted as com- 
prising a whole catalogue of ailments, usually described 
under the general term - scrofula. 
But the process of respiration, does not even stop here. 
It not only removes useless and pernicious carbon, and 
prepares and preserves in a state of purity, a fluid capa- 
ble of affording to all the parts of the body the materials 
necessary to maintain their vital endowments, but is also 
employed to separate any injurious matter accidentally 
received into, or retained in, the system, which is a cir- 
cumstance of more frequent occurrence than is com- 
monly suspected. In this way, healthy and unimpeded 
respiration will often purify the blood from miasmata, thus 
preventing the development of fever, or other contagious 
or pestilential diseases; - and conversely, when no regard 
is paid to fresh air, and a vitiated atmosphere is inhaled, 
these diseases are very often, as it were, invited and fos- 
tered, in their incubation, to a fatal maturity. Dr. Car- 
pentei' remarks that " there can be little doubt that the 
respiratory function is also an important means of puri- 
fying the blood from various deleterious matters either 
introduced from without (such as narcotic poisons), or 
generated within the body (such as the poison of fever").* 
It must here be observed that Dr. C. holds (and with 
* Vide El. Physiology, Am. ed., p. 431. 122 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
good reason) that a small amount of poisonous mattei, 
introduced from without, in the form of contagion, or 
miasm, may lead, by a process resembling fermentation, 
to the production of a large quantity of similar noxious 
substances in the animal fluids. Thus a copious supply 
of pure air will very often, of itself, eliminate morbid 
matter through the lungs, which, if allowed to remain, 
would have produced fatal results. 
It, has been noticed by physiologists that the liver and 
respiratory organs are developed in an inverse proportion 
to one another, in the different classes of animals - the 
liver being largest, where the respiration is most feeble, 
and vice versa. Now this would at once lead us to sus- 
pect that there were intimate relations existing between 
the functions of the lungs and liver, and that consequently 
a derangement in one, would be followed by disease in 
the other. Accordingly we find, that the functional ac- 
tivity of the liver is greater as the amount of respiration 
is less ; and that the carbon, which is eliminated by the 
lungs, when their activity is the greatest, is thrown upon 
the liver for separation from the blood when the respira- 
tion is feeble. But the liver soon becomes incapable of 
performing this vicarious office, imposed so oppressively 
upon it, and becomes itself exhausted and diseased. 
This is more especially the case in warm climates, or un- 
der the influence of high temperature ; as under these 
circumstances the carbonic acid is tardy in its escape 
from the lungs, and therefore the liver is peculiarly liable 
to derangement, if extraordinary attention be not paid 
to the air inhaled. 
The effects of diminished respiration in producing dis- 
eased conditions of the liver is very strikingly exempli- 
fied, in the production of the celebrated Strasburg pies. 
These consist chiefly of the livers of geese - the poor 
animals being closely confined, for a length of time, in a USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
123 
high temperature, so that the respiration is reduced to 
its minimum, by the combined effects of warmth and 
muscular inaction. They are, moreover, crammed with 
the most nutritive food, and the consequence is, that the 
liver is totally unable to separate the superabundant fatty 
particles from the blood, which soon engorge its cells, 
and morbidly enlarge its dimensions. No humane person 
could, however, relish these pies, if conscious of the re- 
finement in cruelty practised in their preparation. A 
similar diseased condition of the liver exhibits itself in man, 
as the result of obstructed aeration of the blood, and the 
engorgement of the liver, consequent on that obstruction. 
This accounts for much of the " liver complaint," and 
" fatty degeneration of the liver" of warm and temperate 
climates, and so often observed in the last stages of pul- 
monary consumption. 
It is natural to pause here, and reflect for a moment 
what wonders of this character would be revealed to the 
world, if a peep could be obtained at the biliary organs 
(in situ) of many who are every day walking the streets 
of some of our dusty, crowded, and ill-ventilated Ameri- 
can cities, and especially those of the fair sex, whose 
livers are not only congested by the ordinary want of fresh 
air, but also compressed, externally, with a zeal and in- 
dustry that are morally due to the preservation of life, 
instead of being devoted to its destruction. 
Could the above supposition be verified, it is also not 
unlikely that the principal materials of pates, very anal- 
ogous to their prototypes at Strasburg, would present 
themselves in endless variety. 
Under the head of diseases attributable to impure or 
insufficient air, may be classed those complaints which 
arise from a too-suddenly checked perspiration. It has 
been already shown that fever may possibly arise from 
the emanations of the sensible perspiration, in a putrid 124 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
state ; but the too sudden occlusion of the pores of the 
exhalents of the skin, is equally as fertile a source of dis- 
ease. Indeed there should not, if possible, be any such 
thing as sensible perspiration. It is always a necessary 
evil - may be looked upon as a morbid product - and 
always attended by more or less constitutional derange- 
ment. No doubt, in profuse perspiration, the cutaneous 
capillaries (or small hairlike tubes which emit the sweat) 
which were congested, relieve the system by giving vent to 
the fluid, but when the elimination of that fluid is suddenly 
suspended, and the minute mouths of the exhalent vessels 
occluded by a rapid transition from a warm to a cold air, 
the internal organs, and especially the mucous membranes, 
are congested by a recession of the liquor, that ought to 
have passed through the skin by insensible perspiration. 
Irritation always follows this congestion, and hence after 
over-crowding in ill-ventilated churches, assemblies, 
schools, &c., sudden contact with the cold air very often 
checks the pulmonary and cutaneous transudation, and 
the determination of blood to the mucous membranes of 
the internal organs, co-operating with the already de- 
pressed state of the general system produced by the in- 
halation of carbonic acid, lays the foundation of numer- 
ous pulmonary diseases, such as croup, thrush, pneumo- 
nia, pleurisy, chronic catarrhs, asthmas, &c., that render 
miserable, and abridge human life. Some of the diseases 
just specified, are also favored in their development, by 
the retention of the aqueous vapor, which is quite visible 
to any person, when the air is moist, or of low tempera- 
ture, and which ought constantly to be excreted from the 
lungs. This necessary process is very often retarded by 
the air being already charged with moisture, and its dim- 
inution of capacity to admit the vapor from the lungs ; 
but it more frequently depends on the neglect of ventil- 
ation, and the breathing of air containing impurities, or USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
125 
deficient in oxygen. As the carbon can not be removed 
without the agency of oxygen, neither can the hydrogen 
of the blood, except it be liberated by the same agent. 
This hydrogen, the water-former (as its name implies), 
forms with oxygen, the watery exhalation of the breath, 
and like carbon can not be retained in the system with 
impunity. 
When a sudden recession of the sensible perspiration 
takes place, and the minute blood-vessels of the mucous 
membrane lining the bowels become congested, irrita- 
tion succeeds, a morbidly increased action of that canal 
is excited, and often results in diarrhoea, cholera, or even 
dysentery, all of which might have been prevented, 
though indirectly, by proper ventilation. 
Dysentery is also often produced by the morbific 
agency of poisonous exhalations. "In epidemic dysen- 
tery, a peculiar disposition of the air is the reputed 
cause; but this can be aided by unwholesome aliment, 
drinks, and habitations, as with troops in camps, &c." 
Dewee's Practice, vol. ii., p. 569. "Miasmata have 
frequently an unequivocal agency, in the production of 
this disease. Dysentery seems indeed, very often, the 
production of the united influence of koino miasmata, 
and atmospheric vicissitudes." Dr. Eberle, Practice of 
Medicine, vol. i., p. 206. In allusion to the peculiarly 
fatal scorbutic dysentery, that prevailed in the Mil- 
bank Penitentiary, in England, the writer, last quoted, 
justly remarks: "This disease was ascribed, by the 
committee appointed to investigate its cause, to the con- 
stant and exclusive use of vegetable and farinaceous diet, 
acting in conjunction with atmospheric inclemency. I 
think there are good grounds for believing, that, in ad- 
dition to these causes, an atmosphere inquinated with 
the effluvia generated, in crowded apartments, had no 
inconsiderable share in the production of this peculiar 126 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
affection." In like manner the highest authorities, both 
American and European, ascribe the dysenteriesof camps, 
ships, jails, schools, &c., more to the pollutions of the at- 
mosphere, than to any other cause. 
Dysentery sometimes prevails epidemically ovei- large 
areas of country. During the summer and fall of 1848, 
it prevailed in a considerable degree over the northern 
and eastern states, and in some places was very fatal. It 
has repeatedly occurred endemially in some of our prisons, 
at times where there was no external cause for it, but at 
the periods of its general prevalence over the surround- 
ing countries, the interior of a prison is very liable to be- 
come the scene of its increased malignity and fatality. 
Thus during its general prevalence just adverted to, at 
the stateprison at Sing-Sing on the Hudson river, it 
committed very extensive ravages. About one third of 
the male prisoners were attacked with it, and nearly or 
quite twenty fell victims to it in a short time. So in the 
stateprison at Auburn, it prevailed in conjunction with 
other symptoms of disease in the winter of 1845 and '46' 
to a very serious extent. The sick-list of the hospital in 
one year contained two hundred and ninety-two names, 
out of not more than six hundred prisoners, of whom 
twenty died; besides those who were prescribed for in 
their cells. In Sing-Sing, again it has happened that the 
medical officer has been called to render his aid to from 
one hundred, to one hundred and fifty cases, of this and 
other similar disorders, within the space of two or three 
days. 
Although it is well-known that the character of the 
food used in these institutions is not such as is best cal- 
culated to promote the health of the prisoner, yet if the 
food, such as it is, is always administered in a sound and 
wholesome condition, there is no other mode of accounting 
for the diseases than to refer to the air of the houses, and USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
127 
no one, intelligent on the subject of atmospheric influences 
can enter those living tombs, without being immediately 
impressed with the idea, that few people could possibly 
remain long in good health in such places. The total 
absence of specific ventilation, and the consequent accu- 
mulation of the morbific effluvia from the persons con- 
tained in the narrow cells, must necessarily often directly 
produce, and always predispose to, diseases of various 
kinds, but especially such as have been mentioned. 
One can not avoid the conclusion that, with the proof 
of the effects of confined and frequently-respired air now 
before the world, a heavy responsibility for the health 
and lives of the inmates of prisons, as well as of other 
places of congregation, lies upon those who are intrusted 
with their management, as long as they refuse or neg- 
lect to adopt the best possible means to render the in- 
side, as healthful as the outside of their institution. 
The two departments (male and female) of the state- 
prison at Sing-Sing, present additional evidence, if any 
were needed, to prove that the internal atmosphere has 
more to do with the production of both the chronic and 
acute diseases prevailing there, that any other cause, not 
even excepting the food. These department^ occupy 
separate buildings. The male building is situated at the 
foot and on the west side of a high hill, the water of the 
river rising at times nearly to the level of the plane on 
which the foundation rests. The sun can not reach the 
spot till neai- noon for a large part of the year, and these 
causes, combined with the entire neglect of ventilation, 
maintain a constant state of moisture, very unfavorable 
to health. 
On the other hand, the female building is placed near 
the brow of the hill, where the sun and air have free 
play, and the evils of a too moist atmosphere are not ap- 
parent. The internal ventilation is no better, though the 128 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
house is, in proportion to the number of inmates, large, 
and less crowded. The food furnished to the two de- 
partments is the same; and though a large number 
of the males have the advantage over the females of 
working out of doors, the females beincr almost whol- 
ly confined within doors, yet the amount of sickness, 
is vastly disproportioned to their numbers ; the females 
in general maintaining almost uninterrupted health, the 
labors of the physician being confined almost wholly to 
the male department. 
There is no other satisfactory mode of accounting for 
the difference, than a reference to the situations and at- 
mospheres of the two houses. 
In the animal economy there is in operation a law 
called by physiologists " sympathetic association'' By 
this term is meant, that when any tissue or organ of the 
body is affected (say, for example, by irritation), all other 
organs connected with it are likely to be similarly affect- 
ed. Thus, when the stomach is deranged, or irritated, 
by indigestible food, or in any other w'ay, the brain,- 
liver, kidneys, lungs, &c., sympathize, that is, become 
irritated also. It then follows, that if the inhalation of 
foul air, or its external and mechanical application, 
irritates and injures any part of the body, the amount 
of disease thus originated may become almost incalcu- 
lable. 
That carbonic acid, and other atmospheric adultera- 
tions, excite inflammation in the mucous membranes of 
the body (which line the air-passages of the lungs and 
those communicating in some way with the air), is a fact 
universally admitted. This brings us at once to the fact, 
that when the air-passages of the nose, throat, or lungs, 
are inflamed by the inhalation of carbonic acid, the other 
mucous membranes, and particularly that forming the 
external covering of the eye, must sympathize. Who has USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
129 
been any length of time, in a densely-crowded meeting, 
where ventilation was neglected, without experiencing, 
in some way or other, the effects here stated, and perhaps 
by suffering from purulent inflammation of the eye. And 
when air, not only highly carbonized, but also impregna- 
ted with particles of matter, some of them of a highly- 
irritating nature, is applied to the eye, the evil results 
will be doubly magnified. Entirely excluding the more 
unavoidable foreign bodies that mechanically injure the 
eye, as diet, metallic particles, animal and vegetable ex- 
halations, &c., it is painful to contemplate how many 
eyes have been rendered temporarily useless, while 
others have become dull, lack-lustre, and expressionless, 
from the indulgence of those two disgusting and perni- 
cious habits, smoking and drinking, in the act of which, 
generally speaking, the carbonic acid of a polluted apart- 
ment is associated with the noxious smoke of tobacco 
and the irritating vapor of alcohol, all of which not only 
tend to poison the springs of life, but concentrate their 
united and destructive influence, on the tenderest and 
most exquisitely delicate organ in the human frame. 
Nature, however, true to her fixed and invariable prin- 
ciples, resents this injury, and as the appearance of the 
eye is a tolerably correct exponent of the moral habits 
and general condition of both body and mind, it very often 
betrays, in a manner mortifying to its possessor, a broken 
constitution, and exhibits to the world, in characters that 
can seldom be erased from the aspect, the very habits by 
which moral and physical decline has been induced and 
perpetuated. 
Many medical men, and other philanthropists, who 
have descended into these dens of ignorance, destitution, 
and distress, too common in all cities, have observed the 
baneful effects of impure air upon the eye, both directly 
and through the sympathy of the lungs, and coincide in 130 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
the opinion that pure air is absolutely required by that 
organ for the due performance of its function. 
The evidence of Mr. Toynbee before the British com- 
mission,* may be here profitably cited, as in it, the above 
statements are not only corroborated by a man of the 
most extensive experience, in the causes of the diseases 
of large cities, but also because it sheds considerable light 
on diseases arising from atmospheric impurities, which 
are commonly regarded as having no connexion what- 
ever with the state of the air:- 
" But do you find the operation of this one cause - 
the atmospheric impurity arising from overcrowding and 
defective ventilation - attended only by one form of dis- 
ease'?"f- " The forms of scrofula, I find, are various; 
we have scrofulous affections of the eyes, called sore or 
inflamed eyes, which are very frequent; scrofulous affec- 
tions of the joints, called by the people themselves ab- 
scesses,- the abscess being in the neighborhood of the 
joint, and they have no idea that it communicates with 
the joint; this disease frequently attacks the hip-joint. 
The defective ventilation may be considered one great 
cause of all the diseases of the joints, which we so fre- 
quently meet with, as well as of the diseases of the eye 
and the skin; the diseases of the skin, herpetic diseases, 
are called shingles, lepra, porrigo, or ringworm.^ The 
professional attendants of almost every eleemosynary in- 
stitution, could testify to the causes as well as the preva- 
lence of ophthalmia among the children of the poor - in- 
deed, purulent ophthalmia (its worst form), is generally 
regarded as a purely scrofulous disease. The disease 
* First Report, vol. i., p. 74. f Scrofula. 
+ Herpetic eruptions are so called because they inclined to creep, as it 
were, or spread about the skin. This genus of disease is distinguished 
by an assemblage of numerous little creeping ulcers, in clusters, and itch- 
ing very much, and difficult to heal, but terminating in branny scales. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
131 
oi hydrocephalus, or water in the brain,* so fatal to chil- 
dren, I find associated with symptoms of scrofula, and 
arises in abundance in these close rooms. I believe wa- 
ter in the brain, in the class of patients whom I visit, to 
be almost wholly a scrofulous affection."! 
" The general depressing influences affect most inju- 
riously the most sensitive or weakest organs. Besides 
the eye, the ear is, I believe, injuriously affected by them. 
Among other forms of disease, which I think ascribable 
to the influence of vitiated air, is a large amount of what 
has not hitherto been ascribed to it - namely, deafness. 
In justification of this opinion, I may state, that I have al- 
ready made between five and six hundred dissections of 
ears, with the view of determining the seat of this partic- 
ular disease. One hundred and twenty of these cases I 
have submitted to the consideration of the profession in the 
26th volume of the ' Medico Chirurgical Transactions.' 
The general effect observable, is the thickening of the 
(mucous) membrane of the middle ear. This membrane 
is semi-transparent, and being extremely sensitive and. 
delicate, is, I believe, injuriously affected by the vitiated 
air, and debilitated by it; inflammation and other dis- 
eases are induced by the access and pressure of cold air, 
on leaving heated rooms, to go out into the colder at- 
mosphere. The delicate membrane of the ear, it is to 
be recollected, is longer exposed to the depressing influ- 
ence of the vitiated air, than any other part of the body. 
On leaving a room, the surface of the body is relieved 
* More properly water in the head, as the effusion of water takes place, 
not only in the brain itself, but also very frequently in the double mem- 
brane that envelops that important organ. 
t It must be kept in mind that Toynbee fully subscribes to the opinion 
advanced by M. Baudelocque, and which has been determined by general 
experience tobe correct, viz , that scrofula, with its host of attendant dis- 
eases, may be produced de novo, by the inhalation of vitiated air alone, 
without hereditary taint or any other cause being necessarily present. 132 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
from the continued access of the vitiated air, while the 
quantity of vitiated air contained in the middle ear, re- 
mains for a considerable time, and is only slowly re- 
moved. The suspicion which I had formed from the 
dissections, that the cause of deafness is (occasionally), 
dependent upon the contact of foul air, appears to me to 
be corroborated by the fact that at least double the num- 
ber of children of the laboring classes, are affected by 
earache and deafness than children of the rich and bet- 
ter-conditioned classes, less exposed to the like influ- 
ences." 
Extensive though the noxious influence of impure air 
may be, on the healthy tissues of the body, both exter- 
nally and internally, it is still more so upon those dis- 
eased, or disorganized, by the effects of surgical opera- 
tions. Setting aside the vitiation of the blood, and the 
consequent prostration of both body and mind, or the 
aggravation of their diseases, maladies have been pro- 
duced by the direct application of vitiated air to external 
sores, that were sufficient to' desolate whole hospitals. 
By the immediate action of the air of a small ill-ventila- 
ted ward, a simple abscess has been known to assume the 
condition of a frightful cancerous ulcer, and a mere 
scratch has been followed by a fatal attack of erysipelas. 
All the best-informed writers on hospital gangrene, at- 
tribute that usually fatal disease, to a corrupted atmo- 
sphere, which not only exercises a hurtful influence upon 
the whole animal economy when the body is afflicted 
with ulcers and wounds, but also by coming into direct 
contact with those ulcers and wounds, induces upon them 
a humid species of mortification, which has, generally, 
even under the best treatment, a fatal termination. 
Wounded soldiers, and those lately operated upon, 
when crowded together in unhealthy encampments, es- 
pecially suffer from this disease, and too often, in these USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
133 
cases, a familiar maxim, " The air kills more than the 
sword," is verified, and reduced to a terrible reality.* 
Hospitals were formerly so ill-ventilated, that very fre- 
quently patients were carried into them, as it were, to be 
poisoned by the noxious effluvia, or the carbon of their 
own bodies. Patients did not suffer alone. The medi- 
cal attendants were carried off in great numbers. Sur- 
geons were not more fortunate than physicians. If they 
did not lose their lives so frequently, they oftenei- lost 
what, perhaps, they esteemed equally precious - their 
reputation. Allusion is here made to the fact that very 
often the most skilful, dexterous, and experienced sur- 
geon may perform on his patients, in an ill-ventilated hos- 
pital, a series of operations, all of which may be fatal to 
the lives of his patients, and of course fatal to his own 
reputation; and which might have been attended with 
results directly the contrary, had the wards been thor- 
oughly ventilated. 
In a case of this kind, it is an unfortunate circumstance 
that there are often to be found some unprincipled per- 
sons, aspiring to be members of the medical profession, 
but who scarcely deserve that name, who, through jeal- 
ousy, very often foster the fama clamosa of the ignorant, 
who never look below the surface of things, and thus 
the professional reputation of many a talented individual 
has been unjustly tarnished or lost. Perhaps the first 
duty of the operating surgeon is to ascertain what pro- 
vision is made to sufficiently ventilate the apartment of 
his patient, and postpone the use of the knife until the 
benefits of fresh air be guarantied without limitation; 
and this is his right as well as his duty. 
* This is equally true with the Roman proverb : " Plures crapula quam 
gladius."-Gluttony kills more than the sword. 134 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XI. 
Influence of Impure Air on Infantile Life.-Helplessness of Infancy not 
always Compensated for.-Negligence of Air highly Criminal.-Opinion 
of Dr Clark.-Convulsions.-Dr. Duncan.-Mortality at St. Kilda.-Dr. 
Ticknor.-Excessive Mortality in Dublin Hospital.-The Cause Dis- 
covered and Removed.-Infantile Mortality in Great Britain and United 
States. 
Hitherto we have considered the effects of impure 
air, chiefly without particular reference to age. The 
general mortality at all periods of life has been already 
traced, on the best authorities, to this, one of its most 
potent, and most to be dreaded causes; but when we ex- 
amine the operation of that cause, in the statistical records 
of infantile mortality, we shall be even farther aroused to 
the dangerous effects of aerial poisons. 
The information contained in these records will 
be anticipated, when it is considered, that children, 
immediately aftei- birth, are more under the control of 
the effects of air, whether pure or contaminated ; that 
tender, easily injured, and amenable to the injurious 
influences of impure air, as the lungs, and whole con- 
stitution of adults, may be, infinitely more virulent, and 
destructive, are those influences, upon beings just usher- 
ed upon the stage of life, in a condition entirely more 
helpless than any other species of animal. It might be 
inferred from the latter circumstance that the helpless- 
ness of infancy would be compensated for by that addi- 
tional care, which reasonable and intelligent creatures 
are so well fitted to bestow; but alas ! for the perversity USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
135 
of human nature, the helplessness of childhood very often 
suggests to an unnatural mother, or unfeeling nurse, that 
the life of a mere infant, is only of comparative, or tri- 
fling importance; and that it is not worth while to study 
how much air is requisite to support its life, or how little 
would suspend its, as yet, feeble, and easily extinguish- 
ed powers of existence. 
These observations, no doubt, principally apply to the 
lower orders of society, especially those who are hired 
as out-nurses, by foundling institutions ; but they also 
unfortunately extend to hospitals, where the children are 
not nursed out, and in many instances even to the higher 
and more intelligent orders of society, in which infants, 
through an officious, but misdirected carefulness, are de- 
prived of the benefits of pure air, by those who are only 
guilty of ignorance of its value-an ignorance which, 
in this country where so great facilities for acquiring 
information exist, can not but be pronounced highly 
criminal. 
The opinions of those who have carefully and im- 
partially investigated this subject, and have arrived at 
conclusions, which our own personal experience and ob- 
servation fully corroborate, will again be adduced. 
" Almost all the children reared in the workhouses of 
this country, and in similar establishments abroad, become 
scrofulous, more I believe from the impure atmosphere 
which they breathe, and the want of sufficient exercise, 
than from defective nourishment." 
" Take a child of three or four years of age, in perfect 
health, having been born without any predisposition 
to disease (if any such there are), well nursed, and 
hitherto properly nourished : let it be fed upon improper 
food, let it be confined to close ill-ventilated apartments, 
where neither the heat nor the light of the sun, has free 
admission, and we shall soon see the healthy blooming 136 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
child, changed into a pale, sickly, leuco-phlegmatic ob- 
ject."-Dr. Clark. 
"Infancy, in particular, will fall an easy victim [to 
the morbific agencies of the atmosphere]. The records 
of foundling hospitals, work-houses, and other public in- 
stitutions, abundantly show the injurious influence of im- 
pure air, during the periods of infancy and childhood. 
One way in which it increases the mortality of infants, 
is by inducing convulsions, in consequence of the pecu- 
culiar irritability of the nervous system, at that age. In 
a paper read before the medical section of the British 
Association, in 1834, it was stated on the authority of the 
registrar of the Lying-in Hospital, of Dublin, that in 
1781, owing to the impurity of the air in the wards, 'ev- 
ery sixth child died within nine days after birth, of con- 
vulsive disease, and that after means of thorough venti- 
lation had been adopted, the mortality of infants in the 
five succeeding years, was reduced to nearly one in 
twenty.' "-Dr. Duncan. 
When Mr. M'Clean, an intelligent Scotch writer, visited 
St. Kilda, a small island on the northwest of Scotland, 
he found that the population was undergoing a rapid dim- 
inution, chiefly an account of an extraordinary amount 
of infantile mortality. It appeared that " eight out of 
every ten died between the eighth and twelfth days of 
their existence." 
On looking around him for the cause of this almost 
unparalleled circumstance, Mr. M'Clean found that "the 
air of the island was good, and the water excellent," and 
that "there was no visible defect on the part of Nature," 
but that " the great, if not the only cause, was the filth 
amid which they lived, and the noxious effluvia which 
pervaded their houses, which it would appear, were 
mere huts, small, low-roofed, and without windows." 
" The clergyman," observed Mr. M'Clean, " lives exact- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
137 
ly as those around him do, in every respect, except as 
regards the condition of his house, and has a family of 
four children, the whole of whom, are well and healthy. 
According to the average mortality around him, three 
out of the four would have been dead, within the first 
fortnight, had he neglected cleanliness and ventilation."* 
The late Dr. Ticknor, in an address to the Salisbury 
Lyceum, Connecticut, makes allusion to a certain per- 
nicious nursery abuse, in the following forcible, but per- 
fectly justifiable language: " Whether owing to our ul- 
tra-civilization, physiological refinements, or mistaken 
taste, or to some other cause, it matters not, if, as I be- 
lieve, the condition of infancy is altogether too artificial, 
in regard to the contact of air. Can any mortal assign 
a reason for half-smothering a child in shawls and blank- 
ets, to exclude the free, pure, unadulterated, air of 
heaven."! 
This point has been written and lectured upon cen- 
turies before the days of Ticknor, yet so deeply rooted 
is the prejudice, at the present day, that but a faint hope 
can be entertained of its removal. On the imaginations 
of mothers, educated as well as ignorant, the feelino- still 
- 7 O7o 
seems to be stereotyped, that the "free, pure, unadultera- 
ted air of heaven" falls upon the brow of infancy, as the 
poppies of eternal sleep, and enters the lungs, and cir- 
culation, as a virulent and deadly poison, and still the 
"shawls and blankets" sleeping and awake, are pretty 
generally employed to deprive the objects of the most 
rapturous parental solicitude, of what was originally 
breathed into the nostrils of the great archetype of the 
human race, as " the breath of life" 
* " Cleanliness" is said to be "next to godliness," and if. after admitting 
this, we reflect that cleanliness can not exist without ventilation, we must 
then look upon the latter as not only a moral but a religious duty. 
t New York Journal of Medicine, vol. ix., p. 208. 138 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Before concluding these observations on this impor- 
tant topic, the probable numerical mortality among in- 
fants in this country, will be given. For this purpose, 
the statements of Dr. Alcott, of Boston, may be adopted, 
and relied upon as pretty accurate. The deaths occur- 
ring in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, just cited, are the 
data upon which this writer bases his calculations. He 
says: "In a hospital in Dublin, between the years 1781 
and 1785, no less than 2,944 children out of 7,650 died 
within a fortnight after their birth. This was more than 
one in three. Dr. Clark, the physician, suspecting the 
cause to be a want of air, contrived to introduce a full 
supply of this important element, by means of pipes, six 
inches in diameter, into all the apartments. The conse- 
quence was, that during the three succeeding years only 
165 out of 4,243 children died within the first two weeks, 
or less than one in twenty-five. What a surprising dif- 
ference ! Is there a doubt that of the first number of 
deaths we have mentioned, about 2,650 died for want of 
pure air ? 
" According to the best information we are able to ob- 
tain on the subject, about forty in every one hundred of 
the deaths annually occurring in Great Britain and the 
United States, are of children under five years of age. 
To avoid every possibility of exaggeration, we will, how- 
ever, place the number in the United States at thirty in 
one hundred. But even at this rate, we lose no less than 
150,000 children under five years of age every year. 
Now if the infantile mortality, was reduced in the Dub- 
lin hospital, from one in three to one in twenty-five, 
merely by supplying them with an abundance of pure 
air ; that is, if the attention paid to this single department 
of health was the means of saving young infants, there, 
at the rate of 130,000 in 150,000, is it too much to be- 
lieve, that at least 50,000 of those who die annually in USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
139 
the United States, under the age of five years, might be 
saved in the same way. We do not, of course, mean 
to affirm that the exact number of 50,000 children, and 
no more, actually die, annually, in the United States, for 
want of pure air. It may be more, it may be less. Some 
thousands,-nay some tens of thousands,-however, it 
must be. But this is not all. Thousands, and tens of 
thousands of others, whose lives extend beyond this pe- 
riod, are yet sufferers from the same cause ; and though 
their natural force of constitution may enable them to 
live on a little longer than those whose constitutions are 
more feeble, yet are they not more to be pitied ?"* 
* Health Tracts.-" Breathing Pure Air." 140 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XII. 
Present Condition and Prospects of Society in Relation to Health and Civ- 
ilization. 
It is difficult to determine or define the present condi- 
tion of society, as compared with that existing in the 
early ages of the world - whether advancing or retro- 
grading in civilization, properly so called - whether im- 
proving or degenerating, in physical or mental energy. 
This question is not to be decided by theory or specula- 
tion, but by facts only. Men's ideas of civilization, and 
their sanatory condition, like their ideas of religion, fash- 
ion, beauty, &c., are as various as their physiognomical 
appearances. Some are prone to embrace the darkest 
side of the question, without appealing to any data upon 
which they can build their opinions, while others run into 
the opposite extreme, and embrace the most hopeful as- 
pect of affairs, and take their- safety upon trust, without 
inquiring if the danger be removed. Some of the latter- 
will, for example, assert that physical and mental energy 
are on the increase, and as a proof, point to what they 
call " the increased value of human life." However spe- 
cious this reasoning may appear, it is fallacious. The 
facts that have been brought forward, stubbornly oppose 
such a doctrine. Even if it were satisfactorily proved, 
which it is not, that the average duration of life is on the 
increase, we are not therefore warranted in supposing 
that the human race has not degenerated. It is quite 
possible that man may be less vigorous in every respect 
now, than in ancient times, and yet be longer-lived; and USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
141 
it is absurd to assume the mystical calculations of a Ro- 
man judge, grounded, as they were, on the longevity of 
the Romans, when their degeneration was nearly com- 
plete, as a standard by which to judge the sanatory 
condition and longevity of all the ancients. The Romans 
were then in the same transition state of moral, social, 
economical, and physical decline, that impends many na- 
tions now existing, which have by adopting an imperfect 
social structure, subjected themselves to the same causes; 
with perhaps this difference, that the Romans were too 
far advanced before they saw their error, to recover 
themselves by a sanatory regeneration. Many causes 
operated to curtail the lives of the ancients, which do 
not now exist-and these causes themselves sprung from 
a superior physical and mental development. 
Men in former times, recklessly embarked in any ex- 
ploit, no matter how dangerous, spurred on by the strong 
but misdirected impulse of mental and physical power. 
Almost every man, at sometime or other of his life, risked 
it in the battlefield, and as war was a universal trade, 
many lost their lives in their prime. Besides, the peo- 
ple were almost universally ignorant of th§ means of 
preserving health, and restoring it when lost, and quack- 
ery, ignorance, and superstition, either directly or indi- 
rectly, swept off the diseased in numbers unparalleled 
in the annals of modern mortality. Now, millions live 
without ever risking their lives beyond the little circle 
of accidents that of necessity surrounds them, and as a 
general rule, never expose themselves to danger because 
they instinctively know they have not the fortitude to 
brave it, or the power to ward it off, or resist it. In this 
way, their carefulness of life and health has increased, 
but this carefulness has by no means kept pace with the 
danger. On the subject of Hygiene, they have attained 
to an intelligence, but it is not yet matured into an edu- 142 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
cated intelligence. At mid-life, they find themselves af- 
flicted with chronic diseases, and premature decrepitude; 
they have, however, learned to nurse themselves into a 
sere old age, which would have been abridged by many 
years, had they been exposed to the dangers and fatigues 
of their ancestors. They have still to learn how to nurse 
themselves into health, and prevent this premature de- 
crepitude. 
A priori, we should expect, that what with refinements 
in every department of knowledge, and the general ab- 
sence of the influences lately specified, our health would 
be better and our term of existence much longer; but 
this has not been proved. On the contrary, it is found, 
that the number of centenaries is in reputedly civilized 
countries yearly growing smaller, and health on the 
decline. Nations still almost primitive in their way 
of living, we would also expect to be delicate, diseased, 
and short-lived. A visit to the North American Indians, 
to many of the South-sea islanders, or even to the 
Hottentots and Patagonians, would soon undeceive us, 
and convince us of the contrary. To say that these 
men are sjupid, or void of mental culture, does not in 
any way invalidate the original proposition, as strength 
or rather material of mind is only contended for, and as 
to their health of both body and mind, this is a fact which 
is not attempted to be denied. 
It is quite clear' that society is constructed on errone- 
ous principles, as erroneous indeed as the architectural 
arrangement and structure of the houses of its members. 
Both are huilt up without reference to health. It is also 
clear that its sacred destiny must yet be fulfilled, although 
it is now on the wane, and tending toward what would 
seem its final extinction. It must therefore be in its 
destiny to be regenerated, and this is now evidently prac- 
ticable. Many causes of degeneracy have been pointed USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
143 
out by late writers, who are competent judges, as may 
be seen in the extracts in the past pages. Plans have 
been pointed out for the removal of many of these causes, 
and some have been removed. This is cheering, but still 
men, women, and children, and even the lower animals, 
are yearly dying by millions, for want of fresh air, and 
many other causes; but the increase of those causes, has 
hitherto more than counter-balanced the success of any 
attempts that have been made to remove them. Though 
the thread of human life is nearly as extended as former- 
ly, it has become alarmingly more tiny and delicate, and 
more easily snapped ; and though the human species have 
rapidly increased in numbers, their physical and mental 
energy, have almost as rapidly diminished. Some say 
we are ultra-civilized, but that contradiction in terms, 
should only be meant as a degeneration of society, and 
in that sense only is it admissible. True civilization can 
only be reached, when the sanatory condition of society 
is on the progressive. 
A sanatory regeneration of society should now be the 
object of all its members, and one aim of their exertions. 
Many are no doubt ignorant, and the great bulk of so- 
ciety apathetic; but it is, as has been said, cheering, that 
a revolution of sentiment has commenced. Howards are 
springing up in many places, who are not afraid to risk 
their health, and even theii' lives, to redeem the health 
and vigor of their fallen race, and sublimate it to its des- 
tined perfection. All their admonitions and exertions 
will be useless, and their legal enactments inoperative, 
or ineffective, unless the people co-operate. This they 
will not do except they understand the benefits of those 
measures, and these they will not understand, until they 
be educated ;-educated physically, educated morally, 
educated intellectually, educated religiously, or, in short, 
educated physiologically. How can they be expected to 144 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
appreciate pure air, for example, until they have learned 
and understood its value. The first step to be secured, 
the vantage ground to be gained, is to recover by a per- 
fect system of education, and wise sanatory laws, that 
energy of body and mind which were possessed and often 
perverted by the ancients; the energy that gave birth to 
the invincible fortitude, warlike spirit, and chivalry of 
the olden time; to bring back the energy whether use- 
lessly wasted on those monuments of folly we see scat- 
tered up and down, or profitably employed in the pur- 
suits of sciences, to generalize that energy which lately 
deluged in blood, the streets of the most polished city in 
the world, a city which has assumed the attitude of the 
centre point and climax of civilization; to first attain to 
this energy without the wickedness and vanity to which, 
when perverted, it gives rise. Then we would have 
gained the material out of which to elaborate a structure 
of society, of body and of mind, as perfect as is possible 
in our temporal state. Then we would be in the fair 
way of achieving the sanatory regeneration of the human 
race. Then our bodies, our minds, our houses, our cities, 
our communities, our whole social fabric, would be, in 
the course of being, rebuilt on a sure foundation. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
145 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Modern Degeneracy of the Human Race.-Superior Vigor of the Ancient 
Egyptians, Athenians, and Romans.-Inaptitude for Study an Effect of 
Vitiated Air.-Newton.-Homer.-Sleeping in Church-Anecdote.- 
Perversion of Judgment.-Extract from Dr. Ticknor.-Vitiated Air 
produces Quarrelsomeness-encourages Intemperance, and other Vices 
-also Pusillanimity and Cowardice, and vice versa.-Examples.- True 
Courage, where to be found.-Defective Ventilation increases Public 
Expenditure.-Produces Deformity, Imbecility, and Idiotcy.-Cretin- 
ism.-A Mournful Picture.-Found in Cellars of Cities.-Idiots in France, 
Turkey, and other Countries.-Changes in the Earth and in Man, Com- 
pared. 
For many centuries past, we have had numerous wri- 
ters and preachers on the moral degeneracy of mankind, 
and many still are asserting, on spiritual grounds, the in- 
creasing laxity and gradual decline of morals, and the 
growing disregard of strict principles of religion and 
rectitude. But it must strike us forcibly, that though 
physical degeneracy has also been making equally rapid 
strides, and progressing hand in hand with moral decay, 
it was not until very lately, that those who are the prop- 
erly-constituted guardians of health, have raised their 
voices, or taken up their pens, to arrest its progress. That 
this degeneracy actually exists, and is still progressive, is 
not a subject of controversy, but capable of easy demon- 
stration. A glance back at the history of the world, and 
the contrast that presents itself between the mental, moral, 
and physical condition of society in ages long past, and 146 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR- 
its condition as regards these relations, now, is met by a 
sndden and humiliating conviction of the awful dilapi- 
dation that has taken place in the social fabric. It is im- 
possible for the present age to flatter itself into the con- 
trary opinion. As the accumulation of literature, which 
is stored up in the huge intellectual magazine into which 
the world has grown, and the multiplied facilities of mod- 
ern education, which a long experience has secured, are 
no proofs that we are relatively increasing in strength 
of mind ; so our concentrated facilities and stupendous 
triumphs of bodily labor, are no proofs that we are rela- 
tively increasing in physical energy. On the contrary, 
when we look back with an impartial eye on the severe 
and unbending morality, the refinement in taste and sen- 
timent, the mental and physical vigor, so common among 
the ancient Egyptians, Athenians, and Romans, as evinced, 
at the present day, in monuments which have defied the 
wreck of time and the vandalism of ages, and then make 
allowance for oui' advantages, we are penetrated with an 
irresistible sense of relative inferiority, and can no longer 
boast of our march of intellect, and our splendid achieve- 
ments. Under these circumstances, it is clearly the duty 
of every member of society to exert any influence he 
may happen to possess, to avert this impending calamity, 
and if he have a mite of information on its removable 
causes, to give it free publicity. 
Taking it for granted that the startling facts and argu- 
ments, adduced and authenticated in the preceding pages, 
have already established the conviction that adulterated 
air is one of the most fertile sources of physical degen- 
eracy, we shall now proceed to show that the same cause, 
of itself, or as an auxiliary, is capable of producing a still 
more grievous degeneracy of the mind, and total deprava- 
tion of man as a social, moral, and intellectual being. 
With the spirituality of the subject, we of course have USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
147 
nothing to do, as the duty of its exposition legitimately 
belongs to the province of others, and we will only con- 
sider man in his moral and mental capacity, and in- 
fluenced by physical causes. 
The following are some of the more ordinary effects 
of vitiated air upon the mind and morals:- 
1st. Vitiated air produces inaptitude for study, and 
therefore ignorance. This may be observed in any ill- 
ventilated school or seminary, and instances are too nu- 
merous for citation. It is well-known that sometime 
previous to dismission, the pupils are sluggish and lan- 
guid in both body and mind, and the accumulation of 
carbon and its inhalation, greatly incapacitate for any 
serious study. Even the eye becomes irritated by its 
contact with the impurities of the air, and by its sympa- 
thy with the brain, and while it loathes the fatiguing same- 
ness of the print and paper, longs to refresh itself on 
the green variegated carpet of nature. The wholesome 
regulation of allowing the children to retire aftei' each 
lesson, in classes, for a short time to the play-ground, is 
to be highly commended, as it is based on the correct 
and rational principle, that when the cerebral functions 
become weakened by inefficient respiration, the mind 
can only be invigorated by a due supply of pure air and 
exercise, after which it returns to its work with renewed 
ardor, and redeems by redoubled energy and success, 
that time which the managers and teachers of some schools 
would ignorantly suppose to be squandered away. On 
the other hand, when children are confined long hours 
in an ill-ventilated school, the incipient symptoms of 
poisoning by carbonic acid, viz.: headache, languor, de- 
bility, and irritability, will ensue, and these, kept up for a 
considerable time, rarely fail to produce diseases, which 
permanently impair the body and mind, and which can not 
afterward be eradicated from the constitution of either. 148 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Tt has also been observed that children contract a dull 
idle disposition, and become quite averse to habits of 
order, cleanliness, and industry. 
Those who studied or composed in the open air, were 
the greatest and most successful thinkers of ancient and 
modern times. Sir Isaac Newton made his greatest dis- 
covery while in a garden, where he was wont to pursue 
his studies. The peripatetics, perhaps the most enlight- 
ened philosophers of their age, used to walk up and down 
in the porches of the Lyceum, at Athens, and it is said- 
" Seven cities contend for Homer, dead, 
Through which the living Homer begged his bread;" 
from which it may be inferred, that one of the most ex- 
alted productions of human intellect, was composed 
when its illustrious author was journeying from place to 
place in the open air.-Similar examples are numberless. 
On the other hand, when children are, as it were, in- 
carcerated in a school-room for many hours together, 
and exposed to the effects of carbon, it makes them as 
incapable of mental as of physical exertion; and languor 
and lassitude being incompatible with the healthy opera- 
tion of the mind, ignorance and its concomitant evils, 
are the results. These effects are not more strikingly 
observable in school-rooms, than in lecture-rooms of col- 
leges, private studies, court-rooms, churches, public as- 
semblies, theatres, &c., in which there is inadequate ven- 
tilation. Alas! how many young men, who might, under' 
favorable circumstances, have become ornaments and 
benefactors to their adopted professions and to society 
at large, have been stupified into ignorance; or who, 
by hard study under the slow and insidious influence of 
carbonic acid, have heaped up loads of erudition alike 
useless to themselves and to others, and speedily paid the 
debt of Nature, while they paid the penalty of infringing 
the unchangeable laws of their own organs, in neglecting USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
149 
to keep up health of body while they wei'e storing the 
mind. 
The pulpit orator too, finds that his midnight lucubra- 
tions, manufactured while he is cooped up within the pre- 
cincts of a study which is small, ill-ventilated, and ham- 
pered with books and manuscripts, will often fail to 
charm his audience, especially when they are nodding 
under the influence of the densely-carbonized atmosphere 
of an ill-ventilated church. 
An anecdote very illustrative of this, is related of an 
old Scottish pulpit orator, of a standing above mediocrity 
for eminence and ability, who was so mortified and an- 
noyed at the unaccountable apathy, inattention, and 
drowsiness of his hearers, that he deemed it expedient 
to preach a series of sermons on " The sin and shame o' 
sleepin' in kirkes." This resolution was carried out with 
an extraordinary fervor and force of argument, but with- 
out any appreciable effect. His lions and angels neither 
roused the fears, nor excited the admiration of his seem- 
ingly lukewarm flock, and the flowers of his eloquence 
only "lost their sweetness on the [poisoned] air." There 
one jat yawning with his eyes half-closed, his face flush- 
ed, head aching, and languor and mental inactivity evi- 
dent on his countenance, which also indicated a partial 
unconsciousness of his own existence. Here another, 
in the corner, with his forehead lazily resting on the back 
of the pew before him, enjoying a rather comfortable 
nap, interrupted though it was by his having occasional- 
ly to raise his head, to show the pastor and those around 
him, that he was not absolutely sleeping. 
At last, a thought fortunately crossed the preacher's 
mind : that a mouthful or two of fresh air, might possibly 
have some beneficial effect, in stimulating the mental ap- 
petite, and keeping up attention. The sexton was ac- 
cordingly ordered to throw the windows partially open 150 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
during the hours of service. The experiment was at- 
tended with complete success, and tended greatly to im- 
prove the understanding between the pastor and his flock. 
2d. That the judgment is perverted to a certa in extent, 
and the mind thwarted from its original object, by the 
frequently-respired ail- of a crowded assembly, there is 
good show of reason. Dr. Ticknor, in his address to the 
Salisbury Lyceum,* says: " The impurity of air once, or 
more than once, inspired, is not acknowledged by the 
senses, but is felt by the lungs and brain. If such im- 
purities possessed visible qualities, we should often, I fan- 
cy, be frightened from crowded rooms and close sleep- 
ing apartments. From the first "to the last inspiration, 
a pure atmosphere is more essential to the health of body 
and mind than you may suppose. A slight diminution of 
oxygen in the air, such as would result from half a 
dozen of persons in the room, is distressingly obvious to 
an asthmatic, or others who have suffered a destruction 
of some portion of the lungs. Perhaps there is nothing 
more true, and perhaps nothing less observed, in relation 
to this subject than this, namely, that the high excitement, 
occasionally manifesting itself in fierce language, ending 
in personal injury and homicide; involving consequen- 
ces most disastrous to individuals, families, and com- 
munities, is frequently more the result of physical than 
moral causes. This may be too strong an assertion ; take 
another-the moral causes would not often show such 
results, without the co-operation of the physical. I mean 
a raised temperature of a very frequently-respired at- 
mosphere. What think you would have been the effect of 
a fresh northeast wind upon our patriotism, unbroken by 
boards and shingles at our late election 1 Why our love 
of country would not have come so near personal hatred 
and personal abuse. I would not offend, but speak I 
* New York Journal of Medicine, Vol. XX., No. xxvi., p. 209. 151 
must, and speak I will, on this subject. The enthusiasm, 
the burning, blustering patriotism, by which our great 
gatherings are characterized, are to a great extent the ef- 
fects of an atmosphere loaded with carbonic acid and 
other impurities, rather than a just appreciation of our 
country's wants and her claims upon us. This doctrine 
is true as far as its application to the lower animals can 
be made. Those of a combative character, when crowd- 
ed together, become quarrelsome and destroy each other. 
I would recommend, therefore, when health of body and 
mind is the thing desired, that a moderate temperature 
and absolutely pure state of the air be maintained." 
These observations may seem for the moment, over- 
worked, but on mature reflection they will be found to 
be judicious, and based upon facts almost daily escaping 
observation. 
3d. Vitiated air encourages intemperance in theuseof in- 
toxicating drinks. Among the various causes which ex- 
cite a morbid appetite for these liquors, is found an atmo- 
sphere that depresses the spirits, and thus creates a de- 
mand for some stimulant to restore the brain to its former 
action. Pure air would now be the natural and proper 
stimulant, without producing a short-lived and boister- 
ous hilarity, but in the midst of a smoky city, with a 
limited time for recreation, and with a feebleness of body 
as well as mind, occasioned by hard work or unremitted 
attention to business, in an ill-ventilated workshop, or 
counting-house, the artisan or clerk has neither inclina- 
tion noi- ability to avail himself of the more rational and in- 
vigorating relaxations, and resorts to the punch and oyster 
saloon, or liquor store, to procure the most likely means 
of affording to the debilitated organs a temporary re- 
lief. A habit is thus established which is at best a delu- 
sion, fatal to the health and morals; and which not only 
defeats its own object, but aggravates the evil it is in- 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 152 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
tended to remove; the ultimate effect of every fit of in- 
toxication, or even exhilaration of mind brought on by 
alcoholic drinks, being to precipitate and degrade the 
mind and habits, to a point still lower in the scale of 
demoralization and degeneracy. 
Even children, whose nervous systems have been work- 
ed up into a state of chronic excitability by the impure 
air of a dark ill-ventilated cellar, are often dosed with 
spirits, when laudanum is not at hand, to put them to 
sleep and abridge the trouble of nurses and mothers. 
This erroneous and cruel practice not only defeats its 
own object, but what is worse, instils into plastic and sus- 
ceptible youth, habits which, as they obscure the reason 
and bias the judgment, will seldom be relinquished in 
maturity or old age. 
4th. Impure air encourages vice. Vice, and habits of in- 
toxication, are usually combined in the same individual. 
If, then, it has been already shown that impure air 
promotes drunkenness, it is also indirectly proved that 
the same cause has a considerable share in the encour- 
agement of vice. The inhabitants of low, squalid, ill- 
ventilated basements and cellars, are often not only in- 
disposed, but by incessantly breathing an impure atmo- 
sphere are actually unable to labor for their due sup- 
port; add to this the mental debility, and extinction of 
moral sentiments, inseparable from a cellar life, and we 
at once arrive at one of the efficient causes of poverty, of 
low ideas of comfort, and of dishonesty, and prostitution; 
and as it is notorious that, in such places, intoxicating drinks 
are held in higher estimation than any of the virtues, it is 
nothing strange to hear of modesty being set to sale for the 
acquirement of those drinks,which in their turn reciprocal- 
ly produce every conceivable species of moral laxity. 
But impure air has even more direct effects in pro- 
ducing and fostering vice, and it is only because this USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
153 
work is intended to be popular that the opinions of sev- 
eral eminent pathologists on this point are suppressed. 
The combined testimony of those who have taken the 
pains to investigate the causes of vice and prostitution, 
leaves no doubt that a low condition of body and mind, 
coincident with a morbid irritability of the brain, so far 
from restraining (as might be surmised) the animal pro- 
pensities and vicious inclinations, has no inconsiderable 
share in their aggravation and production ; and this posi- 
tion being granted, ample evidence, it is presumed, has 
been adduced to show that the impure air of factories, 
theatres, over-crowded lodging-houses, &c., is fully ade- 
quate to induce this state of constitution. 
5th. Vitiated air encourages pusillanimity and cowardice. 
This position may seem to many, strange, if not unten- 
able. Some of the German writers hold the opinion that 
the inhabitants of mountainous and high lying countries, 
are, from the greater purity of the air, vivacious, " friend- 
ly and hilarious," while those of the low lying countries 
are more sullen and unfriendly.* 
The history of nations not only corroborates this opin- 
ion, but carries it further. The boldest and most war- 
like nations, are generally to be found in the most 
mountainous countries, and in barbarous ages when no 
education controlled the feelings, propensities, and pas- 
sions of men, and when the problem " what constitutes 
true bravery" had not yet been solved, we find them the 
terror of their more effeminate and pusillanimous neigh- 
bors who occupied the plains below. As examples, 
Wallace was inspired with confidence when he was sur- 
rounded by the "sons of the mountain glen," and Tell 
looked with equal pride on his valiant followers and the 
crags and cliffs which gave them birth, and from the 
*Vide Baron Feuchtersleben's "Medical Psychology," edition of the 
Sydenham Society, p. 171. 154 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
free and unpolluted air of whose sides, they had imbibed 
theii' physical strength and unshrinking fortitude. 
It is not of course intended here to sympathize in that 
barbarous spirit, which prompts men to shed the blood 
of their neighbors, even though they may be their ene- 
mies ; but these examples are designed to show that the 
material of intellectual excellence, liberty, magnanimity, 
and moral courage, is more likely to be found, and de- 
veloped by education, in situations where the air is un- 
contaminated, than in the vitiated atmosphere of a marsh; 
in well-ventilated mansions, than in the dark garrets and 
those low soul-degrading and pestiferous dens of carbon- 
ic acid and other aeriform hydras from which fresh air, 
true bravery, and every other noble and patriotic senti- 
ment, are simultaneously excluded. 
To find true courage it is not necessary to visit the 
battle-field. As bright, if not brighter, examples are to be 
found in the humble cot. The industrious housewife 
exhibits more true courage in retrenching the half of her 
daily food, to feed her hungry children, and to buy soap 
to wash their clothes and her own, than an Alexander, 
a Caesar, a Bonaparte, or some of our own illustrious 
heroes, ever displayed. This woman, indeed, exhibits 
true magnanimity: but supposing this amiable aspira- 
tion, viz., to bring her children up in the greatest possible 
comfort, order, industry, and cleanliness, on the scanty 
means within her reach-suppressed by any cause, say by 
carbonic acid, a sedative poison, sedative for industry, 
perseverance, and all the social and domestic virtues- 
then, her magnanimity is immediately transformed into 
carelessness, apathy, and moral cowardice. As she has 
now lost her self-dependence, which was formerly the 
mainspring of her happiness, so have her children, who 
have copied her feelings and habits. Her husband also, 
breathing the same polluted atmosphere, during his hours USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
155 
of sleep, with nothing but filth before his eyes while 
under his own roof, soon becomes enervated and feeble 
in body and mind, he will not, can not work. He has 
now, neither moral fortitude, nor muscular ability; he is 
not now ashamed to ask relief. The whole family are 
cast upon the charity of others ; perhaps, of the very men 
whose ignorance or negligence produced the evil. They 
are now pauperized, their independence of mind is ex- 
tinguished-they are slaves.-Thus it is that defective 
ventilation unnecessarily increases the public expenditure. 
6th. Vitiated air produces deformity, imbecility, and idi- 
ocy. It has been already shown, on the authority of M. 
Baudelocque,and others,that scrofula is often the direct re- 
sult of vitiated air. Bronchocele, or goitre, hydrocepha- 
lus, and cretenism, are endemial in those districts where 
the aii' is confined, and there is now little doubt, that 
scrofula and its suite of physical, mental, and moral ail- 
ments, originate very often in deep narrow mountain 
gorges, and are thence propagated by intermarriages, and 
hereditary taint, to more salubrious districts, or to gar- 
rets and basements, where the impure air facilitates their 
development, as well as produces it de novo. Baudel- 
ocque's explanation of the condition of the air, in certain 
of these situations, constitutes at least the most plausible 
theory of the origin of these diseases, if it is not tan- 
tamount to a proof. 
"There are countries," says Baudelocque, " where, in- 
dependent of the mode of living of the inhabitants, scrof- 
ula is endemic. This is owing to locality. This is 
the case with villages built in the narrow gorges, formed 
by the approach of elevated mountains, as is seen in the 
Alps and Pyrenees, and especially in those of the valley 
of the Rhone. The air respired habitually in these 
gorges is stagnant, humid, warm, and corrupt; its re- 
newal is very difficult. Ordinarily, this renewal can 156 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
only be effected by the displacement of the upper strata, 
which are continually affected by the winds. Occasion- 
ally, the direction of the wind corresponds with the line 
of the gorge ; and then, there is a more rapid and ef- 
fectual renewal. But there always remains a part, 
which, being arrested by the bottom of the gorge, is, as 
it were, heaped back upon itself, momentarily compress- 
ed, but not displaced, and therefore, not renewed. 
" The renewal of the air, is not so light a matter as is 
supposed. To effect it, a simple communication is not 
sufficient, a mere contact of the external and internal air. 
It is necessary that one or more currents exist, to multi- 
ply that contact, and cause the pure air to pervade that 
which is vitiated. I believe one of the principal offices 
of the winds, is to maintain the uniform composition of 
the air, by continually agitating it, so as to mingle that 
which has lost a part of its oxygen with that which is 
surcharged." 
In fact, there are insuperable difficulties in the way of 
supposing that the winds could possibly produce an ef- 
fectual renewal of the air, in the bottoms of some of 
the valleys, and when it is considered that cretinism is 
most prevalent in such places, - that a scrofulous condi- 
tion, perfectly analogous, has been occasionally produced 
in vaults and prisons, where the air was confined - that 
facts are wanting to prove its origin from any other 
cause (though other causes may aggravate it when pro- 
duced), the validity of Baudelocque's conclusions may 
be safely admitted. 
The following description of the Cretins, inhabiting 
some of the gorges in the Alps, and which will serve for 
those miserable caricatures of humanity as they are 
found in many other countries, is taken from the pen of 
Dr. J. Johnson, and constitutes a powerful illustration 
of the horrors of vitiated air. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
157 
It will, in fact, show, in almost as strong language as 
can be employed, that atmospheric impurities are capa- 
ble of degrading man to the lowest deep to which he 
can, in his present state, be precipitated. 
" Goitre, on such a scale as we see in the Vallais, is bad 
enough, but cretinism is a cure for the pride of man, 
and may here* be studied by the philosopher and the 
physician on a large scale, and in its most frightful col- 
ors. This dreadful deformity of body and mind is not 
confined to the Alps. It is seen among the Pyrenees - 
the valleys of the Tyrol - and the mountains of China 
and Tartary. Nearly two hundred years have elapsed 
since it was noticed by Plater, in the spot where I am 
now viewing it; but Saussure was the first who accu- 
rately described the terrible degeneracy of the human 
species. From commonbronchocele (goitre), and a state 
of body and mind bordering on health, down to a com- 
plete destitution of intelligence and sensibility-in short, 
to an existence purely vegetative - Cretins present an 
infinite variety of intermediate grades, filling up these 
wide extremes. In general, but not invariably, goitre is 
an attendant on cretinism. The stature is seldom more 
than from four to five feet, often much less-the head is 
deformed in shape, and too large in proportion to the 
body - the skin is yellow, cadaverous, or of a mahogany 
color, wrinkled, sometimes of an unearthly pallor, with 
unsightly eruptions - the flesh is soft and flabby-the 
tongue is large, and often hanging out of the mouth - 
the eyelids thick-the eyes red, prominent, watery, and 
frequently squinting - the countenance void of all ex- 
pression except that of idiotism or lasciviousness - the 
nose flat - the mouth large, gaping, slavering, the lower 
jaw elongated - the belly pendulous - the limbs crooked, 
short, and so distorted as to prevent anything but a wad- 
* Sion. 158 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
dling progression - the external senses often imperfect, 
and the Cretin deaf and dumb; - the tout ensemble of 
this hideous abortion of nature presenting the traits of 
premature old age ! Such is the disgusting physical ex- 
terior of the apparently wretched, but perhaps compara- 
tively happy, Cretin!" 
" If we look to the moral man (if man he can be called), 
the picture is still more humiliating. The intellectual 
functions being, as it were, null, certain of the lower 
animal functions are in a state of increased activity. The 
Cretins are voracious, and are addicted to low propen- 
sities, which can not be named. To eat and to sleep 
form their chief pleasures. Hence we see them between 
meals basking in nonchalance on the sunny sides of the 
houses, insensible to every stimulus that agitates their 
more intelligent fellow-creatures - frequently insensible 
to every call of nature itself."* 
Here we have a picture of the effects of impure air, 
when its impurities are concentrated and localized, and 
when they have been inhaled without intermission - 
drawn from the life. It would probably be no easy task 
to convince the inhabitants of more genial climes that 
such evils existed among themselves in a more subdued 
form; yet such is the fact. 
The Swiss peasant, inhabiting one of these reservoirs 
of pestilence, can not, like one of our peasants or labor- 
ers, emancipate himself from the loathsome atmosphere 
of an ill-ventilated bedroom, to breathe the salubrious 
air of the fields and groves; he can not give his semi- 
stagnant circulation even a moment's respite, by unload- 
ing it, in any degree, of its poisonous and redundant ac- 
cumulations. Thus he feels the brunt of those impuri- 
ties more severely, and they are more strongly developed 
* Change of Air and Philosophy of Travelling, by J, Johnson, M. D., 
p. 62. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
159 
in his bodily appearance and intellect. But this circum- 
stance is no encouragement for the inhabitants of more 
favored localities to think themselves entirely exempted 
from cretinism. So far from this being the case, they 
will find that cretinism, in its incipient state, exists to an 
awful extent among the cellar and garret population of 
many of the large European and American cities. In- 
deed, the existence of many of its characteristic symp- 
toms (as hydrocephaloid complaints, &c.), have been al- 
ready, in the foregoing pages, traced in those places, and 
from a similar cause. If the inquiry should be instituted. 
Why are idiocy and mania more prevalent in the pol- 
ished and civilized than in the semi-civilized and barba- 
rous nations? - Why, for example, are there one hun- 
dred idiots and maniacs in France for one in Turkey? 
One thousand in France, England, and America for one 
among the Hottentots and Patagonians, in proportion to 
their numbers - it would transpire that bad air, insepa- 
rable from the habits of the people, and their erroneous 
principles of civilization, are among the most active 
causes of this social calamity. As a further confirmation 
of the identity of these complaints, many have been 
cured of mental aberration and insanity, by simple re- 
moval to fresh air, in the same way as the Swiss peasant, 
when he sees cretinism setting in among his children, 
immediately elevates them, if his means will allow, to the 
free atmosphere of the mountain's brow, when, if the 
malady has not advanced too far, they soon begin to re- 
assume the image of their Creator. 
The physical and moral revolutions of the world, have, 
as it were, swept over it unnoticed. Time, so gradual in 
its operations, works so slowly, that a revolution is accom- 
plished before it is observed. Valleys have become hills, 
and hills have become valleys, before the phenomena at- 
tracted attention. Towns which at the birth of Christ 160 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
were, maritime, and of great commercial importance, are 
now inconsiderable villages, from fifteen to twenty miles 
from the sea ! So it is with the physical and mental con- 
stitution of man. A quiet and regular succession of 
changes have occurred to both his body and mind, which 
have escaped the notice of those who have not exercised 
a strict investigation. The air itself may have been possi- 
bly an imperceptible medium, or instrument of his im- 
provement, and possibly the medium or instrument of 
his transformation into a being inferior to the original 
standard of the human race. 161 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Increased Influence of Foul Air during- Sleep.-Boarding-Schools.-Sol- 
diers in Barracks.-Seamen-Nightmare prevalent among them.-Ob- 
scurity of its depredations.- Bad Air not less active, because invisible- 
-Universal study of Physiology urged.-Sleeping with the Head cov- 
ered.-Its Deleterious Effects.-Cutaneous Exhalation of Carbonic 
Acid.-Appalling Disaster in 1848. 
One of the most insidious means by which impure air, 
or inefficient respiration, assails the happiness, and un- 
dermines the health, of mankind, is through the action 
of the superabundant carbon upon the brain, during 
sleep. 
The misery and disease which this single cause inflicts 
upon the human race, exceed credibility, unless the re- 
ciprocal sympathy existing between the lungs and the 
brain, or in other words, between the respiratory and 
cerebral functions, be duly estimated and understood. 
The proximate cause of sleep is still a subject of spec- 
ulation, but physiologists seem to be agreed that one of 
the most essential conditions to the due performance of 
this important function,\is the maintenance of an exact 
equilibrium in the amount of oxygenated blood trans- 
mitted to the brain? ' Whenever this equilibrium is dis- 
turbed by imperfect aeration, sleep must be disturbed 
also, and every person knows that insufficient or dis- 
turbed sleep, operating for even a short time, is often 
followed by results the most disastrous to the general 
constitution. The most careless observer, the hard- 
working day-laborer, for example, who never in his life 162 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
heard of such a thing as oxygen, though he has lived 
upon it all his days - who has no dread whatever of car- 
bonic acid, though it is perhaps his greatest enemy - 
who seldom recollects that there is such a thing as air at 
all - must have remarked, that he has never slept soundly 
in an ill-ventilated chamber, the atmosphere of which 
was probably charged (as is often the case) with the ex- 
crementitious and poisonous exhalations of a dozen pairs 
of lungs. Granted, that his body has been fatigued, and 
his muscular system exhausted, by continued physical 
exertion, possibly under the rays of a scorching sun - 
that his mind is untroubled - that the " wear and tear'" 
of his whole system has imperatively demanded rest and 
renovating slumber-in short, that all the conditions ne- 
cessary to the proper exercise of this peculiar function 
of the brain, be present, except ventilation^2-he rises in 
the morning languid and unrefreshed, and with the ex- 
pression of fatigue ineffaced from his countenance. 
No doubt the carbonic acid may occasionally produce 
a torpor, by no means disagreeable, for the time, and 
sometimes intense torpidity, but this state is uniformly 
followed by a depression, and morbid excitability of the 
nervous system,,'totally incompatible with the restora- 
tion of its energy, and the necessary recruitment of the 
-muscular powers.^ An impeded respiration during sleep, 
no matter how occasioned, always produces anxiety and 
restlessness, that are followed up during the day with 
languor, and lassitude of both body and mind; and those 
who through ignorance, imprudence, or necessity, in- 
dulge in the practice of sleeping in an atmosphere highly 
carbonized, or loaded with other impurity, may prepare 
themselves for a whole catalogue of diseases, and possi- 
bly, among their other calamities, to be nightly haunted 
with unwelcome and debilitating dreams, idle phantasies, 
and dangers which will soon be realized in the form of USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
163 
nightmare, melancholia, and a host of other distressing 
© 1 1 Q 
nervous maladies.y 
Any person who may profess himself skeptical as to 
the activity here ascribed to atmospheric impurities, in 
disturbing the function of sleep, would do well to visit, 
some morning, the dormitories of boarding-houses and 
boarding-schools, where many individuals pass the night 
together, in the same crowded apartments, and by care- 
fully scanning the countenances of their occupants, and 
inquiring into the amount of renovation derived from the 
past night's sleep, he would obtain some useful informa- 
tion. In effect, the usual answer would be, we sank "to 
rest, but not to sleep," perhaps to neither. But if this 
test should still seem unsatisfactory, and the foregoino- 
observations wiredrawn, or gratuitous, it would perhaps 
suffice to inspire conviction, if he should next put his in- 
quiries to soldiers in crowded encampments, or seamen 
(say the sailors of the port of New York), men who, of 
all others, are most exposed, especially in winter, to car- 
bonic acid during the night. In the larger navies, the 
American especially, this evil is remedied, to some ex- 
tent, by partial ventilation. Even in a few merchant- 
vessels some steps have been taken in the right direc- 
tion, and an approximate improvement effected, but the 
vast majority of the coasting-vessels in this country, a 
great number of those employed for the purposes of 
emigration, and almost all vessels engaged in the coal- 
trade in Great Britain and Ireland, afford the most ap- 
palling examples of discomfort, in regard to the fore- 
castles and other places appropriated to the seamen's 
berths and hammocks. 
No men require more refreshing sleep than sailors, 
as their work is particularly exhausting, their time for 
that purpose uncertain, and usually limited to a few 
hours; yet they are generally ready to acknowledge 164 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
that their rest is greatly embarrassed and disturbed, 
though they do not always understand the cause; and 
it is a fact (noticed by Waller) that in no class of men 
is nightmare more prevalent; and that among theii' 
other diseases, arising from a similar cause, none stands 
more prominent than the mental perturbations that af- 
flict them during sleep, and unfit them for their duty 
while awake. 
If there can be any palliation or excuse for the 
wide-spread inattention to the dangers of carbonic 
acid, it is to be found in the reflection, that this great 
cankerworm seldom makes its depredations openly upon 
the surface of society, but that it preys upon its vitals 
unobserved, begins first at the core, and not, like most 
of the other foes to human health and happiness, exert- 
ing its fatal influences with equal malignity, whether its 
victims be sleeping or awake. The drunkard, for ex- 
ample, is conscious that he is entailing disease and mis- 
ery upon himself and his family, while the alcohol which 
he has adopted as his poison, besides being a tangible 
object, and possessing many attractions to his depraved 
taste and appetite, makes him reel and stagger, and ex- 
hibits to the world, in the most unequivocal symptoms, 
its peculiar effects upon his constitution and circum- 
stances. z But the slow and gradual poison of carbonic 
acid covers its approaches, and secretly and silently saps 
the constitution of the teetotaler as well as the intemper- 
ate, of the industrious laborer as well as the spendthrift, 
of infancy and youth as well as old age, of the rich as 
well as the indigent, and in too many instances, of the 
learned, as of the ignorant.^ 
This inattention, and its attendant mischiefs, will of 
course continue to a variable extent, until all classes in 
the community have learned to know themselves, and 
the moral sentiment, " nosce teipsum '■ be fully appre- USES AND ABUSES OF AIK. 
165 
ciated, and made the groundwork of public and private 
instruction. Jn fact, people seem to be generally una-i 
ware, in regard to atmospheric impurities, that an invis-' 
ible cause is capable of producing a visible effect, and ' 
because they do not see that cause, they need not dread 
its effects* This error of judgment is the more 
glaring and inconsistent, as they are in the habit of 
admitting the former principle, and rejecting the latter, 
in almost every other department of philosophy. 
But the remedy is at hand. Physiology, popular- 
ized, and with certain limitations, must be made a 
branch of elementary instruction in all schools and 
seminaries, and be looked upon as an indispensable 
ingredient in the education of every laborer and me- 
chanic. Great credit is due to many enlightened and 
benevolent persons in this country, for the influence 
they have brought to bear on this important point, and 
for the encouragement they have latterly given to the 
study of physiology in the elementary schools. In the 
great majority of them, however, the children have no 
information whatever on the subject. <kThey are not even 
taught the simple axiom, that air is at least as necessary 
to their existence as food, and that food would be of 
no service to them without air. /'Examples of this rad- 
* " In Strath we literally breathed the liquid sunshine ; but in cities the 
want of ventilation at our churches and chapels is a serious grievance; 
and an eminent chemist, wishing lately to prove what a poisonous atmo- 
sphere is endured by crowded congregations, in Edinburgh, carefully bot- 
tled off a specimen of the air of various churches, after the audience had 
dispersed. The result was, that a fly could scarcely survive upon the pol- 
luted air which had been breathed successively by a dozen of persons, at 
least, or if the sermon has been long, by double the number. I often wish 
that air might become dyed of a different color after having been used, 
that those who live in a perpetual terroi- of fresh air might see the poison- 
ous atmosphere to which they condemn themselves ; for all the tasteful ru- 
ralities of life are destroyed by those who dread the gentlest zephyrs, and 
some of our friends, even if they lived in a bottle, would wish to put the 
cork in."-[Scotland and the Scotch, by Catharine Sinclair.] 166 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
ical error in education are to be found in many board- 
ing-schools, whose managers profess the most enlightened 
views on the intellectual and physical training of youth, 
and pledge themselves to the " most scrupulous attention" 
to the health and personal comfort of their pupils. 
Passing by the evils of the atmosphere of the school- 
room, how often may we observe the pernicious practice 
indulged in, by children, of sleeping with their heads en- 
tirely covered with the bedclothes - a habit which is often 
connived at by those having the immediate charge of 
their dormitories, and which seldom engages the atten- 
tion, or meets with the disapprobation, of their teachers. 
An occasional visit to the dormitory by the teacher, ought 
to suggest many subjects of useful instruction in the 
schoolroom, and no lesson can be of graver importance 
to the pupil, than one in which he is taught how to pre- 
serve his own life and morals, and those of others. In 
New York, and in many other parts of the Union, the 
scales are at last beginning to fall from the eyes of pa- 
rents, teachers, and guardians; at last, though by slow 
degrees, they are beginning to appreciate the fact, and 
recognise the principle, that the health and happiness of 
after-life materially hinge upon the habits of children 
while in their sleeping-apartments; and that (to the 
credit of the managers be it told) the habit at present 
under discussion has been utterly proscribed and ban- 
ished from the dormitories of some of our most exten- 
sive seminaries. 
Even when bedrooms are well ventilated, the breath- 
ing of good air may not be secured, on account 
of the curtains, which are often drawn closely around 
the bed. However fashion may sanction this custom, 
it is certainly a very unwholsome one, as the air inhaled 
during sleep is necessarily confined and vitiated. Those 
who have entirely discarded the use of curtains expe- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
167 
rience no inconvenience, but a decided improvement 
in health, by the change. 
By reverting to the original principles laid down in 
the early part of this treatise, it will be seen that besides 
the pulmonary, there is also a cutaneous respiration. It 
has been calculated that an ordinary-sized man gives off 
from his lungs, or rather out of his system through his 
lungs, about fifteen cubic feet of carbonic acid in twen- 
ty-four hours, and by cutaneous exhalation, from three 
to five cubic feet of the same gas, both exhalations 
being required to preserve the body in a healthy con- 
dition. Now let us suppose the case of a boy wrapped 
up in blankets, &c., with his face and head uncovered, 
but the blankets drawn so tight about his neck, that the 
carbonic acid from his skin will have no means of escape, 
and be completely imprisoned under the coverings, and 
also assume that three cubic feet of carbonic acid be 
given off from the skin in twenty-four hours, which is 
rather a moderate calculation; we must suppose that in 
a few minutes as much carbonic acid would be exhaled, 
as would form a stratum enclosing his whole body. The 
perspiration is also much increased, and bathes the body 
in a fluid which has a strong tendency to rapid decom- 
position. Thus, not only is the exhalation of carbon - 
a substance highly deleterious to the body, whether it 
be retained, or re-inhaled - absolutely obstructed by this 
stratum, but by an unnecessary increase of sensible per- 
spiration, a debilitating drain is kept up on the serum of 
the blood, and idio miasm generated, which, in small 
quantities, has been shown to produce so many diseases, 
and in concentrated doses, is the virus of typhus fever. 
But this is not a tithing of the evil if the head also 
is shrouded in, and the whole body, as it were, her- 
metically sealed in blankets. After the head is cov- 
ered, the accumulation of carbonic acid, and of course. 168 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
its peculiar effects, will increase with the time in more 
than a geometrical ratio. The body, narcotised and (in- 
stead of being wrapped in the sweet oblivious sleep of a 
well-ventilated apartment, in which no bad habits are 
permitted) plunged into a Lethean slumber, will occa- 
sionally throw off for a few seconds, by a kind of fever- 
ish instinct, its manifold coverings, which, no doubt, 
gives relief for the moment; but soon the habit is estab- 
lished, the body grows chilly, and the coverings are re- 
placed. Without any stretch of imagination whatever, 
we must infer that a habit of this kind persisted in, es- 
pecially under other circumstances unfavorable to health, 
for any considerable length of time, will always, and 
through life, influence the state of health, both corporeal 
and mental, and very often end in the development of 
scrofula, consumption, epilepsy, hydrocephaloid deform- 
ities, and possibly imbecility or idiocy. 
These remarks apply at least with equal force, to the 
nursery. A fond, though incautious, mother or nurse, 
may possibly clasp her child to an affectionate bosom, 
while she is, in effect, administering to it slowly-opera- 
ting doses of carbonic acid, and the assertion may be 
fearlessly hazarded, that almost as many children have 
been poisoned in this way as have been really overlaid. 
On page 87 was given an account of one of those 
frightful results of the total neglect of providing ventila- 
ting arrangements in passenger-vessels, which appal the 
public mind, and for a time seem to rouse attention to 
the means necessary to prevent a repetition of them, little 
thinking, at the time of its publication in this work, that, 
half a century later, when knowledge and practical expe- 
rience would be supposed to have made so much advance 
as to render the occurrence of a similar scene impos- 
sible, we should be called upon to record another, if 
possible still more culpable and disastrous. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
169 
It is recorded here, that it may be "kept before the 
people" and to show that with all the glory of its 19th 
century, the world, in its most civilized portions, is in dis- 
graceful subjugation to ignorance and disregard of hu- 
manity. 
The steamer Londonderry, Captain Johnston, left Sligo, 
at four o'clock on Friday evening, December 22, 1848, 
for Liverpool, with about one hundred and ninety steerage 
passengers - emigrants - on their way, via Liverpool, 
to America, and two or three cabin passengers. As she 
proceeded on her voyage, the weather became exceed- 
ingly foul, and after midnight, the wind rose to a perfect 
gale. About one o'clock that night, or rather Sunday 
morning, it was deemed expedient to put the steerage 
passengers below, and the order was executed, not, we 
understand, without some resistance on the part of many 
of them. 
Most of our readers are probably acquainted with the 
dimensions of a steerage cabin of an ordinary steamer- 
a compartment rarely more than eighteen feet long, by 
ten or twelve in width, and in height about seven feet. 
Into this space, ventilated only by one opening, the com- 
panion, one hundred and fifty human beings, as we have 
been informed, were packed together. The steerage 
being thus occupied, it was next, as alleged, feared lest 
the water should get admission through the companion, 
and this - the only vent by which air could be admitted 
to the sufferers below - was closed, and a tarpaulin 
nailed over it, thus hermetically sealing the aperture, and 
preventing the possibility of any renewal of the exhausted 
atmosphere. 
The steamer went on her way, gallantly braving the 
winds and waves, unconscious of the awful work which 
death was meanwhile doing within her. In the darkness 
and heat and loathsomeness of their airless prison, its 170 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
wretched inmates shrieked for aid ; and there were none 
to hear their cries amid the boisterousness of the storm, 
or if they were heard, none sagacious enough to inter- 
pret the dreadful meaning they meant to convey. At 
length, one man-the last, it is said, who had been put 
down, contrived to effect an opening through the tar- 
paulin of the companion, and pushing himself out, com- 
municated to the mate that the people in the steerage 
were dying for the want of air. The mate instantly be- 
come alarmed, and obtaining a lantern, went down to 
render assistance. Such, however, was the foul state of 
the air in the cabin, that the light was immediately ex- 
tinguished. A second was obtained, and it too was ex- 
tinguished. 
At length the tarpaulin was completely removed, and 
a free access of air admitted. When the crew went be- 
low, they were appalled by the discovery that the floor 
was covered by dead bodies to the depth of some feet. 
Men, women, and children, were huddled together, black- 
ened with suffocation, distorted by convulsion, bruised 
and bleeding from the desperate struggle for existence 
which preceded the moment when exhausted nature re- 
signed the strife. After some time the living were sep- 
arated from the dead, and it was then found that the lat- 
ter amounted to nearly one half of the entire number. 
Seventy-two dead bodies of men, women, and children, 
lay piled indiscriminately over each other, four deep, all 
presenting the ghastly appearance of persons who had 
died in the agonies of suffocation. Very many of them 
were covered with blood, which had gushed from the 
mouth and nose, or had flowed from wounds inflicted by 
the trampling of nail-studded brogans, and by the frantic 
violence of those who struggled for escape. It was evi- 
dent that, in the struggle, the poor creatures had torn 
the clothes off each other's backs, and even the flesh from USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
171 
each other's limbs. Nearly all of the steerage passengers 
were poor farmers from the neighborhood of Sligo and 
Ballina, with their families, and many of the dead were 
naked from poverty. 
An inquest was held on one of the bodies, and the jury 
returned the following verdict:- 
"We find that death was caused by suffocation, in 
consequence of the gross negligence and total want of 
the usual and necessary caution on the part of the captain, 
Alexander Johnston, Richard Hughes, first mate, and 
Ninian Crawford, second mate ; and we therefore find 
them guilty of manslaughter; and we further consider it 
oui- duty to express, in the strongest terms, our abhor- 
rence of the inhuman conduct of the remainder of the 
seamen on board on the melancholy occasion, and the 
jury beg to call the attention of proprietors of steam- 
boats to the urgent necessity of introducing some more 
effectual mode of ventilation in the steerage, and also 
affording better accommodations to the poorer class of 
passengers."* 
* Belfast News Letter. 172 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XV. 
USE AND ABUSE OF CITIES. 
First Impressions of New York upon a Stranger.-Contrast with other 
Cities.-Its Comparative rate of Mortality.-Impure Air may coexist with 
Natural Sanitary Advantages.-Foresight of its Founders.-Its High Tem- 
perature ; its Effects.-Number of Garrets and Cellars.-B asement Schools, 
Public School Society.-Cesspools and Privies, their great Number.- 
Imagination necessary to discover Realities.-The Remedy.-A new 
Society needed.-Particular Localities.-Five Points.-Pearl Street.- 
" Old Brewery." - Rag-Pickers. - Slaughterhouses. - Disadvantages of 
the " Croton."-The Remedy therefor. 
G-reat cities have been denounced by some as great 
evils, and Cobbett alludes to Loudon as a wen, or unnat- 
ural excrescence, growing on the body of England. 
They have also their advocates, who look upon them as 
so many centres of circulation, or foci that radiate riches, 
strength, intelligence, civilization, and as it were new life, 
to the surrounding countries. This controversy resolves 
itself into a question of use and abuse. There is really 
no well-grounded objection to great cities. They are, it 
must be acknowledged, great evils, but they are not ne- 
cessarily so. All objections that have been taken to 
them, are founded on the erroneous structure of society 
inhabiting them, and the still more erroneously-con- 
structed streets and houses in which their inhabitants 
live, the want of a due regard for the preservation of 
health, and the absence of efficient sanitary laws, to 
counteract the admitted increased tendency they have, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
173 
to deteriorate the general health and morals. All these 
evils can and will be remedied. The first blows have 
already been struck in this peaceful campaign of benev- 
olence, and the question is now, who are the individuals, 
who are the nations, to follow them up ?- Is America? 
is New York to be in the front, or the rear ? 
The magnitude and position of New York, being the 
largest city in America, justly entitle it to extraordinary 
consideration and justify this particular reference; and 
as its sanitary condition, in relation to the air breathed by 
its inhabitants, is very analogous to many other American 
cities, the succeeding remarks will generally apply to 
them also. 
A stranger, when he first arrives in New York, is quite 
unprepared for the salubrity of its situation, which he 
soon discovers, and is disinclined to believe any longer' 
the reports he has heard of its high rate of mortality. 
His mind is relieved from the narrow streets and alleys 
of European towns, and he is for the while led to believe, 
that all the streets here are Broadways and Bowerys. 
He no longer sees the Cimmerian fogs of London and 
Paris floating above his head, and occasionally descend- 
ing in a darkness which can be felt; no longer the 
smoky canopies of Leeds, Lyons, Glasgow, or Manches- 
ter ; no longer the thousands of low, and hundreds of 
tall chimneys, disgorging volumes of smoke and other 
noxious impurities ; no mountain barriers to imprison 
the air and intercept the gentle and health-inspiring 
breezes; no lazy stagnant rivers to pollute the atmosphere 
with their pestilential effluvia ; he can not reconcile his 
present with his past impressions; he concludes he has 
been misinformed. Unfortunately such was not the case. 
New York, with a population not one fourth that of Lon- 
don, and not one half that of Paris, has at least as high 
a rate of mortality as either of those cities, and this with 174 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
a population not nearly so much condensed. Why is 
this ? This question will be answered by a brief expo- 
sition of what is conceived to be the cause which, re- 
motely or proximately, is most active in bringing diseases 
on the people and accelerating their deaths.* 
The principles that have been laid down, and the facts 
and arguments that have been stated, imperfect though 
they be, afford a sufficient clue to this apparent anomaly 
in vital statistics, and it is easily shown that impure air 
may coexist with all the advantages of locality, climate, 
comparative exemption from smoke, and other circum- 
stances, that deceive, not only the stranger, but also the 
naturalized and native citizen. Naturef has no doubt 
bountifully supplied the people of New York with a 
sufficiency of pure, wholesome air, but this avails not if 
they shut it out of their houses through a want of knowl- 
edge of its benefits, oi' be deprived of those benefits by 
others through ignorance, negligence, or selfishness. 
Their atmosphere is, to be sure, comparatively free from 
smoke, but there is a large amount of ingredients far 
more noxious substituted for it. 
The streets are no doubt generally wide, and present 
every facility for the passage of aerial currents, but in 
general, the rubbish (consisting chiefly of animal and 
vegetable filth that is-thrown upon them) is almost suffi- 
* We are prepared to admit that, next to impure air, intemperance is the 
most potent agent in the increase of preventible mortality. It must be kept 
in mind that these two causes reciprocally produce one another. The deaths 
of immigrants (accelerated by foul air and other hardships on board the ves- 
sels) also enlarge the bills of mortality. 
t As the word Nature has been occasionally employed in the course of the 
preceding chapters, and as " Nature worship" is represented to be one of the 
sins of the present day, it is only proper to explain, that the term has been 
used solely on account of its convenience. NT e have no objection to adopt 
the definition of Areteus, " Nature is the art of the godhead" or that of Pope:- 
All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul." USES AND ABUSES OF AIR.. 
175 
cient of itself to inquinate those currents as effectually 
as any of the goitrous ravines of the Alps. 
It is an historical fact that New York has attained to 
a greater magnitude, than any other city in the same 
time. Rapidity of growth is usually attended by a de- 
fective organization, and in this respect the city has both 
suffered and escaped. Its southern extremity will always 
be its nucleus, and is incapable of extension ; it was there- 
fore fortunate, that some of the early fathers were privi- 
leged, as it were, with a glimpse into futurity, which sup- 
plied a motive for laying out its streets even so judiciously 
as they are. They have, by their wisdom, conferred an 
invaluable boon upon their posterity. Otherwise, this 
would have been one of the darkest plague-spots, on the 
face of the earth. On the other hand, there are many 
standing monuments of their short-sightedness, monu- 
ments quite removable, yet unremoved to the present 
day. If a thorough system of sewerage had been early 
enforced, the width of all streets regulated by law, the 
formation of blind lanes and alleys discountenanced, and 
the tenancy of cellars by human beings, either as work- 
shops, schools, or otherwise, absolutely prohibited, a rich 
harvest of health and happiness, and the improved tone 
of morality they involve, would now be reaped, thou- 
sands of lives would have been saved or prolonged, and 
many hundreds of wretches, now sunk beyond reclama- 
tion, in physical and moral turpitude, would be an honor, 
instead of a disgrace, to the existing respectable citi- 
zens. 
In estimating the influence of the different morbific 
agents in the city of New York, the high temperature 
of the summer months must he carefully hept in view. 
The thermometer very frequently fluctuates between 
seventy and ninety-six degrees in the shade, rising in the 
sun to upward of one hundred and ten degrees of Fahr- 176 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
inheit, for two oi' three months together. It is therefore 
clear that as the putrefaction and decomposition of ani- 
mal and vegetable matter increase with the heat, the 
quantity of aerial poisons evolved must be much greater, 
and more concentrated, than in cities where the thermome- 
ter at the same season ranges between, say forty and sev- 
enty degrees. This circumstance at once accounts for the 
higher rate of mortality in this city, than in many others 
containing a larger amount of filth, and demands pecu- 
liar attention, as the same exertion in New York, might 
possibly remove twice as much effluvia, and of course 
twice as much disease, as could be done in a city of con- 
siderably lower temperature. 
To put the matter in a more intelligible form, if we 
suppose a cart-load of offal, ordure, &c.,from a slaughter- 
house, to give out a certain volume of fever miasm, 
under a temperature of sixty or seventy degrees in Lon- 
don ; we may infer, on the principle above stated, that 
that volume might possibly be doubled from a similar 
load, under a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees 
in New York, Philadelphia, or New Orleans, and hence 
the aggravation of the evils of animal and vegetable de- 
composition in the warmer climates, and the greater ur- 
gency for their speedy removal. 
The most deleterious atmospheric nuisances in New 
York, are carbonic acid, and the exhalations from ani- 
mal and vegetable matter in a state of putridity. These 
latter consist chiefly of different combinations of hydro- 
gen and ammonia, all of which, it is needless to repeat, 
are, according to the quantities contained in the air at 
the time of inhalation, slow or rapidly fatal poisons.* 
As to carbonic acid, its effects are in few places felt 
* In England, twenty-two children were killed by sulphuretted hydro- 
gen, which had emanated from the contents of a cesspool. Many similar 
cases are on record. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
177 
with greater malignancy than in New York. There 
are in the city, as many as three thousand cellars, gar- 
rets, courts, alleys, and inhabited rear buildings, in which 
the air is to a great extent pent up, so that in calm weath- 
er it is very slowly removed, and in many cellars, gar- 
rets, and even courts, especially those forming complete 
cul de sacs, so literally hemmed in, that it remains in a state 
of almost complete stagnancy, for many weeks together, 
and these generally during the greatest heat. 
Public buildings, and the first class of private houses, 
or stores, are in very few instances, built with a view to 
their complete and healthful ventilation. 
Many have evidently been constructed by architects 
who attached due importance to strength, beauty, warmth, 
light, &c., but who in some unaccountable way, neglect- 
ed fresh air altogether, in both ground plan and eleva- 
tion. 
Of the cellars or basements which are occupied by 
over three thousand five hundred human beings, not more 
than one tenth are tolerably ventilated, and many are 
occupied by sedentary artisans, and small grocers, who, 
with their wives, families, and very often a number of 
lodgers, live, eat, and sleep, in fact perform all their 
functions, in one, or at least two, small apartments. 
About one third of these are back basements, from which 
the air is still more completely excluded. The garrets, 
used eithei- as daily habitations or dormitories, are at 
least as numerous as the basements, and are nearly as 
much deprived of the benefits of fresh air. These lat- 
ter tenements are more generally occupied during the 
night, when if there chances to be a small window or 
two, they are scrupulously closed in winter for fear of 
the cold, and ignorantly or negligently allowed to re- 
main closed in summer, thus completely excluding the 
outer air. 178 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
One of the worst features in the cellar habitation, is 
the fact that schools are still kept in them to an incredi- 
ble extent, and to the incalculable deterioration of the 
health and morals of the children, and the unmerited 
discredit of the city, inasmuch as liberal means have 
been provided at the public expense for the efficient ed- 
ucation of every child in it. The reason of the contin- 
uance of these schools must lie deep, and must certainly 
be connected with ignorance or narrowmindedness, as 
no sensible parent would send a child to the stupifying 
atmosphere of a basement, in preference to othei- com- 
paratively airy apartments, where the education is great- 
ly superior. If individuals think proper to establish 
schools for private instruction, they should not be dis- 
couraged, but it is only right that public disapprobation 
be brought to bear on those who establish them in cel- 
lars, where their intellectual faculties are as likely to be 
benumbed, so to speak, as their health of body is to be 
impaired. Children always thrive best, sleep best, and. 
learn best, in a clear atmosphere. 
The greater number of these cellar schools,* are sim- 
ilar in all respects to the dame-schools in Liverpool, and 
are kept in dwellings equally squalid and unventilated. 
The teachers are often old matrons, or old masters, 
whose systems are now antiquated, and whose attain- 
ments have not kept pace with the late rapid improve- 
ments in the profession. 
These schools ought to be inspected, and reported upon 
by the proper authorities, who should without hesitation, 
suppress those kept in places unhealthy to the children. 
It may be objected that a number of poor people would 
by this means be ruined, by the loss of the only employ- 
* It would seem that some of their teachers would object to this term as 
the words "select school" are occasionally to be observed on the shutter. 
This is most likely intended to anticipate any unfavorable impression. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
179 
ment by which they can support themselves. To this 
it may be answered that the health of the people is the 
first object of legislation, and that it ought first to be se- 
cured as far as possible, even though private interests 
should suffer, and if necessary let the state furnish other 
employment for those who would be thus deprived of 
occupation, but let not the next generation suffer for the 
benefit of a few of the present. 
These cellar- schools, however, taking the numbers 
they contain and the circumstances which give them 
origin into consideration, are innocent and tolerable, 
when contrasted with another class of schools, which 
are kept also in basements, and owe their existence, not 
to the destitution of the poor, the old, or the infirm, 
but to the patronage of the public themselves, and are su- 
perintended by a board supported by the public funds, 
for the express object of securing to the children of 
all classes a suitable education, and by which of course 
is understood a healthy education. By a reference to 
the " Manual of the Public School Society of the 
City and County of New York," for 1848, it may be 
seen that fourteen of their public primary schools are 
kept in basements (generally of churches) and ten in 
rear buildings, one of the basements being for colored 
children. The trustees apologise for having no primary 
department in Public School No. 7, on account of " the 
building being without a basementimplying that base- 
ment schools are fittest for very little children, and sanc- 
tioning by their high authority, the cellar schools just 
adverted to ; sanctioning a principle we have seen put 
in practice in the lowest, dampest, and worst-ventilated 
cellars. What motive they have in preferring a base- 
ment for the smallest of the children, it is not easy to 
conjecture, as a child itself might understand that its own 
delicate lungs and frame, are more impressible to the 180 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
effects of impure air, than those of a sturdy boy or girl 
of twelve or thirteen. 
It is most assuredly the duty of the trustees to examine 
these basements, and satisfy the public as well as the 
parents of the children, that the atmosphere of each 
basement is as pure and as readily ventilated as it is in 
the apartments where, their senior classes are taught, and 
emancipate them from the objectionable ones before irre- 
parable impressions are made upon their health. It is 
not fair that the smaller children, should be thus sub- 
jected to an invidious distinction, and be debarred the 
benefits of education, while their parents are paying a 
tax imposed for that specific object. We have heard 
a teacher in one of these low-ceiled basement school- 
rooms, which usually contained three hundred of these 
little beings confined within the narrow space six hours 
a-day, complain severely of the sufferings she endured 
for want of fresh air, and this continued for months and 
years. She seemed aware of the cause of the evil, but 
the pale and puny children, had to suffer in silence and 
droop without relief. 
Though the reader may be wearied with the frequent 
reference in the foregoing pages, to the great importance 
and general neglect of school ventilation, yet the remark 
may be permitted, that, with all the advancements that 
have been made in the art of teaching, and the great im- 
provements which have been adopted in the internal and 
external arrangements of school-houses, this great and 
essential requisite to the perfection of both, seems yet to 
be very much overlooked, and too often, entirely forgotten. 
Fig. 6, is a sectional view of one of the largest and 
most modern of the " Ward Schools" of New York, 
which will convey some idea of the system of child pack- 
ing, which is followed in some of them. 
The building of which this is an imperfect drawing, 6'. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
181 
was originally intended to accommodate only 1000 pupils, 
but into which, 1400 have actually been suffered to be 
crammed, and that too, without an attempt at systematic 
ventilation. 
The building is 85 feet long, by 45 feet wide, and 
60 feet high from the ground to the peak of the roof, so 
that were there no floors, or desks, or partition walls, or 
pupils, or teachers, there would be about 229,500 cubic 
feet of air, giving for each individual 164 feet, which ac- 
cording to computations before given, would be reinhaled 
every 40 minutes, or nine times the six school-hours. 
One of the objects of the Alms House in New York, 
is to shelter, and provide for, those unfortunate infants 
who are parentless, or exposed and forsaken by their 
unnatural mothers. Now, while there exists no question 
as to the general efficiency, and the spirit and motives 
that actuate the patrons and managers of this and some 
other similar charities, it is to be much regretted that 
the moral tendency of their benevolent exertions is far 
from being decided. Be this as it may, one fact can not 
be denied, that their objects are often frustrated by the 
faithlessness of the out-nurses, who are confidentially ap- 
pointed, to watch over and rear these children. There 
is certainly no wish to bring a sweeping accusation 
against the nurses, thus employed, in New York, but 
we are warranted by authority, to state that those chil- 
dren will very often be found pining in dark, damp, 
ill-ventilated basements. A person of ordinary obser- 
vation, could, from their appearance alone, determine 
whether they are being nursed in a basement, or high 
airy room. They may be known by the magnitude 
and unshapeliness of the head, the dilatation of the 
pupils of the eyes, the distorted and sunken eye-balls, 
the continual elevation of the hands to the face and 
head, as if to remove something that occasioned this 182 
state of misery, the half-protruded tongue, the feeble 
limbs, and in a word that general " unearthly appear- 
ance" which, in the days of superstition, used to excite 
the apprehensions of the good women, that their off- 
spring were under the influence of evil spirits ; so that 
there can be no doubt as to the true nature and cause of 
this scrofulous and hydrocephaloid condition ; which, if 
not originally produced by the exclusion of fresh air, 
and the other causes just specified, must undoubtedly 
have been aggravated by the operation of those causes, 
and now, either a fatal termination, or a useless burden 
to society, during a miserable life, is almost inevitable. 
If such institutions must be maintained, experience 
has shown that the children ought in all cases to be taken 
into, and reared in clean, well-aired hospitals, from which 
noxious drugs should be carefully excluded, and the lit- 
tle ones kept under the eyes of those interested in their 
moral and physical cultivation. 
These facts speak volumes. To reiterate the evils 
arising from this state of things, would only detract from 
their magnitude, and unfit the mind to appreciate their 
danger. 
The emanations from animal and vegetable matter, in 
a state of decomposition, operate upon the people also 
as much within as out of doors. Here, as is often the 
case, the greatest evils are the most hidden. It is, how- 
ever, a fact ascertainable by any citizen who will make 
the calculation, that there are within the municipal bound- 
aries of the city nearly thirty thousand cloacoe; thirty thou- 
sand receptacles for large accumulations of substances, 
which, of all others, are most repugnant to the senses, and 
under circumstances favorable for the evolution and in- 
halation of their gases, the most injurious to health. To 
obtain adequate impressions of the danger to which the in- 
habitants are exposed on this account, is absolutely impossi- 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
183 
ble, as it is impossible to drag the sources of that danger to 
a sufficiently clear light on paper; nor would even a bal- 
loon or bird's eye view, comprehend within its circumfer- 
ence more than a mere segment of the ground they occupy. 
Let the citizens then resort for a moment, to the fields of 
imagination, and, supposing Manhattan island to be in 
every respect, except these pit-falls, in its pristine state 
of attractiveness, carry themselves back to the period of 
Hendrick Hudson's first landing, and fancy what would 
have been the feeling's of the rude navigator and his fol- 
lowers, if, when walking for the first time up the island, 
they had found these thirty thousand cesspools studding 
it up and down, and filling the atmosphere with nauseous 
gases to which their olfactories (habituated to the pure 
air of the Atlantic) were strangers. Would they not 
have fled the polluted shores? Would our worthy 
Dutch ancestry have thought for a moment, of building 
a city on a spot which, however attractive to the eye, 
would prove more pestiferous than the Pontine marshes ? 
Yet their descendants are content to live - what brief 
and sickly lives - amid the poisoned atmosphere, and 
give no thought to its improvement, though so easily 
accomplished. 
Or, let us suppose the whole city to be at once an- 
nihilated, except those nuisances. What would then 
be the impressions of not only the delicate, the refined 
in taste, but also of those who make no claim to nicety 
of sense or sentiment? would they not also fly? To 
think they would act otherwise, would be derogatory 
to both taste and judgment. The sick would learn a 
lesson useful if not too late, and the public authori- 
ties, so long obtuse, it is to be hoped, would at last, 
after receiving no fewer than thirty thousand practical 
hints on the sanitary condition of the city, come to a de- 
cision, which, if acted upon, would keep at least as many 184 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
dollars a year in the pockets of its inhabitants, and con- 
fer upon them an inestimable amount of health and hap- 
piness. ' 
These remarks are by no means strained ; the ob- 
jects to which they are applied, can be seen and pro- 
nounced upon at any time, and a few specimens will 
suffice to convince any intelligent and candid observer, 
that their evils are almost above exaggeration, and that 
until they cease to exist, the rate of mortality can nev- 
er be materially diminished. The municipal author- 
ities are certainly conducting various improvements with 
great energy, and on scales creditable to themselves, and 
lastingly beneficial to the city; but when their own and 
the public health are at stake, it is right that all other op- 
erations should be, if necessary, partially or wholly sus- 
pended, until the causes of disease be removed, and these 
thirty thousand centres of pestilence especially, no long- 
er deal out to the lungs of the public, their noxious ex 
halations. 
As to the practicability of preventing these accumu 
lations, and superceding their necessity altogether by an 
extensive system of sewerage, analogous to that adopted 
in London and Paris, it is presumed no comment is 
necessary, since it has been demonstrated oftentimes and 
in many places. Why is it then that we have no labor- 
ers in this field of humanity ? Is it because such a sub- 
ject may be disagreeable to discuss ? Surely not; as 
any person would naturally prefer to advocate this meas- 
ure of cleanliness, and to remove, or pay for the removal 
of, these nuisances, rather than breathe over and over 
again for months, perhaps years, without intermission, 
their deleterious and offensive gases; and it should be 
always recollected that when the smell of any substance 
is perceived, the particles of that substance come in actu- 
al contact with the lining membrane of the nose, and pass USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
185 
into the lungs, and commingle with the blood. Is it be- 
cause there is no profit connected with the work 1 This 
can not be the case for two reasons ; first, the people of 
New York are far from being behind in generosity, and 
are engaged in other works of benevolence that have no 
higher claims upon their liberality, without fee or re- 
ward ; and secondly, it were easy to show that the meas- 
ure would be a positive gain. 
Is it because there is no honor or glory to be derived 
from the work ? No, there should be, and there are, in 
the city, men sufficient in number and influence, who are 
superior to motives so sordid ; besides there are those 
who are fully aware, that as much glory is to be reaped 
in saving their own and the lives of their fellow-citizens 
at home, as could be gained on the plains and in the for- 
tresses of Mexico. It might not be the effervescent glory 
of an Alexander, a Taylor, or a Scott, but it would be 
the calm, the imperishable fame of a Howard. The 
cause of this apathy will be left to be determined by the 
citizens themselves, and the suggestion be made that the 
grounds of their explanation will be found in the gen- 
eral want of information on the subject, and in the neg- 
lect of physiology and ventilation, as branches of pri- 
mary instruction in schools. 
" Children are the fathers and mothers of men," and 
on this principle what is taught children now, will be 
practised in the years of responsibility, when they become 
the heads of families, and the leaders of the community. 
Had the children of New York been taught the value 
of pure air, the necessity of ventilating their houses, and 
the danger of living, or attending school, in cellars, base- 
ments, and garrets, both the city and themselves would 
now have a different aspect. Many thousands would 
now breathe a pure atmosphere, who were cut off in the 
tender years of infancy or in ripe maturity. Late how- 186 
ever as it is, the attention of the authorities, whether 
legislative or municipal, should be turned to the privies. 
No system of cleaning (as experience has shown), ex- 
cept sewerage, can materially abate their effects. There 
will always be more than three fourths of their number 
in a state of constant operation, giving off their pecu- 
liar and poisonous effluvia. Cleanse them all thorough- 
ly and at once, and like the Lernian hydra, they will 
immediately reappear ; but let the iron be laid to the root 
of this most offensive and morbific of all nuisances, and 
it will become harmless. 
New York has many noble institutions and societies, 
alike honorable to the nation, to the present stage of 
civilization, and to Christianity; but she wants one, the 
organization of which would confer great benefits on 
every inhabitant, viz.: a society analogous in its ob- 
jects and principles to the " health of towns' associations" 
lately established in some parts of England. Some of 
the objects of such a society should be a constant sur- 
veillance, and uncompromising exposure, of the sanitary 
condition of all churches, schools, yards, courts, streets, 
lanes, workshops, &c., and investigation of the causes of 
the present social retrogression, of poverty and disease, 
and their influence on the public expenditures. Also to 
ascertain the vital statistics, the dimensions of apartments 
and houses, whose sanitary condition is suspicious, the 
number of inmates they contain, and above all, the loath- 
some cut de sacs, that alone degrade their inmates and 
disgrace the city. 
Let. all these be revealed to the public by accurate 
statistical tables, maps and descriptions, and the patrons 
or owners of all places prejudicial to health, remonstra- 
ted with in a friendly manner, or as the case may re- 
quire, be fairly and fearlessly brought before the public 
by a particular reference to houses, alleys, &c., or direct- 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
187 
ly by name. Such a body of individuals would no doubt 
have its difficulties, and its portion of slander, but these 
would gradually vanish as its usefulness would be devel- 
oped, and its efforts begin to tell upon the population. 
It should do justice to every place and person, from the 
grandest church in the city, to the lowest purlieu in "the 
sixth ward." Except among the most degraded, those ir- 
retrievably lost to a sense of shame, there is still a spark 
left to excite improvement. Though they might prefer the 
endurance of the diseases induced by an impure atmo- 
sphere, and personal filthiness, to what they might call the 
drudgery of cleanliness, or the discomfort of cold draughts, 
they would make great sacrifices before they should be ex- 
posed in print. Next to physiological education, expo- 
sure will be found to be the most powerful engine that 
can be employed by sanitary reformers, especially to bring 
the lessees of such places as the Orange, Cross, and Bay- 
ard street dens of pestilence, to a sense of their duty to 
their fellow-mortals and themselves. From such men as 
these, such an association would have nothing to fear, as 
men without principle must also be without moral or so- 
cial influence; besides, the supreme object being to con- 
sult the safety of the people, they would be effectually 
sheltered from vulgar imputations. The fearless expo- 
sures of Howard, Parent-Duchatelet, Chadwick, Lord 
Morpeth, and the different sanitary commissions that have 
been appointed by various governments, have probably 
done as much for the public health, as one half the med- 
icine that has been swallowed since the days of the first 
mentioned philanthropist. Would not a like influence 
have like effects on this side of the Atlantic ? 
To enter into minute details of the various localities 
distinguished for their fertility in disease, and its at- 
tendant evils, would be somewhat out of place here, and 
from their extent impossible in such a sketch. They ex- 188 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
1st in al! parts of the city. At its very maritime thresh- 
old, the state of the air is rendered very disagreeable 
and unwholesome, from the manner in which some of the 
quays and slips are kept. This evil will not, however, 
be entirely remedied, until the street manure ceases to 
be deposited and shipped as at present. 
The city authorities after having understood the ne- 
cessity of a constant circulation of air in every street and 
place where there are dwellers, can not but condemn 
such narrow thoroughfares as Hague street and those 
in its neighborhood. Tn such places the air is always, in 
calm weather, in a state of stagnancy. These lanes, are, 
however, comparatively healthful, when considered in 
connexion with the narrow filthy alleys and cul de sacs, 
off some of the principal streets in the city. Many per- 
sons have, indeed, walked through the city a lifetime, 
without being aware that such places exist at all. These 
must, however, look beyond plaster-of-Paris and beauti- 
ful brick facings. To obtain a correct notion of the 
swarms of human beings that, cony-like, have taken up 
their abodes in holes of the earth, or congregate in gar- 
rets, they must mustei' the fortitude necessary to wend 
their dreary and perhaps dangerous way up some filthy, 
dark, winding stair, or, mole-like, burrow through the 
mazy and gloomy hall of a group of cellars, all the while 
stumbling over chairs and children, and wading through 
broken crockery ware, vegetable refuse, and unmention- 
able filth. They must trace the monster to his den, the 
last enemy of the human race to his hiding-places. They 
must explore even the " Five-Points" itself, that profound- 
est of all sinks of moral and physical pollution, which 
sends forth from its pandemonium in the shape of the 
"old Brewery" (which is a moral brewery still) the 
agents who perpetrate the " stratagems and spoils" there USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
189 
concocted, and bespatter the reputation of the whole 
city in the eyes of the world. 
A few specimens of these places would perhaps throw 
considerable light on them all. For this purpose, let 
any one (particularly if skeptical as to the alleged evils 
of impure air), visit some of the courts opening into the 
" Five-Points" or even into that great and wealthy mart, 
Pearl street. We shall give him two, entered at random, 
by a person interested in such examinations, and which 
are in a sanitary condition less objectionable than many 
others in the same quarter, viz. : those adjoining 476 
and 496 Pearl street. The entrances are of considerable 
length, scarcely admit two persons together, and ter- 
minate in areas containing one or more privies, which 
occupy the centre, and. are but a few feet from the doors 
of the houses, and of course immediately below the win- 
dows. In each case they must be resorted, to by several 
hundreds of people. At the entrances, a stench insuf- 
ferable to all except those habituated to it, meets the 
visiter; this increases in intensity until the inner area is 
arrived at, when from the height of the surrounding 
houses, and. the consequent accumulation of the rays of 
the sun, very often nearly vertical, and almost torrid, he 
may well imagine himself in the funnel of a great chimney 
shaft, erected for the purpose of carrying off immense 
volumes of the most noxious gases, not set free by arti- 
ficial lamp oi' fire, but by the sun itself. 
The appearance of the people and their houses (if they 
all deserve that name), are in good keeping with the 
condition of the atmosphere. The doors and windows 
of their squalid apartments are closed against the foul- 
ness of the external atmosphere, until it is made worse 
within, when they are thrown open to let the still fouler 
air out. 
Thus the inmates live from week to week, and thus 190 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
they die of fever, scrofula, debility, marasmus, and 
many complaints unknown to the better aired and 
housed. These are true specimens, of which there are 
endless modifications in every ward within the municipal 
boundaries, but especially in the locality of the Five- 
Points, and extending along Cross, Orange, Bayard, and 
Mulberry streets. 
Perhaps no object in New York has proved more 
interesting to both stranger and citizen, than this said. 
" old Brewery" or " distillery" or whatever it may have 
been intended for. It would seem as if Satan had 
decided that the speculation of brewing or distilling, 
though generally very profitable to him, was far inferior 
in this respect to another higher game which could be 
easily put in operation, and that altering his original in- 
tention, the building was fitted up for dwellers, divided 
into as many compartments as possible, and let to those 
whose finances, inclinations, or avocations, the building 
peculiarly suited. Along each side of the building a 
narrow alley* runs from Cross street, terminating in small 
courts in the rear. Additional doors have been broken 
out into the alleys, and a peep into one or two would 
convince the most resolute that he was in no small dan- 
ger, not only of losing his health, but also of personal 
violence, if he has already escaped. The census of this 
model school of mysteries, miseries, and vice, is rated to 
be at times 300, that number having, it is said, actually 
been counted in it. In any and every aspect this is a 
most disgraceful spot, and contrasts very strongly, and 
seems strikingly inconsistent, with our boasted moddl re- 
public, which has no doubt been often alluded to as such 
by many a mayor and aiderman, who may have walked 
past the Five-Points without the Brewery ever once 
* One of them, is usually called " Murdering Alley." USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
191 
catching their eye, or suggesting any thought of improve- 
ment, which should long ago have been enforced. 
As to the number of rooms in the Brewery we have 
no means of ascertaining it, but its low situation and its 
external appearance with the number of occupants com- 
pared with its size, speak loudly enough for its state of 
ventilation. There seems only to be one privy which 
occupies the centre of the small area of the court, but 
of its state, and the condition of the atmosphere around, 
it, for a considerable distance, the reader will have no 
objection to waive a description. It would seem that the 
influence of habit, and the self-fortifying principle, in- 
herent in the human constitution, in a great measure, 
shields those miserable and degraded wretches, who in- 
habit such places, from immediate dissolution, while the 
pestiferous atmosphere gradually extinguishes all the 
better attributes of their nature.* 
There are however, about the Five-Points, and indeed 
many other parts of the city, equally as great eye-sores 
to all interested in the advancement of society, as the 
house referred to, except perhaps in the particular of 
absolute population. In the lower part of Washington 
street, and in the narrow streets and lanes in its vicinity, 
there are during the emigration season, many suitable 
counterparts to the house in Boston. As many as two 
dozen of the adventurers often sleep in an apartment not 
more than twenty-four feet square, the air being in a 
worse state if possible than in the ships. From these 
houses many emerge, as paupers, their pockets emptied, 
* The following paragraph is quoted from the " Boston Bee" : " Life in Bos- 
ton.-There is in Oliver street, a house containing thirteen rooms which has 
for regular occupants ninety-three persons." A New York editor adds, 
"' The Old Brewery, new edition;' but it has been seen that the Boston es- 
tablishment is still deep in the shade of our old Brewery. Yet, who would 
have, imagined, that lodgings would ever be so dear and mortals so extrav- 
agantly gregarious in this land of bricks and timber." 192 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
and their bodies debilitated, unable to work, and often 
even unable to beg. 
Another source of atmospheric impurity in the city is 
the notorious trade of rag-picking. Of the impropriety 
of permitting this occupation to be carried on in its pres- 
ent unrestricted way, there can not be two opinions. The 
fact is repeatedly alluded to by the authorities and cor- 
roborated by daily observation, that scarcely anything 
tends more to pollute the air, than the accumulations of 
old rags imbued with every species of filth, and covered 
with vermin. They constitute the lurking-places of 
those contagious fevers that occasionally devastate the 
neighborhoods in which the houses for these wares are 
kept. This is the concurrent testimony of all sensible 
persons living near such places. A statistical return of 
these places, and their lessees would be, for reasons al- 
ready alluded to, particularly valuable. 
Slaughterhouses are the next most conspicuous nui- 
sance, and are not much less injurious to health. It is 
agreed, in all places where their effects are investigated, 
that they ought to be excluded from all great cities. 
New York can be supplied with an abundance of fresh 
vegetable productions from the country, why not with 
meat also? For such facilities as these, perhaps no other 
city is so favorably situated ; and it is to be hoped the 
day will shortly arrive, when its citizens will know, and 
not be afraid to do their duty, and appoint men to direct 
their municipal affairs who will adopt all just and legal 
means to protect the public health, in this and all other 
matters. 
If we ascend from the purlieus of the Five-Points 
and Orange street, the lowest boarding-houses and the 
rag-stores and shambles, to hotels and steamboats, some 
of them of the first standing, we find the air inhaled by 
their lodgers and passengers improves much less, than, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
193 
from the external appearance of the latter, would have 
been expected. We find that these stately fabrics have 
seldom or never any systematic ventilation, their saloons 
and chambers being in almost every instance, defective 
in any efficient means for drawing off the foul air. The 
oyster-saloons are no less defective ; many of them have 
only one opening, by which the air is to pass both out 
and in. Such places are not likely to keep up either a 
good appetite, or good nature, and most certainly they are 
often visited without refreshment or exhilaration. The 
river-steamers, those " floating palaces," cry still louder 
for reform, and surely the government which has en- 
acted so many good laws for the protection of travellers 
and immigrants, might with equal propriety enforce prop- 
er sanitary measures in these vessels also. The im- 
migrant, broken down by the inhalation of foul air in 
the ship coming over, and in the boarding-house, pays 
his passage up the river including a berth ; but he soon 
finds, after he has taken up his quarters for the night, that 
he must choose between two things: to remain and be 
suffocated or poisoned in a crowded cabin, or pass the 
night on deck in the open air. Possibly many have lost 
their lives from the effects of impure air, or exposure 
during the night, in these " whited sepulchres." 
The Croton water, though it has conferred invaluable 
benefits on the people of New York, has, under existing 
circumstances, been also a source of many pressing, but 
remediable disadvantages. The pumps that were going 
in all parts of the city, formerly drained the subsoil to a 
very considerable extent; but now, since they have been 
abandoned, the water percolates into the substratum and 
into the floors of the cellars, which become saturated; 
and the fact that many basements have become unten- 
antable, is proof positive that vast numbers of families 
who must choose between living in such places, and 194 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
living in the street, are wretched in the extreme, from a 
floor constantly wet and the air loaded with moisture, in 
addition to its other impurities. 
The putrefaction of garbage, and of every species of 
vegetable and animal filth, which imperfectly operative 
laws still permit to be thrown on the streets, is greatly 
facilitated by their constant saturation with the water 
from the private houses, and hence the effluvia from the 
stagnant water in the subsoil, and from street dirt (con- 
siderably increased by the pigs, which seem to enjoy 
more immunities and privileges in this city than any of 
the other lower animals), have much increased since the 
introduction of the water. 
How easy it is for the citizens to understand, that the 
soil on which the city is built should have been first pre- 
pared for this magnificent and useful undertaking. But 
yet it is not too late. Let them next agitate for an ex- 
tensive and efficient system of sewerage, to drain off the 
water after its benefits have been made available, and 
with it, if possible, all the garbage, refuse contents of 
sinks, privies, &c., into what has been ingeniously and 
happily termed the " great wash tub of the Atlantic." 
Measures of waterage, drainage, and ventilation, ought 
in all cases to be concurrent. 
It has been calculated that in London, 60 tons of car- 
bonic acid, and 60 tons of water, are given off from the 
lungs of human beings in one day ! Of these, large 
quantities must be reinhaled. Assuming the population 
of New York to be nearly one fourth that of London, 
and including the animals, there can not be much less 
than 20 tons of each daily exhaled. From the narrow- 
ness of the streets, and the defective ventilation of the 
houses, dilution by pure air is impeded, and reinhalation 
is the necessary result. After describing the well-like 
courts and alleys of Liverpool, in connexion with this Fig. 7. 
Fig. J. 
FigF USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
195 
part of the subject, Dr. Duncan says he hails with de- 
light the approach of a hurricane or thunder-storm. 
There is no doubt that these have often been to the people 
of New York, blessings in disguise. 
These few suggestions have been offered with the be- 
lief, that, if they be acted upon by the citizens themselves 
and those they appoint to make their laws, New York 
will become, what she ought to be and can be, one of the 
most healthful cities in the world. 
The present chapter may be appropriately closed by 
presenting drawings of the manner in which the foul air 
of many school-houses, churches, &c., accumulates in 
some parts more than others, according to the direction 
of the wind and other causes, and which are supposed 
generally, but very erroneously, to be ventilated by the 
windows. The space colored red, represents the extent 
and amount of the pure air, under the most favorable 
circumstances of a strong wind, and the blue space in- 
dicates the extent and degree of impure atmosphere. 
Fig. 7 is an illustration of the usual progress of air 
in a school, church, or lecture-room, when occupied, and 
ventilated by windows, the fresh air predominating on 
one side, and the vitiated air at the other. 
Fig. 8 illustrates the progress of air in a large school, 
where, when the wind inclined in the direction indicated, 
the junior pupils, seated on an elevated platform, were 
exposed to a highly-vitiated atmosphere. Tins is the 
arrangement of many of the public schools of New York. 
Fig. 9 is an illustration of the state of the air in a school- 
house, in which the vitiated air from the lower room («) 
affords the only supply to the upper room (Z>). This state 
of things is pre-eminently marked in the uppermost apart- 
ments and gallery of the house, represented in fig. 6. The 
only air for the 100 children in the attic-rooms is supplied 
from the lungs of the 400 a few feet below them. 196 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Observations on Practical Ventilation; Notice of some of the popular Errors 
on the Subject. 
It is not more important to understand the necessity 
of breathing pure air, than to know the proper means 
necessary, under various circumstances, to realize its 
benefits. A person may build a house, while at the lay- 
ing of each brick he is impressed with all the facts and 
arguments that have been employed in the foregoing 
pages, and yet fail to supply the apartments with a suffi- 
ciency of fresh air. In fact, few parts of their art ap- 
pear* less understood by builders and architects than 
that of warming and ventilating at the same time; and it 
is very seldom that pure and artificially warm air are 
breathed together. This is owing, in a great measure, to 
many popular errors that exist in reference to the na- 
ture, properties, and effects, of heat, and the laws which 
govern the currents of the atmosphere, and regulate the 
diffusion of gases. 
The first principle to be observed in relation to the 
means to be put in practice for ventilating rooms or 
buildings, is that of the agitation of the air itself; for it 
is by this only that the atmosphere can be thoroughly 
renovated. As has been happily expressed by Cowper, 
in his poem of " The Sofa"- 
* * * " By ceaseless action all that is subsists. 
Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel * 
That Nature rides upon, maintains her health, 
Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads 
An instant's pause, and lives but wliile she moves. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
197 
Its own revolvency upholds the world. 
Winds from all quarters agitate the air, 
And fit the limpid element for use, 
Else noxious. Oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams, 
All feel the freshening impulse, and are cleansed 
By restless undulation." 
The same principle which is thus expressed as appli- 
cable on the scale of the whole atmosphere agitated by 
winds, applies with greater force to those comparatively 
atomic portions embraced within the narrow confines of 
the walls of buildings; and a quiescent atmosphere, un- 
renewed by either natural or artificial currents, is very 
soon found to be oppressive and disagreeable. 
In pointing out the means of practical ventilation, 
adapted to the great majority of dwellings, workshops, 
churches, schoolhouses, &c., the first axiom to be re- 
membered is, that 
Purity of the atmosphere can not he maintained with- 
out its being disturbed by currents, which cause its differ- 
ent parts to be continually changing places.-As this is 
the first law to be regarded in relation to the subject of 
ventilation, happily the nature of the aerial fluid is such 
that not only is it very easy to produce the necessary mo- 
tions in the air, but it would be very difficult entirely to 
prevent them. 
The natural causes which principally produce aerial 
movements are, 1st, changes of temperature; and 2d, in- 
termixture of the different gases which enter the air from 
various sources. 
The atmosphere possesses greater mobility than any 
other natural substance. The slightest variations of tem- 
perature, even such as are entirely inappreciable by our 
senses, cause expansion or condensation in some part of 
the mass affected, and changes of place in those parts 
necessarily ensue. 
Heat expands the air, that is, makes it thinner, and 198 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
therefore lighter ; hence it rises, and the colder air in the 
neighborhood being heavier, rushes in to supply its place, 
and keep up an equilibrium. This fact is illustrated by 
every fire that burns, whether it be a taper, or the confla- 
gration of a city. A light flock of cotton held over a can- 
dle will be carried upward by the gentle current pro- 
duced by the flame, and the huge masses of burning 
wood which are often driven hundreds of feet, testify the 
strength of the blast caused by the burning houses. 
On the other hand, cold condenses the air, and its ten- 
dency is then downward to a place where its density is 
less. Thus are produced every variety of aerial move- 
ment, from the hurricane to the gentle breeze. 
The air in houses is affected in the same way, but on 
a smaller scale, by fires or natural animal heat, which 
raise the temperature, and of course rarefy the air; 
while, on the contrary, the walls, windows, &c., by ab- 
sorbing the heat, diminish the temperature, and thus 
numerous small currents are continually setting from 
the densest portions of the air to the most rarefied; 
or in other words from the coldest to the hottest. The 
heat of the sun, as it increases toward noon, and dimin- 
ishes at evening, produces the same effects on a larger 
scale. 
Where two bodies of air of different temperatures 
are placed neai- each other, and communicate by small 
apertures, an intermixture of the two will go on more 
or less rapidly, by currents passing between them. 
This is exemplified by the warm air of a parlor, and the 
cold air of a hall, mixing with each other by a double 
current, where the door which separates them is opened 
a short distance. A candle held near the top of the 
door will show a current of warm air passing out of the 
room, and a candle near the floor will show a current of 
cold air flowing into the room. (See fig. 10.) These 2*1 /(?■ 
Jiff.//. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
199 
currents will continue until the two bodies of air arrive 
at an equality of temperature. 
In like manner, the cold air of a dirty street or filthy 
court, impregnated with noxious effluvia, is continually 
rolling into the adjacent cellars, while the air in those 
habitations, made warm by respiration and combustion, 
makes its exit at the top of the door. 
The same phenomenon is observed when different parts 
of the same body of air, are subjected to changes of tem- 
perature, as in large apartments which have a sky-light 
or a thin roof over them. The warm air, as it rises 
and impresses against the sky-light or roof, gives its ca- 
loric to the latter, becomes denser, and accordingly falls, 
thus causing regular currents upward on one side of the 
room, and downward on the other side. This is repre- 
sented in fig. 11. The cold glass of a common window 
will produce a similar effect, as is noticed on another 
page. Thus also when a fire is built below the tall 
column of air in a chimney it soon heats and rarefies 
that column, which rises and forms a partial vacuum 
to fill up which the colder air near the floor of 
the room rises, leaving, in turn, a partial vacuum in 
its place, to supply which, air from without flows in 
through the windows and doors, and thus a draught is 
established, which less or more perfectly carries off both 
the air of the room, and the smoke. 
There is also another species of movement going on 
among the gases composing the air, not less important, 
though not so observable.-It is found, by experiment, 
that the specific gravity of nitrogen, one principal ingre- 
dient of the air, is less than that of oxygen, the other in- 
gredient, and that of carbonic acid much greater than 
either. From this it might be infeired, especially as 
they are not chemically, but mechanically, combined, that 
they would enclose the globe in three strata, like the 200 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
coats of an onion, nitrogen being uppermost, oxygen 
next, and carbonic acid nearest the surface. This, how- 
ever, is not the case ; and if this arrangement should ex- 
ist for only a few minutes, every animal would be poi- 
soned and destroyed. These gases are found in almost 
exactly the same proportion, in the densest and the most 
rarefied volumes of atmosphere, on the tops of the high- 
est mountains and in the bottoms of the lowest valleys, 
in town and in country, except there is some accidental 
obstruction to their proper combination, such as in cer- 
tain mountain gorges, very narrow streets, mines, caves, 
houses (especially basements), ships, &c., where oxygen 
is exhausted faster than it can be supplied by the adja- 
cent air, and carbonic acid evolved faster than it can be 
carried off. 
The physical law which effects this equal mixture, or, 
as it is called, " mutual diffusion of gases," has been 
lately fully investigated, and is no less simple and beau- 
tiful than important. Mr. Dalton ascertained that each gas 
was a vacuum for another, and that all gases are capa- 
ble of absorbing one another, thus making an equal mix- 
ture. For example: he put carbonic acid into a cylin- 
der below another cylinder containing hydrogen, a gas 
twenty times lighter, and found, after some time, they 
had formed a perfectly homogeneous mixture in both 
vessels - the carbonic acid rising in opposition to the 
laws of gravity, and the hydrogen descending. 
This occurs much in the same way that water is taken 
up by evaporation, or as salt, when put into a full glass 
of water, mixes with it. The salt and watei' are both 
porous, and consist of particles ; the particles of the wa- 
ter having a greater attraction for the salt than they have 
for one another, and so with those of the salt with re- 
spect to the particles of water. The consequence is, that 
the interstices among the particles of one substance are 201 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
filled up by the particles of the other, and the glass does 
not run over. 
In like manner, a quantity of carbonic acid will, if un- 
impeded, fill up the interstices in a quantity of oxygen, 
and become equally mixed with it, without reference to 
specific gravity. In both cases there is a considerable 
obstruction offered by the particles, and therefore the 
combination is not instantaneous but gradual. Thus is 
briefly explained the second general cause of aerial cur- 
rents. 
It will now appear little wonderful that man, who has 
chosen to live within walls, and in situations where the 
operation of this law is impeded, has suffered so much 
from its almost uniform infringement, and still less that 
the savage who prefers the wilderness, has infinitely bet- 
ter health. 
Some of the prevailing errors growing out of the non- 
observance of the simple principles just laid down, re- 
quire particular notice. The primitive error seems to 
consist in ignorance of the constituents of the air, and 
in the idea that it is a simple substance. The fact that a 
person could possibly live a short time in almost any 
quality of air, without any suddenly-developed effects, 
discouraged inquiry into the matter, and disarmed the 
terrors of atmospheric impurities to a considerable ex- 
tent. People therefore built their houses and towns 
without reflecting on the subject; and the accidental 
apertures and crevices kept up the delusion, by giving 
them in all cases a supply, though a scanty one. In 
more enlightened ages they seem to have admitted the 
necessity of fresh air, but considered its removal as very 
rapid and very easily accomplished. This, as has been 
explained, is not the fact. 
To effect a speedy removal of vitiated air, there must 
be in all cases a very free communication between it and 202 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
the pure air. Hence the unwholesomeness of a small 
room, with several occupants, in winter, with the win- 
dows and doors shut as close as possible - heated by a 
stove - with no renewal of air, except by the small 
quantity that oozes slowly through the crevices. There 
are many cases of this kind, in which not a suspicion 
arises among the inmates of the deficiency and impu- 
rity of the air they are breathing. The fire, indeed, 
rarifies the ail' in the chimney, which produces a draught, 
but only from the part adjacent to the floor. A supply 
of fresh air to the lungs, therefore, is impossible, in 
quantities sufficiently vitalizing, and the penalty of ignor- 
ance and neglect will surely be inflicted. To throw the 
door of a room open in these cases improves the state 
of the air a little; but the air in the hall will, perhaps, 
soon become exhausted, and the condition of the air 
breathed will not be materially altered. Suppose the 
door thrown open to the external air, or another cham- 
bei- receiving a constant supply, then the air may become 
respirable and tolerably pure while the fire continues; 
but when the fire is burned out, or, as in summer, alto- 
gether absent, no sufficient ventilation can be kept up in 
the room by the door alone, as now the draught in the 
chimney has ceased. The carbonic acid, and the differ- 
ent animal exhalations, will accumulate to a certain 
extent in the room, - or, in other words, will not be in- 
terchanged with the pure gases outside the door as 
quickly as they are produced. The windows must then 
be depended upon, which, however, on account of the 
weather, can not perhaps be opened - and even when 
opened, there can not always be produced a sufficiently 
rapid diffusion of the gases to avoid the evils of the im- 
pure air. 
Nor must it be forgotten, that the renewal of the air 
by an ordinary fireplace, is mostly of that part only Fto 12. 
FtgFF USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
203 
which is near the floor. The mouth of the chimney 
is generally below the heads of the inmates, and the 
impure air of the room, being wannest, is lighter and. 
rests uppermost; and the cooler and heavier air, which 
is lowest, is the only part of the atmosphere of the room 
which is sufficiently renewed; - that portion in which 
the head is immersed, remains more or less unrenewed 
and liable to be reinhaled : that which enteis through 
the crevices of the doors and windows into a warm 
room, on a cold day, falls more or less suddenly to the 
floor, and moves toward the fireplace (see fig. 12), up 
which it ascends, leaving the rest of the area of the 
room with its atmosphere unrenewed. The practice 
has sometimes been adopted of causing a current of air, 
properly warmed, to flow into a room through apertures 
in the ceiling; the draught caused by the fire would aid 
its passage downward, and remove it as fast as it reached 
the floor, thus producing a change in the entire atmo- 
sphere of the room, as illustrated by fig. 13. 
This shows, to some extent, the difficulty of warming 
and ventilating simultaneously, and that some other 
means than those that are accidental in the building of 
the house must be resorted to. 
One of the commonest misconceptions connected with 
this subject, is, that when persons sit with their backs to 
the window, they are liable to take cold,from the cold air 
penetrating through the panes or crevices of the window. 
This is very often supposed to be the case when there 
is, in reality, no current of air setting through the crev- 
ices; but the true explanation is, in many instances, that 
the glass, cooled by the cold air outside, abstracts the heat 
from the air inside, or, in other words, cools it down ; and 
as it is now heavier than the surrounding air, or that in 
the middle of the room, a downward current is produced. 
If in very cold weather, when a room is heated, a can- 204 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
die be held opposite one of the panes of a window, or 
below a skylight, the flame will be carried downward, 
without any air entering from without. But the heat 
from the person himself will also be conducted off by 
the cold window, and the sensation, as of a current of 
cold air, will be felt, when there will be none in reality. 
Those who believe, therefore, that a room is sufficiently 
ventilated by common windows, and find proof in these 
alleged currents, by trying the experiment above men- 
tioned, will perceive their error. 
This inconvenience is avoided by double windows with 
a stratum of air between, though then at the expense of 
what little fresh air does sometimes come in through the 
crevices. The stratum of air thus confined prevents, 
almost altogether, the transmission of heat either out- 
ward or inward, and this principle has been successfully 
applied in the construction of ice-houses. When the 
temperature of the air in the room is equal to that of 
the air outside, there is evidently no more danger of 
catching cold at the window than in any other part of 
the room. 
With regard to chimneys, it is the common idea that 
the wider they are, the easier will the smoke and air 
make their exit. The contrary is more nearly the fact, 
as the column of air in the chimney, when smaller, is 
more rapidly heated, and the column of cold air above 
it, outside, diminished in its lateral section, and there- 
fore not so heavy and obstructive. A medium diameter 
must be adopted to insure efficient draught and ventila- 
tion ; and when other means of ventilation exist, the 
dimensions evidently need not exceed those of a com- 
mon stove-pipe, which, when only eight or ten inches in 
diameter, carries off the smoke perhaps better than if 
eighteen or twenty. 
Another error, requiring notice in this place, is a very USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
205 
common one - that the carbonic acid gas eliminated from 
the lungs and skin, being naturally much heavier than 
the air, falls toward the floor, and will be found more 
abundant at the bottom than at the top of the room. 
AVere this true, the ventilation produced by a fire in 
a chimney, or an open stove, would be sufficient in almost 
any ordinary case. But such is not the fact, for two 
reasons : 1st, the air thrown off from the lungs is nearly 
at the temperature of the body itself, and is therefore 
warmer, and consequently lighter, than the surrounding 
atmosphere : on this account it rises.-2d, by the law 
of diffusion, just explained, all the gases found in the 
atmosphere are immediately and rapidly diffused among 
each other, unless prevented by some other law, such 
as temperature. Any one who tests the matter will find 
that the uppermost parts of a room, especially of such 
as are occupied by numbers of people, are almost always 
the most oppressive and disagreeable. This accounts 
for the greater unpleasantness of the galleries of a 
church or a theatre than the lower seats. The pressure 
of the warm air is upward, and the carbonic acid, 
warmed like the rest, seeks the same position rather 
than a lower one. 
Still another very frequent error is, that a cool atmo- 
sphere is necessarily fresh or pure ; and the idea is very 
prevalent, that by sleeping in a cool room, all the advan- 
tages of pure air are obtained. A little reflection will 
show, that, in this view, the temperature of the air is 
confounded with its quality, which have no necessary 
connexion whatever with each other. Nor is it any more 
true, as is sometimes supposed, that a warm atmosphere 
is necessarily impure. The quality of a gas does not 
depend upon its temperature; a person may breathe an 
impure air at any temperature, high or low, and the 
same with a pure air. The air of a bedroom will be- 206 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
come impure, if unventilated, in the coldest weather, 
and an atmosphere warmed either naturally or artificially 
may be inhaled in perfect purity, if properly ventilated.* 
In the application of means for practical ventilation,- 
that is, for removing foul air from a room, and intro- 
ducing fresh air into it,- the first thing to be consid- 
ered and obtained is a motive power. 
As has already been stated, currents are very easily 
established in a body of air; and variations of temper- 
ature, and the law of diffusion, are almost constantly at 
work, producing changes of place among the various 
parts of any specific portion of the atmosphere. 
But it will be perceived that motions thus produced 
in a body of air, isolated and having no communication 
with the external atmosphere, can have no effect to 
purify it. Take, for instance, the air of a chamber oc- 
cupied at night by several persons, or of a schoolroom 
in the daytime, whose air is inhaled by a number of pu- 
pils, and which is cut off from any communication with 
the external air by the windows being closed, the chim- 
ney-throat stuffed tight, and all other crevices made 
impervious: in either case, the heat of the bodies, and 
the carbonic acid and other gases eliminated from the 
lungs, skin, &c., will produce movements in the air of 
the room ; but the impure air can not escape from the 
room, nor can the movements thus established have the 
effect to purify the air in any degree. 
The removal of the impurities from, and the introduc- 
tion of fresh air into the room, are essential to the main- 
* When it was asserted by the keeper of a certain penitentiary estab- 
lishment, not long since, that the plan of ventilation adopted by him in the 
institution was in all respects complete and sufficient, the air being at all 
times free from impurities,-and when the fact was doubted upon an exam- 
ination of the plan,-he answered, that it was proved by the upper tier of 
cells being no hotter than the lower tier: thus testing the quality of the air 
by the thermometer. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
207 
tenance of a wholesome air, whether in a room of large 
or small dimensions. For the effectual ventilation of an 
apartment, there must therefore he a constant stream of 
air flowing in, and also a constant one flowing out. This 
stream, or (what is much preferable) streams, should 
not be more perceptible at one part of the room than at 
another, and should be duly warmed or cooled, accord- 
ing to the season, and the causes contributing to produce 
changes in its temperature, - and all this without injury 
to its vitalizing qualities. 
The ingress of air into an apartment is called its 
plenum movement - its egress, the vacuum movement- 
and both combined, the mixed movement. 
The windsail for ventilating ships is a familiar exam- 
ple of the plenum method, and the exhausting of the 
receiver of an air-pump an example of the vacuum 
movement. The draught of a chimney is also a familiar 
instance of the latter. 
When either one or the other of these two methods is 
employed alone, there can be no certainty that the foul 
air of a room is all removed ; in other words, there is no 
surety that the ventilation is perfect; - but when the 
two are combined, and the mixed, method is put in 
operation with a proper degree of diffusion, then, as the 
force of the currents is proportioned to the necessities 
of the case, may the ventilation be said to be complete. 
A motive power being necessary to a sufficiently 
rapid and complete removal of the foul air from an 
apartment, and the substitution, in its place, of a suffi- 
cient amount of pure air, it is necessary here to notice 
another error, which, though of less seriousness than 
some that have been mentioned, is as frequent as any. 
It is generally supposed that a simple crevice in any 
part of a room - as for instance the crack of a door or 
window, or the aperture of a fire-flue - afl'ords a sufficient 208 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
opportunity for the. escape of the impure, and the intro- 
duction of pure air. In many instances, where a room 
is of large dimensions, and occupied by but two or three 
people, it is possible that this may answer the purpose; 
but when the amount of impure air generated is large, 
such means are quite inadequate : for, in the first place, 
the only powers to cause a change of air, in general, 
are the two that have been mentioned, viz., the difference 
of temperature and the lain of diffusion, with neither, nor 
both, of which, can the interchange be sufficiently rapid 
for a small apartment. It has been already said, that 
even in the open air, in a still day, a sense of oppression 
may be perceived in a crowd. 
The smallest aperture is, of course, better than none; 
but in the absence of any direct motive poicer, no depen- 
dence can be rightly placed upon such openings. As 
reasonable would it be to suppose the air in a bottle 
would fly out by extracting the cork, as that the air of a 
room would all escape through the crack of a door, or 
the aperture of an open window. 
It is necessary to notice here another error, as com- 
mon, almost, as it is singular and absurd, which is gen- 
erally discovered by a dialogue like the following :- 
[Scene-A church, public-hall, court-room, lecture- 
room, public school, or' any other large apartment, with 
costly fitting up, and an aperture in the ceiling, which 
is a few feet below the roof.] 
Enter Stranger, and sees the Architect inspecting the 
work. 
Stranger. Good morning, sir! this promises to be a 
beautiful edifice when finished, evincing much taste and 
liberality of means. 
Architect. Glad to hear you think so ; we have done 
our utmost, in accordance with the true principles of 
architecture, to make a handsome and convenient edifice. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
209 
Strang. Of course you have not neglected that most 
important matter for the comfort and health of the 
audience, ventilation ? 
Arch. By no means, as you may see by turning your 
eyes to the ceiling; that aperture you observe there, is 
to be ornamented with one of the most beautiful designs 
in the city. 
Strang. It will, no doubt, be beautiful to the eye. 
But how do you expect to get rid of the foul air? 
Arch. Oh ! the aperture will be always opeti, though 
the holes will be concealed in the ornamental work, and 
through them, all the bad air will go off. 
Strang. What will become of it, after it has passed 
through those openings? 
Arch. Why, then I suppose it will get out through the 
roof, of course. 
Strang. Then, of course, you have left openings in 
the roof, for it to escape by ? 
Arch. Oh ! no ; that was not thought necessary, as it 
can get out through the cracks and crevices which are 
always to be found ; and if there are none, it gets into 
the loft or attic above the ceiling, and stays there, and 
that is all that is required. 
Strang. But when the attic is full (which will be in a few 
minutes, with a large audience), what will you do with the 
rest of the foul air which is continually thrown off from the 
lungs, lamps, and fires, below? How is that to escape ? 
Arch. Really, I can not answer you. Your question 
puzzles me. 
Strang. But further, Mr. Architect: did it never oc- 
cur to you that this opening in the ceiling is not only 
no relief at all, but is indeed worse than nothing ? 
Arch. It never did, and I think you will find it hard 
to prove that. It certainly gives escape to some of the 
foul air; as much as the attic will hold, at least. 210 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Strang. Not so, by any means. You admit that the 
foul air, which is warmest and therefore lightest, rises 
and passes through the opening in the ceiling into the 
attic ; but there it comes in contact with the roof, which 
is much colder, and takes the surplus heat from the foul 
air, by which the latter is made heavier, and consequently 
falls back again into the room below, and descends to 
the lungs of the people. You will generally find a dou- 
ble current passing through the opening in the ceiling, 
one, upward, of warm foul air, the other downward, of 
the same air cooled (as illustrated by fig. 11). 
Arch. You have indeed proved your statement, which 
I have never before thought of. But we can remedy 
the evil by putting windows in the attic, or making small 
openings under the eaves of the roof, through which the 
foul air would escape and not return. 
Strang. There are several objections to that mode of 
relief. In the first place, if those windows you propose 
are not easily accessible, they would not be opened at 
the proper time ; and even if they were accessible, their 
regulation must be left to a sexton or janitor, who per- 
haps would be entirely ignorant of the principles of aerial 
currents. On the other hand, both the windows and. 
other apertures you have spoken of, if left open, would 
not only give exit to the warm impure air, but would 
also admit the cold air directly upon the heads of the 
audience below, which would be uncomfortable, if not 
insupportable and dangerous. 
Arch. Now that you state the matter so clearly, I re- 
member often to have heard complaints of cold draughts, 
unpleasant odors, sleepy feelings, &c., made by individ- 
uals, but have always put them down as lazy or nervous 
people, and attributed their discomfort to anything but 
what now appears to be the true cause, that is, the foul 
air of the church or lecture-room they were sitting in. I USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
211 
see that I have wholly misunderstood the subject, and 
would be glad to know what plan can be adopted to re- 
move the impure air, and at the same time avoid the ob- 
jections you have mentioned. 
Strang. Many of the difficulties may be obviated 
by connecting the opening in your ceiling with a tube 
in the attic, which should terminate in the smoke-flue, 
which, being warmed in winter, would carry off some 
of the foul air, without admitting any cold air. A bet- 
ter plan would be to terminate that tube in a separate 
shaft projecting above the roof, and surmounted with an 
exhausting cowl, such as Mott's or Emerson's. These 
plans, however, would rectify the evils only partially, 
and without sufficient certainty ; to ventilate thoroughly 
and continually, some plan for the regular admission of 
pure air, as well as for the removal of the impure air, must 
be adopted. The plans for this purpose I can not ex- 
plain now, but you will find the details for them in books 
on the subject. 
Arch. I thank you heartily for this interview, and shall 
at once study the subject fully. 
Strang. Allow me to suggest another idea to you. 
which is, that when you next are employed to erect a 
church edifice, to put the steeple to the only real use it 
is capable of, and make it a means of ventilating the 
body of the house. Every church-steeple presents a 
means of ventilating unsurpassed for efficiency, and which 
would add little or nothing to its cost. Good-morning. 
One of the simplest motive powers for ventilation, and 
one most readily obtained in almost every description of 
room or house, is Heat. Every fire that burns, and ev- 
ery flue that is warmed, are means of ventilation, more 
or less efficient according to the manner in which their 
power is put to use. No fire can burn without causing 
a draught of air, and no flue can be warmed without 212 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
causing more or less motion in the column of air it en- 
closes, both of which may be applied to the exhaustion 
of any room with which they are connected. 
The fuel in a stove oi' grate must draw the air for its 
combustion from the apartment in which it is placed; 
the vacuum thus produced must be supplied either from 
the adjoining rooms, or directly from the external air, 
through the doors and windows, and, as far as it goes, 
there is change of air produced in the room. But under 
ordinary circumstances, as is shown by fig. 12, the cold 
air, when it enters from without, through the crevices of 
doors oi- windows, being heavier, falls more or less di- 
rectly to the floor, and is not sufficiently commingled with 
the general atmosphere of the apartment to constitute 
ventilation of it. 
The important fact being established, that in every 
heated flue there is more or less vacuum, which will cause 
a current to set into it through any opening which may be 
made into it, to any extent until the vacuum is removed, 
we have a means of ventilation of almost universal appli- 
cability, and in general sufficient for ordinary dwellings. 
There are various modes in which the vacuum power 
of a heated flue may be employed to exhaust the foul air 
from a room. One mode is shown in fig. 14, in which 
the flue of a common fireplace is represented with an 
aperture cut in it near the ceiling of the room, through 
which, if there is sufficient draught, a current is estab- 
lished, which must necessarily remove the air of the 
room. In a chimney of sufficient height, there is gener- 
ally enough draught to maintain a constant current into 
the flue through this opening. 
This method of applying the exhausting power of a 
heated flue to the ventilation of a room, exhibits the prin- 
ciple or basis upon which a great variety of arrangements 
may be made, and it has at the same time the important  
Fig IS 
Ft# to USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
213 
advantages of great simplicity, economy, and ease of con- 
struction. It consists of nothing more, in fact, than cut- 
ting a small hole through the brick wall of the flue, in 
any convenient situation in the room through which the 
flue passes. For the ventilation of the bedroom, or par- 
lor of an ordinary dwelling, an aperture of five or six 
inches diameter will generally be ample for the removal 
of all the impure air, unless the number of occupants is 
uncommonly large. The aperture may be made by the 
simple removal of two or three bricks, or it may be made 
circular, like the opening of an ordinary stove-pipe. It 
may be obscured from view by suspending in front of it, 
at a short distance, a picture, behind which the air will 
pass to it, as readily as if it is left uncovered, and there 
are many rooms in which the opening may be cut into 
the flue at the side of the jamb or breastwork, so that it 
will be unobserved by an ordinary visiter. 
It will be apparent to all, that where there are a num- 
ber of fireplaces in a house, each of which must have a 
separate flue, there are the same number of opportuni- 
ties for ventilation by this plan ; and in an ordinary two 
or three story dwelling-house, where there are six or 
eight flues, it is an easy matter to secure a ventilation for 
each room, to an extent sufficient for all ordinary pur- 
poses. This plan is based upon the supposition, that the 
draught of the chimneys is strong enough to prevent any 
regurgitation, by which smoke would be driven back 
into the room. If it is not, the draught should be in- 
creased by the application of some means to secure that 
end, among the easiest of which will be found that of 
surmounting the chimney with Mott's or Emerson's ex- 
hausting cowl, a description of the former of which will 
be given in another page. 
The ventilating opening here described should be com- 
manded by a. valve or register, for the purpose of being 214 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
closed when the fire is being kindled, oi' when the room 
requires to be heated, as not only does the air of the 
room escape, but a considerable portion of the heat of 
the apartment is carried off through it also. 
The plan here proposed, 
will ventilate dwellings in 
summer, and secure a good 
draught to the chimney in 
winter. The adjoining cut 
represents the chimney with 
the fireplaces on each floor 
of a three-story house. The 
registers on each side under 
the ceiling, are connected 
with the flues. They can 
be closed or opened at pleas- 
ure. By closing the grate in 
summer, and opening the 
register, the cap on the chim- 
ney will cause a constant 
current of pure air to flow 
through every room in the 
house. By reversing the 
openings, a good draught will 
be secured for winter. By 
leaving the registers open when using fires, no injurious 
effect can arise from gas, even in sleeping apartments. 
The cap figured on the chimney (the invention of J. L. 
Molt) is one designed to be made of cast iron. It will 
set over the mason-work, bind it together, protect all 
from the weather, secure draught and ventilation, and 
make a handsome finish. 
A modification of this plan is exhibited in fig. 15, by 
which is represented a flue for ventilation only, uncon- 
nected with the smoke-flue, but built in immediate con- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
215 
tact with it, so that it may be warmed by it. As in this 
arrangement the separate ventilating flue can contain no 
smoke or gases, no fear need be entertained of their be- 
ing driven back into the apartment; but in this case the 
draught can not be so strong as in the other, for the rea- 
son that the flue can not receive so much heat - all that 
it obtains being through the brick wall which separates 
it from the smoke-flue. In a stack of chimneys, such as 
are found in dwellings of common construction, several 
of these separate ventilating flues may readily be built 
in between the smoke-flues, from which they would de- 
rive a temperature enabling them to act in a greater or 
less degree. 
The principle being understood that a heated flue, or 
chimney, will draw into itself portions of the surround- 
ing air with which it may be connected, it may now be 
readily understood how a room, at a distance from the 
flue, may be ventilated by connecting the two together by 
a tube. This method has been advantageously employed 
to ventilate the workshops of manufacturing establish- 
ments, which had on the premises tall chimneys connect- 
ed with powerful fires; and it has even been applied, 
and very successfully, to ventilate the dwellings of the 
workmen in the vicinity. This is done by uniting the in- 
terior of the dwellings with the interior of the chimney- 
shaft : the exhausting power of the heat in the latter has 
been found sufficient to ventilate several tenements at 
once. 
This mode of connecting a room with a chimney is 
illustrated by fig. 16. A tube is laid between the ceil- 
ing of the room and the floor above, one end of which 
terminates in the chimney, and the other in the middle 
of the ceiling of the room. In this case, the exhaustion 
is facilitated by the chandelier, which is suspended below 
the opening, the heat of the lamps contributing to in- 216 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
crease the current of air through the ventilating tube. 
The tube can be commanded by a valve in any part of 
its course, and the aperture in the ceiling completely 
concealed from view by ornamental work. It is evident 
that the tube which connects the chimney with the room 
to be ventilated, may be of almost any length, provided 
it is perfectly air-tight at the sides. 
This principle of ventilation maybe applied in a great 
variety of modes, and in almost any situation. There are 
many houses and rooms, however, warmed by stoves, in 
which it may appear impossible to find a proper place, 
or sufficient space, for an aperture directly into the flue. 
Such is the case particularly in the tenements generally 
occupied by the poor of cities, where the low ceilings 
and narrow spaces leave too little room for cutting an 
opening, in addition to the one required for the stove- 
pipe. To obviate the difficulties presented in these cases, 
at the same time to obtain all the benefits of the smoke- 
flue for ventilation of the apartment, the plan represented 
in fig. 17 is recommended. 
A stove-pipe is in fact a flue, and acts upon the same 
principle as a brick chimney, and may therefore be adapt- 
ed to the ventilation of the room in which it is placed, 
in a manner similar to that described and illustrated by 
fig. 14. If the horizontal section of pipe (fig. 17) is made 
to project a short distance so as to form a T, and the end 
distant from the chimney is left open, a current of air 
will be observed to set into the pipe through the opening 
(as indicated by the arrow) as long as the pipe, or the 
chimney with which it is connected, is of an elevated 
temperature. 
To render this method effective, however, care must 
be taken always to have the ventilating portion of the 
pipe, of a larger diameter than the other parts. The 
necessity for this will be understood, when it is remem- /io 17 USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
217 
bered that stovepipes are generally of so small dimen- 
sions, that they are sufficient only for the gases which 
are required to be carried off from the fire ; hence, to 
enable them to receive the volume of atmospheric air, 
necessary to be carried off for the purpose of ventilation, 
an increased capacity of pipe is required. For the 
same reason, the chimney-flue must have a capacity suf- 
ficient for all the air and gases sent into it. 
The question will naturally arise, is there not great 
danger of a regurgitation in the flue or pipe, whereby 
-smoke, or soot, or even sparks of fire, may be driven 
back into the apartment ? and if so, how is it to be 
prevented ? 
To obviate this difficulty (which, however, can scarcely 
occur in a chimney of proper construction, when heated), 
two methods may be employed. One is, by placing a 
valve or register in the aperture of the flue or pipe, 
so arranged as to be readily closed and opened by hand. 
Another method of simple construction, and having the 
advantage of being self-acting, has been suggested by 
an English writer, Dr. Arnott. It is represented by 
fig. 18, and consists merely of a light fiame-work of tin 
or iron, the front of which is faced with a perforated 
zinc plate, or, what is better, wire-gauze. Behind the 
gauze is suspended, by its upper edge, a light curtain 
of some impervious material, which will be carried in- 
ward by the current of air as it passes into the chimney 
through the gauze, but which, whenever the air in the 
chimney regurgitates, falls, and is driven against the 
gauze, and thus closes the aperture against the egress 
of smoke or othei- gases. This little apparatus may be 
so made as to be slipped into the aperture in the flue, or 
the open end of the stovepipe. It is easily removed to 
be cleansed or repaired, should it ever be required, and 
may be made ornamental. 218 
In fig. 19 will be found a further illustration of the 
effect of connecting the flue of the chimney with the 
apartment by means of a tube placed behind the cornice, 
all round the room, and opening into the latter at several 
points through the ornamental work of the cornice. 
The removal of the impure air of the room is not 
effected any more rapidly by this method ; but there is 
an advantage in having a large number of points for its 
exit, while this arrangement may be practised sometimes 
when any other, equally good, might be inconvenient or 
impossible. (The dotted lines, representing the direc- 
tion of the currents of air, should have been more dif- 
fused toward the entire cornice, and not so much con- 
centrated to the main point of exit; - a correction which 
the readei- will readily make in imagination.) 
Fig. 20 illustrates the same principle again ; in this 
case, the ventilating tube opens in the middle of the 
ceiling. The direction of the currents in this case, 
even of the cooler air entering by the doors and win- 
dows, is decidedly different from that represented in 
fig. 12, in which case the draught of the fire, in addition 
to the natural weight of the air, causes it to fall more or 
Jess directly to the floor. 
In figure 22, may be seen another illustration of the 
effect of a ventilation, such as has been described, by an 
opening made directly into the chimney-flue, or, as in the 
drawing, into a separate ventilating shaft, adjacent to, 
and receiving heat from, the chimney. In this case, 
the mouth of the chimney and the ventilating aper- 
ture aid each othei' in exhausting the room of its air, 
which here finds itself replenished from the doors and 
windows, there being no regular apertures for the sup- 
ply of pure air. Exhaustion by these methods, how- 
ever, will be found sufficient, in any ordinary dwelling, 
not over-crowded, to maintain a degree of purity of 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. ftp. Fig. 2/. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
219 
atmosphere sufficient for health, and to which the most 
luxuriously as well as the most meanly furnished houses 
are entire strangers, without it or some other equally 
effective method. 
Fig. 21 is intended to show the principle of a plan 
suggested by Joseph Curtis, of New York, for the sup- 
ply of fresh air in a more regular and systematic man- 
ner, and the removal of the impure air, which is appli- 
cable to any kind of house, but is more particularly 
adapted to schools, hospitals, and buildings of that char- 
acter. The plan is as follows : beneath the floor, between 
the beams, an air-channel extends across the house, 
and through the walls at each side. This channel is 
connected with the apartment by an opening in the 
floor. At each end of the air-channel is a valve, by 
which it may be completely closed at pleasure. It will 
be seen, that if the channel has an east and west direc- 
tion, for example, when the wind blows against the east 
side of the house, if the eastern valve is open and the 
western valve is closed, a stream of fresh air will be 
forced into the apartment through the opening in the 
floor: then, if the windows of the west side are opened 
a little distance, the current of air through the room will 
be complete, and will carry the impure air along with it. 
During a westerly wind, the eastern valve should be 
closed, and the windows of the same side open. When 
all the circumstances are favorable, this is a most effec- 
tive plan of ventilation. No cold air can enter through 
the open window, as that would be contrary to the pres- 
sure without, and the aperture in the floor may be by 
diffusion plates, or be allowed in cold weather to.open 
under the stove, so that the fresh air, before being dif- 
fused through the room, may be warmed. By this method 
a room may be supplied with fresh air, and exhausted 
of its impure air, to a sufficient extent, when all the 220 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
necessary circumstances concur. This concurrence may, 
however, often fail: 1st, there may be no wind outside; 
2d, it may not blow in the right direction ; 3d, the teacher 
or sexton, or whoever may be in charge, must make 
frequent and accurate observations, and close and open 
the proper valve and windows as the changes of wind 
may require. The absence of either of these contingen- 
cies will prevent the consummation desired; but when 
they are all present, a pure atmosphere may be almost 
certainly expected in the apartment. 
The moving powers, besides the agency of heat, used 
in ventilating, are numerous. The principal are various 
kinds of fans, pumps, and bellows; the use of the fan- 
blower being generally to supply the air, though it is 
sometimes used for a contrary purpose, viz., to draw it 
off. A particular description of these would be incon- 
sistent with the intended size and object of this work: 
as for them, a power, such as steam or horse power, is 
necessary to move the machinery, and full descriptions 
of these are to be found in various works.* The fan 
was first introduced to general notice by Desaguliers, 
in the ventilation of the British Houses of Parliament 
and the navy. Hales invented the bellows, or rather a 
machine on the principle of the common bellows, which 
was used in the navy, and only employed in pumping 
air into ships. Both these plans soon fell into disuse; 
but Dr. Reid has lately revived the fan system, and 
improved it into one of the arrangements for ventilating 
the new Houses of Parliament. 
The fan-blower, when operated with a strong motive 
power, is perhaps the most efficient means, for either 
supplying or exhausting air, that can be employed. In 
* Vide Wyman's treatise, in which he describes the fan, bellows, wind- 
sail, turncaps, coicls, &c., and the particular cases in which each is 
applicable. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
221 
all manufactories where there is a steam-engine, and in 
every steamboat and steamship, it can be added to the 
machinery already existing with very little cost; and the 
great volume of air which it is capable of driving in or 
drawing off, enables even a moderate-sized one to venti- 
late a great extent of space. Almost any school or pub- 
lic room, or even a number of dwellings, in the vicinity 
of a steam-engine, can be connected with it by tubes. 
In the capitol at Albany, New York, may be seen an 
arrangement for heating and ventilating by the plenum 
method, and upon a plan somewhat similar to that 
recently introduced in the British House of Commons, 
the French chamber of peers, and other public build- 
ings ; and which has, more recently still, been adopted in 
several manufacturing establishments in New England. 
The plan is, therefore, not an untried experiment, and 
is substantially as follows :- 
A steam-engine is provided, of sufficient power to drive 
a revolving fan of suitable dimensions to move with 
force and velocity a quantity of atmospheric air, suffi- 
cient to supply the inmates of the apartment to be 
warmed and ventilated. The atmosphere thus put in 
motion, is conducted through tubes enveloped in steam, 
of a temperature not exceeding 212° Fahrenheit, by 
which means it will imbibe a genial heat, and will not 
become burned or decomposed. When thus heated, the 
air is conducted into a mixing chamber of brick-work, 
say twenty feet square, and thence by tubes into the 
various apartments of the building to be heated and 
ventilated. 
This method is purely the plenum, and is deficient in 
means for removing the air after being used ; in conse- 
quence of which a decided feeling of oppressiveness is 
experienced, which free exhaust openings would mate- 
rially relieve. 222 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
CHAPTER XVII. 
PRACTICAL REMARKS ON WARMING AND VENTILATION. 
Mixed Method of Ventilation.-Natural Currents of Wind made available. 
-Cowls ; receiving' and exhausting.-Passenger Ships.-Only available 
when the Wind blows; an unsafe dependence.-Heat, the only Power 
capable of general Application.-Warm Flues.-Houses without Flues; 
how may be supplied with them.-Mode of applying Heat.-Difficult 
Point to be obtained in warming.-Common Fires.-Air tight Stoves.- 
Open Charcoal or Anthracite Fires.-Heating by Hot W ater or Steam.- 
Objections to it.-Effect of Red-Hot Surfaces.-The most Healthful Prin- 
ciple of Warming.-Obstacles encountered by Furnaces in general.- 
Requisites for a proper W arming Apparatus.- Ventilating Furnace de- 
scribed.-Further Illustrations of Ventilation.-Explanation of Plates.- 
Reflections on the Subject 
A combination of the plenum and vacuum move- 
ments, denominated the mixed method of ventilation (by 
which is meant the introduction of fresh air into the 
apartment, simultaneously with the withdrawal of the 
impure air from it), being that which alone can insure 
entire salubrity of atmosphere in any situation, it is 
proper in this stage of our remarks to inquire what are 
the plans best adapted to this end, in circumstances of 
ordinary domiciliation. And as in cold seasons of the 
year, it is necessary to have an atmosphere warmed to a 
proper temperature, before it is introduced into an apart- 
ment, it is of the highest importance that the mode of 
warming the air does not, in any degree, impair its 
healthful properties. 
So far as natural currents of wind may be depended 
on, to ventilate rooms or buildings, the most efficient USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
223 
method of supplying fresh, and removing the foul 
air, independent of windows, is to underlay the floors 
with one or more air-channels, running their whole 
length, one end terminating in flues, which ascend above 
the roof, in the side-walls. Each flue is to be surmounted 
by a receiving cowl, so that whenever the wind blows, a 
current of air will be forced down the flues into the air- 
channels, and into the apartments, through diffusing 
plates, placed in the floors, which plates form the upper 
sides of the air-channels. This constitutes the plenum 
part of the arrangement. 
To complete the plan, other flues are made in the op- 
posite wall of the house, and open into the apartments at 
the ceilings. The latter flues are surmounted at the roof 
with exhausting cowls. 
The same current of wind which forces air into 
the apartment through the receiving cowl, will operate 
upon the exhausting cowl, and force it out ; and thus, 
under favorable circumstances, a volume of air more or 
less copious, must be made to pass through the apart- 
ment. 
The arrangement above described must depend in a 
great degree upon the efficiency of the cowls, by which 
the flues in the walls are terminated, and, so far as ex- 
periment has enabled the question to be settled, the 
palm of superiority appears to be awarded to the ex- 
hausting cowl, invented by Jordan L. Mott. 
The cuts on the next page represent both the receiv- 
ing and exhausting cowls, made by Mott. 
On examination of these figures, the reader will at 
once perceive that the same wind which operates 
upon the exhausting cowl to produce a vacuum, must 
also act upon the plenum cowl, to drive the air into its 
mouth. Whatever may be their relative position, one 
must receive, the other exhaust, the air. 224 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Plenum or receiving cowl, the open 
mouth to the wind. 
Vacuum or exhausting cowl, open 
at both ends. 
This method is now adopted in many of the passen- 
ger-vessels arriving in this country, under the act of Con- 
gress of July, 1848, requiring their ventilation. The air- 
channels, perforated at numerous points, are laid along 
the floor of the steerage or cabin, connected at the after- 
end with a tube which projects above the deck, and is 
surmounted with a receiving cowl ; at the forward end 
of the steerage, another tube pierces the deck from the 
ceiling, and is terminated with a vacuum cowl. Thus a 
good ventilation may.be had, even in stormy weather, 
when the hatches are necessarily all closed, and battened 
down ; in fact,.the stronger the wind, the more abundant 
must be the ventilation. 
By this method, however, ventilation can only be ob- 
tained when the wind blows. It is time, its failure on this 
account may not often occur, as a perfect calm Very sel- 
dom happens, and is rarely of long duration ; neverthe- 
less, it is during a calm that ventilation is most needed, 
and the uncertainty of its operation, at one time, per- 
haps, not operating at all, at another too powerfully, 
makes it less satisfactory than is desirable for continually- 
occupied rooms or workshops. 
Under the circumstances in which this method of ven- 
tilation is generally employed, it is of course necessary USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
225 
that the air be warmed, if warmed at all, in the apart- 
ment itself. The sources of heat must therefore be the 
usual ones of stoves of various kinds, or the common 
grate or fireplace, and when this plan of ventilation is 
effective, it makes but little difference how the heat is 
obtained, as the abundant supply of air, and the free re- 
moval of it after being used, must prevent or overcome 
any deterioration of its quality. 
But, as before hinted, the wind is an unsafe depend- 
ence, and the operations of a ventilating arrangement 
which relies solely upon it, can not be regulated to suit 
all the changes of temperature, season, or number of 
people. 
For all kinds of dwelling-houses, churches, school- 
houses, and public halls, except those in which mechani- 
cal force can be applied to the purposes of ventilation 
(in which case the fan-blower constitutes the most pow- 
erful and cheapest arrangement, foi' both supplying and 
exhausting air), heat is the only motive power, capable 
of general application. By its agency, a current of air 
may always certainly be established, and the only ques- 
tion for the builder or the occupant to consider, relates 
to the manner in which it can be most advantageously 
applied. 
Whenever a flue capable of being warmed can be 
obtained, communicating with the room required to be 
ventilated, there is at once a means of removing the 
impure air, and the openings for the introduction of 
pure air, may be made where most convenient. The ex- 
haustion of the air by the warm flue, must necessarily 
cause an ingress of fresh air to an equal amount. 
In houses already built without flues, wooden troughs 
or channels may be made to answer the purpose; these 
should be made perfectly air-tight at the joints, and ex- 
tend from the room to be ventilated, perpendicularly to 226 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
the attic of the building, where they should terminate m 
iron or brick flues, to extend out through the roof, some- 
what in the manner of a chimney. In the latter exten- 
sion a small fire, of wood or coal, or even a lamp or gas- 
light, will often give sufficient heat to cause a draught 
strong enough to ventilate a large room. 
When there is more than one room in a house to be 
ventilated by extemporaneous means, a flue such as those 
just described may be carried from each apartment, and 
all be concentrated into one brick or iron extension, the 
fire in which will cause a current through all the tubes 
opening into it, which will be strong in proportion to the 
degree of heat, and height of the chimney. 
In this climate, where the vicissitudes of heat and cold 
are so great, the temperature of the air is an important 
consideration, and as cold is often almost immediate in 
its effects upon the constitution, it may be said to have 
received a due share of attention. Human ingenuity has 
always been busy in fortifying the body against cold, and 
death is often said to make his approach in the shape of 
a cold draught through a keyhole. 
One of the most difficult points to be attained in warm- 
ing, is to avoid these cold draughts (as they are less tol- 
erable to many than positive and uniform coldness), or, 
in other words, to equalize the temperature in every part 
of the room, which can not be done when the doors and 
windows are open, or even when they are shut, unless 
the latter are double. When warm air is thrown into a 
room, it should emerge at as many apertures as possible, 
and if the air is warmed by a stove, or otherwise, it 
should be carried off, when once breathed, by suitable 
openings, or apparatus, at the ceiling; while the fresh 
air should be admitted in like quantity, and with like ve- 
locity. 
Common fires in fireplaces or grates, though they do USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
227 
not heat the air so uniformly or economically, are more 
wholesome than the ordinary kind of stoves, because they 
draw off the air of the apartment more copiously and 
rapidly. Stoves (especially when heated to redness) con- 
siderably deteriorate the air, and unfit it for healthy res- 
piration, principally because they have so little draught, 
and cause so little renewal of the atmosphere. What 
are called air-tight stoves, warm very economically, but 
at the entire expense of ventilation, and, consequently, 
of health. These should never bei employed unless there 
is a direct and positive means of ventilation. 
The practice of placing an open vessel containing 
burning anthracite or charcoal, in a close chamber, to 
heat the air, is either positively criminal, or at best evin- 
ces the grossest ignorance. From the latter substance, 
pure carbonic acid gas, in great quantities, and from the 
former, carbonic oxide, which is equally deleterious, are 
given off. 
In heating by steam or hot water, the boiler may be 
detached considerably from the building or apartment 
intended to be warmed, into which the steam or water 
is conveyed through iron pipes, and thus the danger of 
fire is materially lessened. This plan is attended with 
great outlay of money and expenditure of fuel, and many 
precautions are required in managing the steam-pipes. 
The water is liable to continue cold a long time, in the 
pipes occupying places in the room most distant from the 
boiler; but they have the advantage when once heated, 
of remaining so. 
With reference to ventilation, this mode of warming 
is liable to the same objection as air-tight stoves-there 
being no air introduced into the apartment with the heat. 
There are several buildings warmed in this manner in 
New York city, the Tract-house, in Nassau street, for 
example, and though there is no danger of the air being 228 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
injured by the heat (the temperature of the radiating sur- 
face not being above 212 degrees), yet there being no 
ventilation, the gases of respiration become concentrated 
in the several apartments, without chance of escape. 
In those arrangements in which heat is imparted from 
red-hot surfaces, the air is said to be burned, or scorched, 
and has a close, sulphurous smell. Though this descrip- 
tion is vague, and the principle on which the air is made 
unwholesome not yet satisfactorily explained, it is a fact 
that persons who respire such air complain of "head- 
ache, giddiness, stupor," &c. 
Undoubtedly the most healthful principle upon which 
artificial warmth for houses is to be obtained, is by warm- 
ing the air before it reaches the apartment, and then for- 
cing it, or drawing it in, in copious quantities.-Besides 
being the most healthful, when properly adapted to its 
purpose, this is believed to be also the most economical 
principle of securing a proper temperature, and for the 
latter consideration it is, as it would appear, chiefly, that 
so much attention has been given to the construction of 
hot air furnaces, and the great diversity of forms which 
have emanated from the office of the Commissioner of 
Patents. 
That economy, and not health, has been the principal 
motive of the inventors of this kind of apparatus for the 
exercise of their ingenuity, is very apparent from the ut- 
ter regardlessness of the preservation of the healthful 
properties of the air thrown into the apartment, exhibited 
in the construction of most of the furnaces now in vogue. 
It is this fact that has undoubtedly deterred, and still 
continues to deter, many, from the introduction of this 
mode of warming into their houses; the principles upon 
which nearly all the furnaces, now generally used, are 
constructed and located, being unphilosophical, destruc- 
tive of material, and producing unnecessary loss of ca- USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
229 
loric, and consequent waste of fuel, without any atten- 
tion whatever to the subject of ventilation. 
To illustrate these remarks, a few facts will suffice, to 
which the attention of those who already have, or expect 
to have, hot-air furnaces in their dwellings or other hou- 
ses, should be directed. 
1st. Few, if any, of the heaters now in general use, are 
able to impart a sufficient temperature to the air to warm 
the area of an ordinary dwelling, without raising the iron 
of the furnace to a red heat, whereby, as before remarked, 
the healthful properties of the air are greatly impaired. 
2d. The areas of the hot-air chambers are so small, and 
the openings into and from them so contracted, that the 
air, being unable to circulate freely through them, is 
detained in close proximity to the hot iron surface too 
long, and is then thrown into the apartment in too small 
quantities. When this is the case, the temperature of 
the air must necessarily be very high, in order to warm 
the apartment sufficiently ; whereas a large bulk of air 
freely diffused through a room, will impart warmth 
enough, though its own temperature may be but slightly 
raised. 
These constitute the most prominent evils, so far as 
the internal arrangement of the furnace is concerned. 
But another, and perhaps more serious evil still, is to be 
found, in some instances, in 
3d. The location of the furnace, and the source from 
which it derives the air to be warmed. The furnace 
must be placed in the lowest room or cellar of the build- 
ing, that the warm ah' may freely ascend ; but unless 
proper arrangements are made to receive a supply of 
air from the outside of the building, the atmosphere of 
the house itself will be drawn into the furnace-cham- 
ber, there be heated, be returned to the house, be drawn 
back again to the furnace, and thus be made to traverse 230 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR; 
the circle of the house and the furnace, as long as the lat- 
ter is in operation. 
That such an arrangement as this should for a single 
day be permitted, is as strange as it is true, and reflects 
no more discredit upon the inventor or builder of the 
furnace, than upon the proprietor of the tenement who 
admits it, and breathes, or permits others to breathe, 
in continuous succession, the air thus warmed. Less 
excusable still was it, in the government of one of the 
largest and most flourishing female seminaries of the 
intelligent city of New York, that three large heaters 
were thus arranged, by which the air of the apart- 
ments to be warmed, was drawn almost in direct lines 
to the furnaces, there heated by red-hot iron surfaces, 
and then returned through the hot-air pipes, to the 
school-rooms, where it again passed through the lungs 
of the pupils, to be again drawn down to the furnaces, and 
was thus made to flow perpetually in the same currents, 
the whole atmosphere of the house being, the while, of- 
fensive and poisonous. This arrangement was blindly 
continued several winters, before its evils were pointed 
out, after which an improvement in the source of the 
air was effected. 
The same vicious arrangement may be found in some 
of our churches, and other buildings, both public and 
private. 
Until very recently, the attention of no truly philo- 
sophical mind, and but little liberality of means, in this 
country at least, appear to have been directed to the 
construction and arrangement of such an apparatus for 
warming, as, while meeting the proper requirements 
of economy of fuel, should compass the principal end to 
which these means ought always to be directed, viz., the 
constant maintenance of a pure atmosphere within the 
building with which the apparatus is connected. This USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
231 
end, however, is now within the reach of all who are 
able to command it, at the same time that the considera- 
tion of economy is equally well sustained. 
To Arnott and Reid, in England, and Curtis and Bull, 
of our own country, are we indebted for the application 
of much intelligent thought, and sound principles of 
philosophy, to the arrangement of apparatuses spe- 
cially devoted to the purposes of warming and venti- 
lation. 
In continuation of the design of this and the preceding 
chapter, of presenting ideas of the arrangements best and 
most easily adapted to these ends, in the majority of 
buildings, with the least cost and greatest efficiency, the 
following description is given of the plan arranged by 
James H. Bull, of New York, as it is seen in operation 
in several public and private buildings. It combines 
economy of fuel and salubrity of atmosphere, with mod- 
eration of temperature and copiousness of volume, and 
a direct and positive ventilation, in such a manner and 
sufficiency as scarcely to leave anything to be desired, 
except what can only be obtained by a much heavier 
outlay of money. 
To comprehend fully the merits of this arrangement, 
it will be necessary to understand what is required of 
a hot-air furnace, and the difficulties to be overcome 
by it. 
The advantages of a properly-constructed hot-air fur- 
nace, over other modes of imparting heat to rooms and 
tenements, are, first, the warming of a large area (one 
large room or several small rooms) by one fire; in other 
words, economy of fuel and labor; second, the introduc- 
tion into the apartments, of a continuous supply of fresh 
air, properly warmed ; and third, the removal of the old 
air as rapidly as possible. 
These being the ends necessary to be secured, it 232 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
follows that that arrangement is to be preferred by 
which they are the most fully and readily accom- 
plished. 
The greater the area warmed by a given amount of 
fuel and in a given time - the more copious the supply 
of fresh air, and the more genial its temperature - and 
the more complete and efficient the removal of the old 
air-in these will consist the superiority of any particu- 
lar plan or apparatus, for warming and ventilation. 
To obtain a large radiating surface, which shall receive 
its heat directly from the fire, is a very desirable point: 
1st, because the greatest amount of heat will then be 
imparted to the air, and more rapidly; 2d, because the 
air may then be warmed without the furnace being raised 
to a red heat. The smoke-flue should be regarded only 
as a secondary source of radiation, instead of a primary 
one, as in most of the furnaces now constructed. 
The principal objection to the present general ar- 
rangement of hot-air furnaces, is the obstacles met with 
in introducing the warm air into an apartment. The 
air in a furnace-chamber having a tendency to rise, just 
as smoke rises in a flue, a part of it will enter and oc- 
cupy any other space, which may be in connexion with 
the air-chamber; and cold air being admitted into the 
latter, its greater weight will continue to press the heated 
air upward. But if the apartment to be heated is close 
and tight, it is evident that the air it already contains 
will resist the entrance of any additional quantity ; being 
already full, it will contain no more ; the pressure of the 
heated air may overcome the resistance to a small, but it 
will be a very small, extent. 
This may be illustrated by making the attempt to blow 
into a tight bottle, through its mouth ; the resistance is 
sufficient to overcome the most powerful effort of the 
lungs. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
233 
By many it is supposed that the crevices in the doors 
and windows, and other apertures, will allow the ah' to 
go out of the room, and thus enable the air from the fur- 
nace to find its way into it. This may be true to a cer- 
tain extent, but not to the degree generally supposed, for 
very often the wind outside is pressing in at the same 
crevices, thus increasing the resistance to the current of 
hot air; and at any rate, these apertures are uncertain, 
very irregular, and afford no surety for the escape of the 
air of the room. 
But if we suppose the apartment which is to be heated, 
is too tight to admit air through these crevices (which it 
will be if the carpenter has done justice to the work), it 
is manifest that the attempt to force air in, under the or 
dinary pressure of a furnace, can be only partially suc- 
cessful, and that what air does find its way in, will rise 
at once to the ceiling, be confined for a long time there, 
and at that part of the room at which it entered, and can 
not find its way through the room, except by the cur- 
rents caused by changes of temperature, which are neces- 
sarily very slow. 
The obstacles thus preventing the diffusion of the air 
from the furnace, also interfere with the diffusion of the 
heat, for the air, which is the vehicle of the heat into 
the room, being unable to carry it further than the im- 
mediate vicinity of its point of entrance, the heat itself 
must also necessarily find its way very slowly through the 
apartment. The latter objection amounts, principally, 
to a loss of time in warming, and consequently involves 
a great waste of fuel, as a larger amount must be con- 
sumed to supply a sufficiency of heated air; while it is 
obvious, that if a great volume of air heated to a lower' 
temperature, could, by any means, be thrown into the 
room, but especially if the current thus introduced can 
be made to pass more or less quickly through the room, 234 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
there will be a proportionate economy of time, fuel, ana 
comfort. 
But another consideration of far greater importance 
than those of economy of time and fuel, is economy of 
health ; and in the selection of a means of warming, 
with reference to this end, the first consideration should 
be, a large volume of air, raised to a moderate tempera- 
ture forced or drawn quickly through the room ; and the 
next is, the rapid removal of all the products of respira- 
tion, perspiration, combustion, &c. When these points 
are secured, the consideration of economy is also ob- 
tained, for the means which must be used to obtain the 
first consideration, and to avoid their opposites, are such 
as must necessarily be followed by the last. 
With the rapid distribution of the warm air from the 
furnace, through the apartment, the heat is carried along 
and diffused with it. 
That apparatus, therefore, which throws into an apart- 
ment the largest amount of air-which warms it suffi- 
ciently without a red-hot surface - which diffuses it most 
rapidly and directly through the room - which furnishes 
a means of removing the foul air-and which does not 
require the evaporation of a large amount of water to 
restore the moisture to the air, of which an intense heat 
has deprived it - that furnace which accomplishes these 
objects most readily, is entitled to the first regard, on 
account of both its healthful and economical properties. 
There are some hot-air furnaces which have attained 
some of these ends, but as yet there has appeared but 
one arrangement which successfully accomplishes them 
all, and which alone is therefore justly entitled to the 
name of a ventilating furnace. Of that one, planned 
and put in successful operation, within the past year 
(1848), by Mr. Bull, a brief description will be here 
given. No. 1.-Sectional Plan. 
BULL'S PATENT 
VENTILATING HOT-AIR FURNACE. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
237 
[The letters refer to the warming part of the apparatus, the figures to the 
ventilating part.] 
A, A. A. Hot-air Chamber of brick. 
B. Fire-pot, lined with soapstone or fire-brick. 
C. Spherical fire-chamber, studded with radiating points. 
D. Feed-flue. 
E, E, E. Smoke-pipe, emerging from the fire-chamber, just above the fire, 
and conducted obliquely downward around the fire-pot, and passing (as indi- 
cated by arrows) through 
F, F. A separate brick channel, built inside the air-chamber, at its base. 
The smoke-pipe finally enters 
G, G. The chimney of the house. 
H. Cold-air entrance. 
I, I. Heat radiators, or distributors, of sheet-iron. 
K, K. Hot-air discharge-pipe. 
L. Register, in the floor of the apartment. 
M, M. Cast-iron water-tank, surrounding the end of the hot-air pipe. 
N. Ash-pit. 
1. Opening of the ventilating duct, at the opposite side of the room, from 
the hot-air register. 
2, 2, 2. Ventilating duct, terminating at the ash-pit, N, through which the 
foul air is drawn in by the fire, and consumed. 
3. Branch ventilating duct, governed by a valve, and entering directly into 
the smoke-flue. 
4, Branch duct, with a valve, supplying the hot-air chamber, A, with air 
from the apartment to be ventilated ; to be used only for summer ventilation. 
5. Branch pipe, for discharging heated air from the hot-air chamber, A, 
into the chimney, when the valve V is open. 
6. Pipe for replenishing the apartment with cold air from out-doors, when 
the valve W is perpendicular. 
In the annexed drawing of the ground plan (No. 2), 
the arrangement of the smoke-pipe, and cold-air flue, is 
more distinctly shown, the same reference letters being 
used as in the sectional view ; E, E, E, being the smoke- 
pipe, passing out from C, the fire-chamber, through 
the separate brick channel F, F, F, and terminating in 
G, the chimney. The arrows inside the smoke-pipe in- 
dicate the direction which the smoke takes, while other' 
arrows, outside the smoke-pipe, indicate the course of the 
fresh cold air from without. 
SECTIONAL DRAWING. 238 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
BULL'S PATENT VENTILATING HOT-AIR FURNACE. 
Ground Plan. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
239 
In drawing No. 3, is represented the manner in which 
the foul-air ducts, 2, 2, open into the ash-pit, N, N. The 
openings are directly under the grate of the fire-pot, and 
so guarded as to prevent ashes and cinders from falling 
into them. 
The points wherein the arrangements of this furnace, 
regarded merely as a heater, appear superior to others, 
are, 
First. The manner in which the cold external air is 
made to enter the hot-air chamber. It enters through 
the same channel by which the smoke-pipe goes out, and 
as it passes by the latter, receives the heat from it, where- 
by it is considerably raised in temperature, before it en- 
ters the main air-chamber itself. A great amount of 
caloric, therefore, which would otherwise be (and is by 
any other plan) lost by being sent into the chimney-flue, 
is thus preserved and imparted to the fresh air. So 
effectual is this arrangement, that even where the fire is 
brisk, the end of the smoke-pipe, as it enters the chim- 
ney, is barely warm to the hand. 
Second. The mode by which the direct heat of the 
spherical radiator is imparted to the air in the hot-air 
chamber. The greater the amount of radiating surface, 
the more rapidly will the air be heated. 11 are screens of 
sheet-iron, placed about midway between the heater and 
the brick walls of the chamber. These are so arranged 
that the air flows freely among them, while they intercept 
the rays of heat, and prevent them, in a great measure, 
from falling upon, and being absorbed by, the brick-work ; 
at the same time, they act as distributors of the heat to the 
air as it passes through the air-chamber. In all other fur- 
naces hitherto observed, the smoke-pipe is taken off from 
the heater, at the top, and is freely exposed in the air- 
chamber itself, its surface being relied upon mainly for 
radiating heat to the air around it. It is, however, very 240 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
doubtful whether more heat is not imparted to, than is 
received from, the pipe, by the air in the chamber, for it 
will be perceived that as the fresh air enters the air- 
chamber, at its lowest part, it flows against the hottest 
part of the heater, first, where it immediately gets highly 
heated, and after that, rises against the smoke-pipe, 
which must be cooler than the heater itself, and there- 
fore cooler than the air surrounding it. Does not 
the smoke-pipe, therefore, receive caloric from the air, 
instead of imparting caloric to it? By the arrange- 
ment adopted by Mr. Bull, the smoke-pipe imparts all 
its caloric to the fresh air, except so much as is neces- 
sary to maintain a draught in the chimney-flue. 
The space which is occupied by the smoke-pipe, in 
other furnaces, from which heat is falsely supposed to be 
given off is occupied, in the plan here described, by the 
large screens I I, which add largely to the radiating sur- 
face, and therefore heat the air more rapidly. 
But it is as an apparatus for ventilation, that Mr. 
Bull's patent claims our especial notice. It will be 
observed, in the first place, that as long as the fire 
burns, or as long as the apparatus or the chimney-flue is 
warm, there must be a stream of air drawn off from the 
room above, carried off through the fire, into the chim- 
ney, and discharged through the latter into the open air. 
Secondly, the difficulties which were noted on page 
232 as existing in the way of forcing the air from a fur- 
nace into a room, are entirely removed by Mr. Bull's ar- 
rangement ; for not only is there a vent-hole for the 
escape of air from one side of the room, as the warm air 
is forced in at the other side, but a current, more or less 
strong, is drawn through the vent-hole, by the burning 
of the fire below. A partial vacuum is thus created in 
the room above, which is most easily supplied through 
the register at the opposite side, in consequence of which, USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
241 
while the foul air is removed, a more copious supply of 
fresh, warm air, is introduced. 
This leads us to notice the third important considera- 
tion, viz., the more rapid distribution of the ail' through 
the room, carrying with it the heat, and the consequent 
saving of time and fuel, in warming the apartment. 
There is yet one other idea of much value embraced 
in this apparatus, in which others are deficient. When 
a building or room, warmed by a furnace of ordinary 
construction, becomes over-heated, the register through 
which the heat is supplied must be closed, but in doing 
so, not only the heat, but likewise the air is shut out, and 
whatever advantage was derived from the small volume 
of air which forced its way in, is now entirely lost, and. 
during the time required to cool down the surplus heat 
of the room, impurities are accumulating in the atmo- 
sphere. 
But should it be necessary at any time, to reduce the 
temperature of a room warmed by the furnace above 
described, it may be done more rapidly, and without cut- 
ting off the supply of air, by simply raising the valve W, 
by which a current of cold external air is admitted, com- 
bined, at will, with the warm air from the furnace. The 
exhaustion from the opposite side of the room, draws 
in an equal amount of air, warm or cold, or of mix*ed 
temperature, according as the valve is opened fully or 
partially. 
As described thus far, this arrangement is applied to 
warming and ventilating - operations which are required 
to be performed togethei' only in cold weather. The in- 
ventor's ingenuity, however, has not stopped here, but 
by a simple contrivance, the furnace is adapted also to 
ventilation without warming, a great desideratum not 
only in summer (when purity of air may be best main- 
tained by open doors and windows), but at other sea- 242 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
sons, when the weather is too cool for open windows, and 
yet too warm for fires, but when ventilation is as much 
needed as ever. It is effected in the following manner:- 
A small fire kindled in the heater, will cause a draught 
down through the ventilating duct, 2, 2, to supply the 
combustion. The air in the hot-air chamber will be 
warmed and rarified, but instead of being allowed to 
pass into the apartment at K, the valve W is drawn up 
perpendicularly, while the valve V is thrown open wide, 
and the heated air then escapes through the pipe 5, into 
the chimney-flue. To increase the ventilation, the valve 
at H being closed, the valve in the branch pipe 4 is 
opened, by which a current of air will be drawn in to 
the hot-air chamber, to go through it up the chimney, 
and thus the current through 1 and 2, is largely in- 
creased. The exhaustion thus produced from one side 
of the room, causes an equal influx of fresh air through 
the open pipe 6, at the opposite side. 
It is neither recommended nor intended that the means 
of ventilation presented by this arrangement, should su- 
persede other methods, which, in many situations, may 
be more easily and economically put in practice. Nor, 
in fact, should it be solely relied on, under general cir- 
cumstances ; but as an improvement upon the usual 
methods of warming, and especially as furnishing a 
means of ventilation, with very little additional expense, 
this arrangement deserves earnest consideration. 
It is in the building of a house that ventilating arrange- 
ments may be introduced with the least cost, and great- 
est facility. So far as the introduction of ventilating- 
flues in the walls, or of air-channels under the floors of 
houses of any kind, is concerned, not only may they be 
introduced with very little cost, but in very many instan- 
ces houses may be erected at less cost with them, than 
without them. In buildings whose walls are of brick or Fig. 24. USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
243 
stone, the introduction of a flue, which is merley a va- 
cancy of material,, there may be a sufficient saving of 
material and labor, to pay for all that may be requisite 
to complete the plan of ventilation. This economical 
view of the subject, it is hoped, will operate as an in- 
ducement upon each one who builds a house hereafter, 
to cause ventilating flues to be left in the walls, so that 
should the first proprietor be so indifferent to his own 
comfort and that of others, as to permit foul air to accu- 
mulate in it, his heirs and successors, who may have a 
better appreciation of the importance and comfort of a 
wholesome atmosphere, may be able to obtain it, with- 
out any further cost or trouble, than merely to connect 
the flues with the apartments. 
Having laid down, in the preceding pages, some of 
the general principles upon which the ventilation of 
buildings is to be effected, it remains now only to state 
more particularly how these principles are to be reduced 
to practice, and for this purpose, the universal language 
of pictures will be further resorted to. 
In fig. 23 is seen a sectional representation of a 
school-house, three stories in height, ventilated by the 
double method of flues in the walls, concentrated in the 
cupola or ejector on the roof, aided by the ventilating fur- 
nace in the cellar. The flues, or venti ducts, as they are 
properly called, numbering at least one for each room, 
are connected with the apartments by two apertures in 
each, one near the ceiling, the other near the floor, either 
of which may be opened at pleasure. The fresh warm 
air in winter, proceeding from the furnace below, being 
thrown into the apartment at one side, the upper orifice 
of the venti-duct on the opposite side is closed, and the 
lower one opened. The warm air emerging from the 
register, is more or less rapidly drawn through the room, 
and when the desirable temperature has been obtained. 244 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
and the pupils have assembled, the lower orifice is closed 
and the upper one opened. The impurities which are 
then generated, are more directly carried off. 
Fig. 24 represents a lateral section of the venti-ducts 
or foul air-flues, showing the manner in which they are 
arranged and carried up separately from the floor of 
each room, until they discharge into the common ejector. 
The venti-ducts are here represented as united to- 
gether in the attic, under a cupola with side-openings, 
and arranged in such a manner that the wind will force 
the foul air out. Or the venti-ducts may be concentra- 
ted in one, terminating in a chimney, as described at 
page 226, in which a small fire may be kept during 
school hours, 
The reader will not fail to compare the atmosphere of 
this house, as represented, with that of the school-house 
depicted in fig. 6. 
In fig. 25 is a representation of the state of the atmo- 
sphere, during the progress of the service, in a non-ven- 
tilated church, the doors and windows being closed, and 
the lamps lighted. 
Fig. 26 represents the condition of the atmosphere of 
the same church, after the introduction of ventilating ar- 
rangements (other circumstances being the same). The 
tower, or spire, is made to act as well for the intro- 
duction of fresh air, as for the removal of the impure 
air, and for both purposes it affords superior facilities. 
(In all cases the fresh air should be drawn from the high- 
est possible portion of the building, as the higher the 
source, the further removed from the soil and less min- 
gled with its emanations and impurities will it be.) In 
the figure, the fresh air is represented as introduced near 
the base of the tower, from which a long arrow indi- 
cates its descent below the main floor of the church. 
Having been warmed, or not, as circumstances require, Ftff.ZJ. Fly. 27 
FMichelin's L ith N:Y; USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
245 
it is made to ascend through numerous openings in the 
floor, and is diffused through the entire body of the 
church, and finds its way out through apertures in the 
ceiling, immediately over the lamps, which, when burn- 
ing, aid its progress very much. The products of res- 
piration and combustion are received into a foul-air 
channel, which lies along over the ceiling in the attic, 
and is connected, by a special opening, with the upper 
part of the spire, through which, ultimately, the foul air 
escapes, aided by such an arrangement of windows or 
cowls, or combustion, as may be best adapted to the cir- 
cumstances of the case. 
At the point of union between the spire and the foul- 
air channel, a valve is placed, which is commanded from 
below by a cord and pulley (see figure); by means of 
this, the amount of discharge is regulated ; being opened 
during service, and closed in the intervals, to prevent 
the unnecessary escape of heat. 
In fig. 27 is an illustration of the progress of air in a 
house where the fittings render it almost entirely air- 
tight. It is filled with a vitiated atmosphere from prod- 
ucts of respiration and combustion, scullery, water- 
closets, drains, back smoke, dust of carpets, &c. The 
rooms in the upper story afford the principal supply of 
fresh air by the chimneys, or such as are not in use, no 
other source being open. The great consumption of the 
kitchen enables it to draw largely from the passage, 
which again receives its supply from the rooms above. 
While these more general movements proceed in the 
manner indicated by the arrows, local currents are de- 
veloped in other apartments by lamps and fireplaces, as 
well as by individuals respiring the vitiated air, indicated 
by dotted lines. 
In fig. 28 is represented the same house, after having 
undergone some alterations, and the principal evils cor- 246 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
rected by the introduction of a copious supply of fresh 
air (warmed in winter) into the stair-case, and passages, 
and the removal of the vitiated air from all the apart- 
ments, lamps, and drains. In cold weather, a Bull's fur- 
nace, or some equivalent apparatus, is placed in the 
lower central part of the house, and air is allowed to 
flow in so freely, that it is continually flooded with a 
warm atmosphere, tending, from its warmth, to escape 
upward, wherever an aperture is permitted. Communi- 
cations are established between the passage and each 
apartment. By valves and appropriate channels, as have 
been described in the previous pages, the admission to, 
and discharge from, each apartment, are regulated. All 
the discharges and venti ducts unite in a general foul-air 
chamber under the roof, which communicates with the 
open air by such an arrangement as is best adapted to 
the circumstances of the case; either a heated flue, an 
arrangement of windows, or properly-located exhausting 
cowls. The general discharge of foul air, is also regu- 
lated by a large valve in the foul-air chamber. 
To insure, as much as possible, the avoidance of any 
foul gases from private drains, these should be trapped 
in the most careful manner, and a ventilating flue, if pos- 
sible, be so arranged as to receive all the products which 
might otherwise be discharged into the room, 
o o 
CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 
The foregoing pages greatly outnumber their original 
estimate ; the apology, if one is needed, is to be found 
in the fact, that the subject belongs to a class, whose 
characteristic is, an interest increasing with the thought 
bestowed upon it. As the presence of the atmosphere, 
in its bountiful abundance and self-maintaining purity, 
when left to the working of its own natural laws, is uni- 
versal, so may it be said, that the illustrations of its evil Fig-M. 
FFTtc/tFin j\ L vlFN Y USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
247 
effects, when those laws are interfered with, and its nat- 
ural freedom restrained, are everywhere to be found, 
and continually recurring. 
It is no less true of the laws instituted to preserve the 
wholesomeness of the atmosphere, than of those relating 
to diet, or any other branch of physiology, that their vio- 
lation is certain to be followed by punishment. 
God has so plainly written these laws upon all his 
works, but especially upon that branch of them herein 
considered, that he who runs may read ; nothing but the 
blindness of ignorance and of obstinate prejudice, can 
prevent their being seen. 
If there is a responsibility resting upon intelligent crea- 
tures, in reference to obedience to the laws of Provi- 
dence ; if in proportion to our advancement in knowl- 
edge, that responsibility is made heavier and plainer; if 
the press, the steam-engine, and the telegraph, have ma- 
ny-fold increased the facilities and comforts of life, and 
brought us rapidly nearer to the glorious consummation 
of its great end, the enjoyment of existence in its purest 
form ; what shall we answer to the charge of neglect of 
the plainest dictates of nature and of common sense, man- 
ifested by the continual violation of their laws, in regard 
to the great ocean of air in which we are immersed. 
By rejecting the means presented to us for the preser- 
vation and prolongation of our lives, are we not as justly 
chargeable with suicide, as he who strangles himself with 
a cord ? or is taking poison into the lungs, any more ve- 
nial than taking it into the stomach? And when we 
reflect that a large proportion, of the diseases of man- 
kind are clearly traceable to atmospheric causes, and 
that those causes are, in a vast majority of cases, cer- 
tainly and easily removable and preventible, how can 
we escape the condemnation which attaches to their 
continuance ? 248 
USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
Especially is this condemnation deserved, when con- 
sidered in comparison with that which follows the viola- 
tion of many other laws of health. There is some 
apology for the drunkard and the gourmand ; they have 
natural appetites for food and drink, which have ob- 
tained the mastery over their feeble wills, while the 
pleasures of the cup and table, entice increasingly with 
the loss of mental strength. But there is no such thing 
as appetite for foul air; we have no pleasure in it; no 
such idea can be pleaded in extenuation of the crime 
(for it is no less) of inhaling a substance well known to 
be a poison, when it is just as easy to avoid it. 
To the educated, who can understand and appreciate 
the inestimable value of pure air, and to the rich, who 
are able to obtain, not only the necessities and comforts, 
but also the superfluities and extravagances of life, these 
remarks apply in all their force. But there are others, 
constituting the larger portion of mankind, in civilized 
life at least, who, from poverty, are compelled to crowd 
themselves into narrow domicils, or who, through ignor- 
ance, never reflect upon, and can not comprehend, the 
true relations of the atmosphere to their- happiness and 
health. For their neglect of this important subject, there 
is some excuse ; though conscious of suffering, of which 
they would gladly rid themselves, they know neither the 
cause nor the remedy, and it were as easy to count the 
sands of the seashore, as to estimate the lives which have 
been sacrificed upon this one altar in the great temple of 
ignorance and poverty. 
Upon whom, then, rests the blame connected with this 
state of things 1 Certainly upon those who build and 
own the tenements of the poor. A just appreciation and 
regard of the wants of those, whose pittances of rent 
swell the great tide which flows into the landlords' cof- 
fers, would teach them to consider a pure atmosphere USES AND ABUSES OF AIR. 
249 
within the house, as necessary to make it tenantable as 
a tight roof. And it is for him whose buildings are oc- 
cupied by the poor, who can not command a proper sys- 
tem of ventilation in their narrow quarters, to consider 
well and earnestly the duty he owes to his tenants, and 
provide them with a healthful atmosphere. There can 
not be a reasonable doubt, that were all the tenements 
occupied by the laboring classes, at once and thoroughly 
ventilated, the very small outlay required for the pur- 
pose, would be soon returned a hundred-fold, in the 
saving of health, life, and morals, and in a great diminu- 
tion of the expenses incurred for the support of charitable 
institutions. 
To those who have in charge the care and instruction 
of the rising generation - the future fathers and mothers 
of men - this subject commends itself with an interest 
surpassing that of any other. Nothing can more con- 
vincingly establish the belief of the existence of some- 
thing essentially and vitally wrong in the habits and cir- 
cumstances of civilized life, than the appalling fact, that 
one fourth of all who are born, die before reaching the 
fifth year, and that one half the deaths of mankind occur 
under the twentieth year. 
Let those who have these things in charge, answer to 
their own consciences how they have discharged their 
duty, in supplying to the young, the responsibility of 
whose lives and education they have assumed - a pure 
Atmosphere, the first requisite for Healthy 
Bodies and Sound Minds. 
THE END. CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER I. 
Health the greatest Earthly Desideratum.-Does not receive the most intelli- 
gent Attention.-Systems of Dietaries.-Croton Water.-Air neglected in 
Houses.-Relations of our Bodies to Food and Air.-One Easy and the oth- 
er difficult of Attainment.-Food often fails, Air never Page 3 
CHAPTER II. 
Relative Importance of Food and Air.-Nature and Number of the Changes 
each undergoes.-Power of the System to separate Impurities from each.- 
Length of Time an Animal may live without either.-Digestion.-Respira- 
tion.-Each described.-Their Peculiarities.-Persons who breathe Impure 
Air, can not appreciate Pure Air so well.-Air necessary to Digestion.- 
Respiration the last Act of Digestion.-Surfeiting, common with Food, im- 
possible with Air 8 
CHAPTER III. 
Mechanism of Respiration.- Anatomy of the Chest.-The Ribs.-The 
Diaphragm.-Action of the Chest-like that of the Bellows.-Number of 
Expansions per Minute.-The Lungs-have no Power of their own to ex- 
pand.-Internal Structure of the Lungs.-Passage of Air in the Lungs audi- 
ble.-Extent of Surface of Pulmonary Membrane.-Its Object.-Capacity 
of Lungs for Air-depends on the Muscles of Respiration.-and Shape of 
the Chest.-Exercise important.-Object of Inhalation of Atmospheric Air. 
-The Heart-a double Organ.-Course of the Blood through it.-Two 
Circles.-Pulsations of the Heart and Movements of Respiration have Rela- 
tion to each other.-Number of Pulsations.-Amount of Blood and Air 
flowing through the Lungs.-Conclusions therefrom 15 
CHAPTER IV. 
Chemistry of Respiration.-Part I. Effects of Respiration on the Air.- 
Atmospheric Air a Compound Gas.-Properties of Nitrogen-of Oxygen.- 
Stimulating Effects of Oxygen.-Carbon in the Blood.-Carbonic Acid.- 
Experiments.-Carbonic Acid poisonous-often fatal-Found in Pits and 
Wells-Used for Suicidal Purposes. - Aqueous Vapor-Sometimes very 
copious-How observed.-Damp Air produced by Respiration-Amount of 
Water thrown off from the Lungs 30 
CHAPTER V. 
Part II. Effect of Respiration on the Blood.-Questions to be considered.- 
Difference between Venous and Arterial Blood.-Intimate Relation between 
the Circulation and Respiration.-Panting.-Influence of Respiration on the 
Flow of Blood.-Illustrations.-Why is Carbon found in the Blood ?- Its 
Source.-Temperature of the Body-How maintained-Same in all Cli- 
mates.-The Skin its Regulator.-The Safety-Valve.-Fever.-Influence of 
the Skin upon it 39 
CHAPTER VI. 
Different Circumstances of Human Life noticed.-The Infant.-The Scholar. 
-The Apprentice.-Out-Door arid In-Door Labor contrasted.-Workshops. CONTENTS. 
251 
-The Journeyman.-The Sailor.-The Printer.-The Farmer.-Shoema- 
kers and Tailors.-Crowds in the Open Air.-Amount of Vitiation of Air 
proportioned to the Number of People and Length of Time.-Anecdote.- 
Dormitories.-Hotels.-Steamboats.-The " Oregon."- Rail-Cars.- Omni- 
buses 48 
CHAPTER VII. 
Rationale of "Taking Cold," on emerging from a Crowded Room into the 
Open Air.-Oxygen the Vital Element, and Carbonic Acid the fatal Ele- 
ment of Air.-Amount of Air required by each Person.-Different Esti- 
mates.-House of Commons.-Case of a Schoolhouse supposed.-Amount 
of Solid Carbon thrown off from the Body.-Peculiar demand of the Brain 
for Pure Air- especially in the Hours of Study.-Evil Effects of School At- 
mosphere.-Illustration 62 
CHAPTER VIII. 
Effects of Vitiated Air upon the Human System. - Impure Air one 
of the Scourges of Mankind.-No Age or Sex Exempt.-Pestilential Winds. 
-Maladies from preventable Causes.-Carbonic Oxide Gas.-Carburetted 
Hydrogen.-Two Species of Aerial Poison.-Gaseous Compounds of Sul- 
phur and Ammonia.-Causes of Fever.-Opinion of F. Southwood Smith, 
M. D.; of Dr. Arnott; of Dr. Emerson.-Effects of In-door Labor on the 
Health-Examples.-Epidemic stopped by Ventilation.-"Black Hole of 
Calcutta."-Further Illustrations from E. Chadwick.-Dr. Rush, and the 
Yellow Fever in Philadelphia.-Prudence of the Chinese.-Cleanliness con- 
tributive to Health.-Roman Enterprise.-Cloacae.-Sanitory Movements 
in Turkey and Egypt.-Unfavorable Circumstances attending Ships, greatly 
Remediable.-Illustrative Anecdote.-Awful Catastrophe.-Child-Bed Fe- 
ver.-Examination of Dr. Rigby.-Influence of Foul Air in Producing and 
of Pure Air in Preventing it.-Peculiar Odor of Bedrooms.-Other Conta- 
gious Viri communicated through the Atmosphere ; as of Small Pox, Mea- 
sles, Scarlet Fever, &c.-Secondary Influence of Miasmata on the Consti- 
tution.-Further Observations of Dr. T. S. Smith.-Diseases of the Digestive 
Organs.-Particular Influence of Bad Air on Mothers and Children.-Its 
Influence not confined to the Physical Functions, but extends to the Mental 
Faculties.-Examples 73 
CHAPTER IX. 
Consumption.-Number of Deaths by it in Great Britain and the United 
States.-Statement of Dr. Guy.-Its relative Prevalence among Professional 
Men, Tradesmen, and Artisans.-Experience of a London Tradesman.- 
Fresh Air retards its Development when Hereditary.-Its relative Preva- 
lence among Males and Females in Town and Country.-Table.-Work- 
shops.-Inhalation of Dust, Fumes, Metallic Particles, &c.-Scrofula.- 
Tubercles.-Food not Nutritive unless Aerated.-Opinion of M. Baudelocque 
of the Causes of Scrofula.-Long-continued Respiration of Foul Air not 
necessary to Produce it.-Shepherds.-Sleeping with the Head Covered.- 
Illustration.-Village of Oresmeaux.-Opinion of Sir James Clark.-Scrof- 
ula Producible in a healthy Infant.-Prevalent among Rabbits, Monkeys, 
Cows, Horses.-Curious Medical Practice in Scotland.-Physical Educa- 
tion.-Scrofula in the Norwood School; its Cause and Cure.-Relation of 
Animal Composition and the Development of Respiratory Apparatus.- 
Constructions of the Chest-Leaning against Desks.-Tight Lacing; its 
Effects.-Coroner's Verdict in such Cases 98 
CHAPTER X. 
Further Considerations of the Ultimate Objects of Respiration.-Relations of 
the Liver and Lun^s.-Strasburg Pies.-Influence of checked Perspiration. 
Aqueous Vapor of Respiration.-Dysentery, occurring in Prisons.-Milbank 
Penitentiary.-Sing-Sing.-Auburn.-Law of " Sympathetic Association."- 
Action of Impure Air oh the Eye.-Smoking and Drinking.-Evidence of 
Dr. Toynbee.-Diseases of the Ear.-Effects of Bad Air on Surgical Oper- 
ations.-Hospital Gangrene.-Rights and Duties of Surgeons 120 252 
CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER XI. 
Influence of Impure Air on Infantile Life.-Helplessness of Infancy not al- 
ways Compensated for.-Negligence of Air highly Criminal.-Opinion of 
Dr. Clark.-Convulsions.-Dr. Duncan.-Mortality at St. Hilda.-Dr. Tick- 
nor.-Excessive Mortality in Dublin Hospital.-The Cause Discovered and 
Removed.-Infantile Mortality in Great Britain and the United States 134 
CHAPTER XII. 
Present Condition and Prospects of Society in Relation to Health and Civil- 
ization 140 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Modern Degeneracy of the Human Race.-Superior Vigor of the Ancient 
Egyptians, Athenians, and Romans.-Inaptitude for Study an Effect of Vi- 
tiated Air.-Newton.-Homer.-Sleeping in Church.-Anecdote.-Perver- 
sion of Judgment.-Extract from Dr. Ticknor.-Vitiated Air produces 
Quarrelsomeness-encourages Intemperance, and other Vices-also Pusil- 
lanimity and Cowardice, and vice versa.-Examples. - True Courage, 
where to be found.-Defective Ventilation increases Public Expenditure.- 
Produces Deformity, Imbecility, and Idiotcy.-Cretini-m.-A Mournful 
Picture.-Found in Cellars of Cities.-Idiots in France, Turkey, and other 
Countries.-Changes in the Earth and in Man, Compared 145 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Increased Influence of Foul Air during Sleep.-Boarding-School11.-Soldiers 
in Barracks.-Seamen-Nightmare prevalent among them.-Obscurity of 
its depredations.-Bad Air not less active, because invisible.-Universal 
study of Physiology urged.-Sleeping with the Head covered.-Its Delete- 
rious Effects.-Cutaneous Exhalation of Carbonic Acid.-Appalling Disaster 
in 1848 161 
CHAPTER XV. 
Use and Abuse of Cities. - First Impressions of New York upon a 
Stranger.-Contrast with other Cities.-Its Comparative rate of Mortality. 
-Impure Air may coexist with Natural Sanitary Advantages.-Foresight of 
its Founders.-Its High Temperature ; its Effects.-Number of Garrets and 
Cellars.-Basement Schools, Public School Society.-Cesspools and Privies, 
their great Number.-Imagination necessary to discover Realities.-The 
Remedy.-A new Society needed.-Particular Localities.-Five-Points.- 
Pearl Street.- "Old Brewery."-Rag-Pickers.- Slaughterhouses.-Disad- 
vantages of the " Croton."-The Remedy therefor 172 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Observations on Practical Ventilation; Notice of some of the popular Errors 
on the Subject 196 
CHAPTER XVII. 
Practical Remarks on Warming and Ventilation.-Mixed Method of 
Ventilation.-Natural Currents of Wind made available.-Cowls ; receiving 
and exhausting.-Passenger-Ships.-Only available when the Wind blows ; 
an unsafe dependence.-Heat, the only Power capable of general Applica- 
tion.-Warm Flues.-Houses without Flues ; how may be supplied with 
them.-Mode of applying Heat.-Difficult Point to be obtained in warming. 
Common Fires.-Air-tight Stoves.-Open Charcoal or Anthracite Fires.- 
Heating by Hot Water or Steam.-Objections to it.-Effect of Red-Hot 
Surfaces.-The most Healthful Principle of Warming.-Obstacles encoun- 
tered by Furnaces in general.-Requisites for a proper Warming Appara- 
tus.- Ventilating Furnace described.-Further Illustrations of Ventilation. 
Explanation of Plates.-Reflections on the Subject 222 | A CATALOGUE 'S 
0F £w 
| BOOKS, I 
WBMBIHM CT *. s. ss»nsw, I 
W: CLINTON HALL, N. Y. 1W 
AND FOR SALE BY MOST BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Z V T 1 
W; :W 
P| THE PICTORIAL BIBLE, g 
\pA Price Six Dollars. AU 
(,O The Pictorial Bible, being the Old and New Testaments, according to 
tbe authorized version: illustrated with more than one thousand en- 
gravings, representing tbe Historical Events after celebrated pictures: 
CO the Landscape Scenes from original drawings or from authentic en- 
LA gravings: and the subjects of Natural History, Costume, and Antiqui- AJ 
ties, from the best sources. With an elegantly engraved Family 5ZA 
Record, and a new and authentic Map of Palestine. 
AX? " We have seldom seen a more attractive work, and have no doubt that 
Co the c°st °f th® enterprise will be sustained by a large circulation." jSj 
rO N. Y. Evangelist. OJ 
LX? " The type is fair and handsome, and the engravings are select and exe- SAIL 
ASI cuted remarkably well. They are so numerous and good, as to be in them- •/A 
CO selves a commentary."-Christian Reflector. OJ 
\~k " Its abundant and beautiful illustrations adapt it for a Family Bible, and A? J 
w >1 will make it highly interesting to the young."-Christian Register. 
IO " It is a superb publication."- Zion's Herald. JXj 
fO " The engravings are executed in a fine style of the art, and the paper Oj 
Vas and the type are all that the most fastidious eye could require."-Hierophant, 
THE PICTORIAL NEW TESTAMENT, 
Aa? Price One Dollar and Fifty Cents. 
W? THE PICTORIAL NEW TESTAMENT, O 
Co AND THE BOOK OF PSALMS. W 
yi-sA Price Two Dollars. 
'  
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. 
-§-©-©S3-8* W 
For Schools, Academies, and Self-Instruction, 
do <f> 
THE 
AMERICAN DRAWING-BOOK. 
BY JOHN G. CHAPMAN, N. A. 
This Work will be published in Parts ; in the coarse of which- 
PRIMARY INSTRUCTIONS AND RUDIMENTS OF DRAWING- 
DRAWING FROM NATURE -MATERIALS AND METHODS: 
PERSPECTIVE -COMPOSITION -LANDSCAPE - FIGURES, ETC : 
DRAWING, AS APPLICABLE TO THE MECHANIC ARTS: 
PAINTING IN OIL AND WATER COLORS: 
THE PRINCIPLES OF LIGHT AND SHADE: 
EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FORM, AND COMPARATIVE 
ANATOMY: 
THE VARIOUS METHODS OF ETCHING, ENGRAVING, MODELLING, Etc. 
Will be severally treated, separately; so that, as far as practicable, each 
iPart will be complete in itself, and form, in the whole, " a Manual of C3 
Information sufficient for all the purposes of the Amateur, and Basis ffi 
of Study for the Professional Artist, as well as a valuable Assistant 0 
0to Teachers in Public and Private Schools to whom it is especially 
recommended, as a work destined to produce a revolution in the sys- 
tern of popular education, by making the Arts of Design accessible 
fand familiar to all, from the concise and intelligible manner in which kg 
the subject is treated throughout. O 
The want of such a work, has been the great cause of neglect in this T 
00 important branch of education ; and this want is at once and fully sup- c' 
plied by the - 
AMERICAN DRAWING-BOOK: 
upon which Mr. Chapman has been for years engaged; and it is now 
produced, without regard to expense, in all its details, and published at 
a price to place it within the means of every one. 
The Work will be published in large quarto form, put up in substan- 
tial covers, and issued as rapidly as the careful execution of the numer- 
ous engravings, and the mechanical perfection of the whole, will allow. 
1^" Any one Part may be had separately. 
Price 5 0 Cents each Part. 
The DRAYVTNG COPY-BOOK®, intended as auxiliary 
to the Work, in assisting Teachers to carry out the system of instruction, c * 
A especially in the Primary and Elementary parts, form a new and valu- 1 
able addition to the means of instruction. They will be sold at a cost B 
g little beyond that of ordinary blank books. g 
-- I J. S. REDFIELD I 
cp • ALSO PUBLISHES ®» 
THE GRAMM ATIC READERS, 
NOS. I., II., III. 
By EDWARD HAZEN, A, M., 
AUTHOR OF "SPELLER AND DEFINER," "SYMBOLICAL SPELLING 
BOOK," ETC., ETC. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS, 
FROM DESIGNS BY 
.1. G. C II A P M A N, Esq., 
Which have been engraved and printed in die best style. 
These Readers are adapted to beginners in reading, as well as to 
advanced scholars who need improvement in their pronunciation of 
words, and in their quantity in uttering sentences. In the first two 
t Numbers, the parts of speech are presented in every variety of con- X 
struction; and every association is so clearly and fully illustrated by ® 
examples, that pupils, who use them for reading only, can hardly fail 
to acquire a practical knowledge of the structures of the language, even dbob 
S'® though they omit the rules of grammar which accompany them. 
The phraseology is manly throughout; and, if pupils be thoroughly 
drilled in reading the several lessons, nearly every association of words 
M will be committed to memory, and the whole, combined, will form the M 
I basis of a correct style of speaking and writing. £ 
CD These reading lessons constitute a complete series of parsing lessons, c° 
to which may be applied the system of etymology and syntax which 
accompanies them, or any other system which the teacher may prefer: 
and every example may be proposed as a model to be imitated by pu- 
pils in advanced classes. 
On account of the orderly arrangement of the constructions of the 
language, grammar and composition may be here learned much earlier 
than it has hitherto been thought to be possible. As a theoretical and 
practical grammar, teachers will find these books adapted to pupils of 
every grade of knowledge in this branch of learning. 
The first Reader is embellished with 82 engravings, and the second 
with 68; all of which are executed in the very best manner, from ori- 
ginal designs. No other school books have ever been so splendidly 
illustrated, or so beautifully printed. 
In the third Reader are repeated the engravings of the first, accom- 
panied by concise articles, or essays, on the several subjects suggested 
c, by the designs of the artist. T^e book is to be used first for reading, c , 
£ and then as a guide in composition. Teachers will find it precisely £ 
adapted to these purposes, if they have been thorough in drilling their M 
g* pupils in the preceding Numbers. s' rW- _- __ 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
-8-©o --B 
HAZEN'S GRAMMATIC READERS. 
RECOMUfENDATIONS AND NOTICES. 
From the Committee of the Board of Education. 
Schenectady, October 12, 1846. 
Dear Sir : In compliance with a resolution of the Board of Trustees of 
the Lancaster School Society, of this city, we have examined, with as much 
care as the time allowed would permit us to bestow, the series of Gram- 
matic Readers (Nos. I., IL, and III ), of Mr. Edward Hazen ; and, from 
such examination, are enabled to say, that the series is well adapted to at- 
tain the object Mr. Hazen has had in view in its preparation, viz.: that of 
enabling the scholar to understand the English language while learning to 
read it. 
With the gradations, and systematic and illustrative arrangement, of the 
Readers, we are much pleased, and believe they will prove to be a very val- 
uable aid to Teachers of Common Schools, in instructing and interesting 
their scholars in that branch of learning to which the series is devoted. 
We shall not only report in favor of authorizing the introduction of the 
Grammatic Readers into the schools under the care of the trustees, but 
shall recommend their introduction as speedily as practicable. 
Very respectfully, yours, T. R. VAN INGEN, 
THOMAS PALMER, 
ALEX. HOLLAND. 
From the Teachers of the Public Schools. 
co Schenectady, October 8, 1846. c,L 
£ Dear Sir : We have briefly examined Hazen's Grammatic Readers £ 
W (Nos. I. and IL), which you kindly presented to us, and believe that they CT 
o are well calculated for the object which the author has in view. There can o 
§5 be no doubt that children will learn more rapidly a correct pronunciation 
Bof words, arranged according to this system, than they will in many of the 
books which we have in our schools. And there can be no reason why the 
first principles of grammar may not be taught at the same time that the 
scholar is learning to read. In short, we think the work worthy of the no- Tt 
as tice of the friends of popular education. as 
Respectfully, yours, WM. G. CAW, .1. V. CLUTE, 
® To Mr. Foster. A. W. COX, M. VEEDER. ® 
ci From the New York Evening Gazette and Times. co 
"J. S. Redfield, of Clinton Hall, has just published the Grammatic 
Readers, Nos. I. and IL, by Edward Hazen, A. M., and we conceive them 
to be the most elegant books of juvenile instruction ever issued in this or 
any other country. The author's ability and qualifications for the task he 
has undertaken have been already shown in 'Hazen's Speller and Definer 
and a most satisfactory further development of his system of imparting an 
accurate knowledge of the elements of our vernacular will be found in the 
book now under notice. It is, however, to its typographical and illustrated 
character to which we referred, when speaking of the unsurpassed 'ele- 
gance' of this little school-book. It is printed on firm, thick paper, with 
handsome open type, and contains sixty-eight engravings, from original 
drawings by Chapman, which are among the most spirited sketches that 
ever came from the pencil of that accomplished artist; and these are en- 
graved with a degree of skill and high finish that would befit an illustrated 
edition of Gray or Goldsmith. 
" Compared with this, the miserable wood cuts with which young folks 
have hitherto been obliged to be content in the volumes published, whether 
for their amusement or instruction-they mark a new era in publications 
addressed chiefly to the young. Taste, that delicate quality of the trained 
intellect (and which, with its twin-brother discrimination, makes a feeler to 
the mind as important to some of its operations as is the trunk of the ele- 
phant to the purveyance of the creature's proper food), true taste is minis- 
do tered to in these drawings, at the season of life when it is most susceptible C3 
X of gentle and unconscious training. Boston, which we believe has hitherto 
TO been the most famous city for its juvenile books, will doubtless, with its Rj 
readiness to appreciate a good thing, instantly acknowledge that the enter- M 
W prise of Mr. Redfield has given New York so much the lead that it will re- w 
quire great efforts to rival her in this department of book making." §  
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
|| -go-©.. 003- 
| THEPOETICALWORKS I 
OF 
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. 
EDITED BY G. G. FOSTER. 
THE FIRST COMPLETE AMERICAN EDITION. 
In one volume, 16mo. 
" Shelley has a private nook in my affections. He is so unlike all other po- 
ets that I can not mate him. He is like his own ' skylark' among birds. He 
does not keep ever up in the thin air with Byron, like the eagle, nor sing 
with Keats low and sweetly like the thrush, nor, like the dove sitting always 
upon her nest, brood with Wordsworth over the affections. He begins to 
sing when the morning wakes him, and as he grows wi>d with his own song, 
he mounts upward, 
* And singing ever soars, and soaring ever singeth 
and it is wonderful how he loses himself, like the delirious bird in the sky, 
A and with a verse which may be well compared for its fine delicacy wilh her m 
M little wings, penetrates its far depths fearlessly and full of joy. There is O 
® something very new in this mingled trait of fineness and sublimity. Milton S 
and Byron seem made for the sky. Their broad wings always strike the air a, a 
with the same solemn majesty. But Shelley, near the ground, is a very ' bird ww 
in a bower,' running through his merry compass as if he never dreamed of 
cjocio the upward and invisible heavens. Withal, Shelley's genius is too fiery to eloep 
W be moody. He was a melancholy man, but it was because he was crossed rg 
M in the daily walk of life, and such anxieties did not touch his imagination. 5m 
M ft was above-far, far above them. His poetry was not, like that of other M 
T poets, linked with his common interests ; and if it * unbound the serpent of T 
co care from his heart,' as doubtless it did, it was by making him forget that it 
' was there. He conceived and wrote in a wizard circle. The illiberal world 
was the last thing remembered, and its annoying prejud ces gall him as they 
might in the exercise of his social duties, never followed.over the fiery limit 
of his fancy. Never have we seen such pure abstraction from earthiiness as 
in the temper of his poetry. It is the clear, intellectual lymph, unalloyed 
and unpolluted."-N. P. Willis. 
NAPOLEON'S MAXIMS OFWAR, 
Translated by Col. D'Aguilar. 
WITH NOTES. 
In one vol., 32mo. Price 50 cents. 
"The science of war, in its legitimate sense, is entitled to encourage- 
ment, and study, and we recommend that every man of military mind, should 
possess himself of a copy of ' Napoleon's Maxims.' The work is also one 
of interest to the general reader, containing, as it does, numerous brief his- 
torical facts connected with the most celebrated battles, and men of mili- 
tary renown of almost every age."-Recruit. 
" It is a work of no little interest to those who wish to understand the 
principles upon which the greatest captain of the age carried on his opera- 
tions. and who also desire to understancT the errors committed by the inte- 
rior intellects brought into the field against him "-Penn. Inquirer. 
"This work appears in its first American edition, with a recommenda- 
. tion from Gun. Scott, speaking of its utility to military men. That, indeed, , 
is apparent enough ; but it has occurred to us that the perusal of the little 
A work, with its full illustrative notes, must be of great advantage also to the A 
M general reader, who desires to understand the tactics of the great Emperor. W 
M It will be a good companion to Thiers' History, now publishing."- U. S. Sat. 
§ Fwt. § g BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. 
W -8-00 a®-8- W 
T THE PICTORIAL HISTORY f 
03 OF THE C3 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 
With a Sketch of the Early History of the Country, Constitution of the 
United States, a Chronological Index, and the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, with the Fac similes of the Signatures, Washington's Farewell 
Address, &c., &c. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVERAL HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. 
In one vol., 8vo. Price $2 00. 
" This volume is well adapted to attract the attention of youth to that neces- 
sary department of historical knowledge, the revolutionary annals of our own 
country. It contains, in addition to all the other cuts, maps, plans, and por- 
traits, the fac-simile signatures of the Signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence ; and the Constitution of the United States. It will be found to con- 
tain a large mass of authentic information-and its pictorial embellishments 
will keep noisy children quiet, and mischievous boys employed; hence it 
is a capital family book."-Christian Intelligencer. 
" As a reading-book for schools it is very valuable."-Teachers' Manual. 
E. RE G N A U L T. 
CRIMINAL HISTORY OF 
CP co 
1 THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT, 1 
Q FROM THE FIRST MASSACRE OF THE IRISH TO THE POISONING OF Q 
y-, THE CHINESE. p 
In one volume, 12mo. Price 75 cents. 
" This book seems to be a careful and diligent collection of all the outrages 
perpetrated by the British Government on the lives of those who have stood TT 
!in the way of its ambition : the catalogue is certainly most formidable, and 
calculated to impress the reader with a thorough detestation of cruelty, even O 
when shielded by authority and inflicted by absolute power. Whether it M 
leaves a proper and true impression of English character, may be doubted ; Y 
but it exhibits at least one side of the picture with ability and in colors of start- 'R 
ling vividness. The work is now first translated from the French by an 
American."-Tribune. 
"The work is < xceedingly well compiled, and no family m this country 
should be without it, as it will not only enlighten the present but teach the 
rising generations to justly abhor any connexion with a country which owes 
its existence only to its inhumanity."- Irish Vol. 
C H A RLE V KO L LIN. 
THE ANCIENT HISTORY 
OF 
The Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Gre- 
cians, and Macedonians; including a History of the Arts and Sciences 
of the Ancients. With a Life of the Author, by Janies Bell. 
Two vols., 8vo. Price Five Dollars. 
EVERY MAFhiTWn LAWYER; 
OR THE 
CLERK AND MAGISTRATE'S 
{ASSISTANT: 4> 
Adapted to the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, and greatly m 
enlarged. By a gentleman oT the Bar. Tenth edition. & 
One vol., 12mo., law sheep. Price $1 50.  8-^^^ 
& BOOKS PUBLISHED Bi I. S. FEDFIELD. g 
5-g-O© OOg. S 
KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE. I 
I RE-ISSUE Of THE 
PENNY MAGAZINE. 
4000 IMPERIAL OCTAVO PAGES. 
2000 ENGRAVINGS!! 
A COMPLETE LIBRARY WITHIN ITSELF. 
The London Penny Magazine, issued under the direction of the " So- 
ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," is, unquestionably, one of 
the most entertaining and useful of all the popular works which has ev- 
er appeared in any age, or in any language. Its pages embrace every 
subject in the wide field of human knowledge, and as every article, 
Y whether on Y 
| Science, History, Biography, Literature, or the Arts, 1 
passed the careful scrutiny and critical ordeal of an able committee of 
gSB learned men, the work may be placed in the hands of the youth of the g® 
YY country without danger or distrust. The popularity of the work in gxs 
epep England may be judged of from the fact that during the first year of its 
publication £g 
g MORE THAN 80.000 COPIES f 
A, of the monthly parts were disposed of In the United States too, the C3 
1 work has acquired no inconsiderable popularity, though it has not here- 
tofore been presented to the American public in such a manner as to in- 
sure a universal circulation. The numerous abortive imitations of it, 
however, which have appeared from time to time, prove at once the great 
value of the work, and the great difficulty and immense expense of suc- 
cessfully accomplishing such an enterprise. 
The undersigned having pu.chased the Stereotype plates, with the 
Engravings, of the London edition of the above-named work, has com- 
menced its republication in the city of New York. The whole work 
consists of about 4000 large imperial octavo pages, and is Illustrated with 
2000 Engravings. The original cost of the Stereotyping and Engraving 
to the London publishers, was $25,000. The American Re-issue is print 
ed on good paper, and well done up in handsome paper covers, and is- 
sued in 
24 PARTS, AT 25 CENTS EACH. 
The Parts average 170 pages each, and are published every other Satur- 
day. It is an exact reprint of the London edition, without alteration or 
abridgment. The Work is sold by all dealers in Books and cheap Lit- 
4 erature, throughout the United States. 
The Work may be had, bound in EIGHT VOLUMES-price 
O Eight Dollars ; and, in FOUR VOLUMES-price Seven Dollars and ® 
g Fifty Cents. BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
W. F. P. NAPIER, C.B., COL. 43D REG., &c. 
HISTORY OF THE 
WAR IN THE PENINSULA, 
AND IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, 
FROM THE YEAR 1807 TO 1814. 
Complete in one vol.. 8vo. Price Three Dollars. 
" Napier's history is regarded by the critics as one of the best narratives 
that has recently been written. His style is direct, forcible, and impetuous, 
carrying the reader along often in spile of himself, through scenes of the 
most stirring interest and adventures full of excitement. Many of the most 
distinguished and remarkable men of European history figure in these pages, 
and are sketched with great distinctness of outline Napoleon. Wellington, 
Sir John Moore, Ney, Murat, and others, are the characters of the drama 
which Napier describes."-Evening Mirror. 
"We believe the Literature of War has not received a more valuable 
augmentation this century than Col. Napier's justly celebrated wo.k. Though 
a gallant combatant in the field, he is an impartial historian ; he exposes the 
errors committed on each side, refutes many tales of French atrocity and 
rapine, and does not conceal the revolting scenes of drunkenness, pillage, 
c:, ravishment, and wanton slaughter, which tarnished the lustre of the British 
T arms in those memorable campaigns. We think no civilian chronicler of the Y 
ffl events of this desperate contest has been so just to the adversary of his na- kr 
0 tion as has this stern warrior."-Tribune. 
" Napier's History, in addition to its superior literary merits and truth- 
ful fidelity, presents strong claims upon the attention of all American 
citizens ; because the author is a large-souled philanthropist, and an inllex- 
ible enemy to its ecclesiastical tyranny and secular despots; while his pic- 
T < tures of Spain, and his portrait of the rulers in that degraded and wretched 
2g country, form a virtual sanction of our Republican institutions, far more S* 
O powerful than any direct eulogy."-Post. O 
w " The excellency of Napier's History results from the writer's happy EM 
J talent for impetuous, straight forward, soul-stirring narrative and picturing i 
" forth of characters. The military manceuvre, march, and fiery onset, the T 
whole whirlwind vicissitudes of the desperate fight, he describes with dra- 
matic force."-Merchants' Magazine. 
"The reader of Napier's History finds many other attractions, besides the 
narrative of battles, marches, plunder, ravages, sieges, skirmishes, and 
slaughter-for he learns the dreadful evils of a despotic government-the 
inherent corruption of the entire system of European monarchies-the popu- 
lar wretchedness which ever accompanies the combination of a lordly, hier- 
archical tyranny with the secular authority, and the assurance that the ex- 
tinction of both are essential to the peace and welfare of mankind. All 
these lessons are derived from Napier's History, which, in connexion with 
its literary excellence, and the accuracy of its details, render all other rec- 
ommendations utterly superfluous. It is a large, neat, and cheap volume." 
L. I. Star. 
EDWARD GIBBON. 
HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL 
OF 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE; 
( A new edition, revised and corrected throughout, preceded by a Pref- 
ace, and accompanied by Notes, critical and historical relating prin- T 
da cipally to the propagation of Christianity. By M. F. Guizot, Minis- A 
® ter of Public Instruction of France. 
In two vols., 8vo. Price Five Dollars.  -8~«^ 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
-e-oc ©-os- ® 
SAMUEL DICKSON, M.D., 
LATE A MEDICAL OFFICER ON THE BRITISH STAFF. 
THE PRINCIPLES 
OF THE 
CHR-ONO-THERMAL SYSTEM OF MEDICINE: 
WITH 
FALLACIES OF THE FACULTY. 
In a Series of Lectures, originally delivered in 1840, at the Egyptian Hall 
Piccadilly, Loudon. Now enlarged and improved; by Samuel Dick- 
son, M.D. Late a Medical Officer on the British Staff. First Ameri- 
can, from the third London (people's) edition: 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, 
BY WM. TURNER, M.D., 
LATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW 
YORK-MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK MEDICAL SOCIETY, &.C. 
1 Vol. 8vo. Price 75 cents. T 
® "Dear Sir: I thank you most sincerely for your valuable work. I have kjJ 
% not the least objection to being unchemical, if I can be useful; and I agree 
ri with you, that the living stomach is not a wedgewood mortar Yours, truly, fA 
" Dr. Dickson." " ASTLEY COOPER. g® 
" London.-My Dear Sir:-I have read with the greatest delight your 
Fallacies of the Faculty. Every word ought to be written in LETTERS OF Tf 
GOLD. Yours faithfully, Sa 
W " Da. Dickson." "M. FOGARTY. O 
T " This work establishes the identity of Poison and Medicine, and proves y 
co to demonstration that attention to time (Chronos; and Temperature (Therma) A, 
comprehends the whole art of Physic. Favorable to Hydropathy, it deals 
tenderly with Homceopathy : while the Apothecary will find it a rich treat, 
being a complete death-blow to the drugging and drenching system."-Lon- 
don Medical Times. 
"The Chrono-thermal system of medicine, issued by Dr.Dickson, under 
the auspices of Dr. Wm. Turner of New York, is a curious eccentric and 
able production, full of new views and curious facts upon the interesting 
subject of medical science. Although enthusiastic, as are all the discove- 
ries of new systems, yet he sustains all his assertions by facts. Time and 
observation will doubtless add to its claims upon the careful consideration of 
medical men."-Sun. 
"Dr. Dickson's Lectureswill make a sensation. They will startle the 
medical community by their irreverence, amuse the people by their ruthless 
stripping of its hieroglyphics, and be read everywhere and by every man 
diseased, from him who is subject to the tooth-ache to the victim of the most 
complicated ailments-for all are claimed to be resolvable to one type. The 
book will make smatterers out of the ignorant, and set the educated to 
wondering what they have been about all their lives. We recommend every 
body to read it."- U. S. Saturday Post. 
" This is a curious book. In the course of it a vast number of medical 
anecdotes and facts, are introduced. We are half inclined in many places 
to imagine that he [the author] studied English under Wm. Cobbett. By no co 
i other writer, since the decease of that original, have we been so forcibly re- ? 
® minded of him. With more polish of style, he has all his bluntness, much ® 
of his humor, equal directness, and more than a mere infusion of impu- ® 
A dence."- Courrier. g 
• ^28^-8- 
VC 1 A O w Q  8- 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
it -@G3- || 
Books for Sabbath Schools. 
do co 
THE EARLY LIFE OF CHRIST, 
AN EXAMPLE TO YOUTH. 
BY HENRY MARCH. 
WITH A PREFACE AND INDEX BY AN AMERICAN PREACHER. 
One vol., 18mo. Price 20 cents 
EASTERN ARTS AND ANTIQUITIES, 
REPRINTED FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. 
WITH 130 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Price 75 cents. 
BIBLE QUADRUPEDS. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH 16 SPLENDID ENGRAVINGS. 
Price 75 cents. 
„ THE c? 
X CHILD'S PRAYER AND HYMN BOOK. £ 
O FOR THE USE OF FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS. ® 
BY THE AUTHOR OF "MAMMA'S BIBLE STORIES." 
Price 31 cents. Ms 
" It should be in the hands of every mother."-Lady's Companion. ScK 
" To bring' up a child properly teach them early to pray."-Sabbath School Eg 
S' Monitor. o 
RJ " Full of fervent piety."-Christian Intelligencer. _ M 
T J. HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE, $ 
HOURS OF MEDITATION AND DEVO- 
TIONAL. REFLECTION, 
ON THE 
RELIGIOUS, MORAL, AND SOCIAL DUTIES OF LIFE. 
Translated by James D. Haas. 
In one vol., 12mo. Price 50 cents. 
" For purity of sentiment, elevated and ennobling reflection, and true 
Christian earnestness, we have met with nothing for a long time that pleas- 
ed us so well. The original work from which the Essays have been selected, 
' Die Studen der Undacht,' has had an immense circulation in Germany and 
Switzerland, having reached a twenty-third edition-in all more than 200,000 
copies."-Tribune. 
"The style is simple, earnest, and the tone of the work that of a highly 
spiritual Christianity, such as we believe to be, all outer garments and im- 
pediments removed, the hidden secrets of the power alike of the Roman 
Catholic and the Reformed Churches. Certain we are that this work and 
others like it, coming from a truly honest man, who has derived his wisdom 
from his own life, may be read with profit by every sincere religious man, 
os by whatever name he calls himself."-Morning News. 
" " \vE ilave perused this volume of miscellaneous Essays with much satis- i 
W faction. The subjects are neither trite, nor discussed in a commonplace man- W 
o ner. The author is a sagacious inspector, not. only of the great world without, 
g but also of the ' little world within.' Evening Post. ■.8W# 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
^®e o-a-8- 
A BOOK ADDRESSED TO THOSE WHO THINK. f 
> RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
RESEARCHES AND OBSERVATIONS ON 
SCROFULOUS DISEASES; 
BY J. G. A. LUGOL, 
PHYSICIAN TO THE HOSPITAL ST. LOUIS, &C., &C, 
Translated from the French, 
BY A. SIDNEY DOANE, A.M., M.D. 
One vol. 12mo. Price One Dollar. 
The present work has been composed at the close of a brilliant 
and successful medical career of more than thirty years' duration, 
throughout which M. Lugol has almost exclusively directed his atten- 
tion to the intricate and extensive subject of scrofulous disease. To 
naturally strong and untiring powers of observation be has added oppor- 
tunities of prosecuting his investigations, such as rarely fall to the lot of 
one individual. He has been now more than twenty years physician to 
an institution which, from its size and number of inmates, may be said 
V to resemble a town rather than an hospital; and in this extensive field y 
(he has had the superintendence of one hundred and fifty beds, con- & 
stantly filled with all possible varieties of scrofulous disease. 
; The out patient department also of the Hospital St. Louis is incon- gg 
A ceivably extensive; pitiable and loathsome objects, of all ages and cJgA> 
degrees of infirmity, there daily crowd around him for the benefit of an 
experience which is only equalled by his urbanity and kindness of 
. ? heart. In addition to this, M. Lugol has for thirty years enjoyed one 
of the most extensive private practices in Paris ; he has there long been w 
the chief authority upon the subject of scrofula, and has numbered M 
5 among his patients the wealthy and titled classes of every European £ 
country. The observations, therefore, which he commenced among the c° 
poor have been re-observed among the rich; and, he has ascertained 
that they are both in an equal degree amenable to the great curse of 
civilized nations, and neither the luxury of the one nor the misery of 
the other is able to effect any important modification in its manifestations. 
With such opportunities of study, it is scarcely necessary to urge 
.upon the reader the importance which should be attached to the opinions 
announced in his book ; they are the opinions of perhaps the only man 
in Europe who is capable of doing justice to a subject of such immense 
interest as is that of the causes of scrofulous diseases. 
Dr. A. Sidney Doane, the American translator of Lugol, enjoyed the 
i opportunity of seeing this illustrious man at his own hospital, and having 
been too for three years at the head of the large hospital of the Laz- 
zaretto of the port of New York, has had ample opportunity of veri- 
i fying many of the statements of Lugol, while his extensive translations 
from the French which have been received extremely well, afford a 
guarantee of the correctness of the American version. 
Of all the diseases to which mankind are subject, none is more com- 
mon, more fatal, or more generally overlooked, than Scrofula. Con- 
w sidered in its fullest extent, it is said to affect in a greater or less de- 
y gree nearly one half of the human race, which is so peculiarly marked 
as to constitute almost a specific variety of the human species. X 
It commences its ravages even before birth; causing many if the ® 
spontaneous miscarriages to which females are subject, and afte* jirth, 
p it causes many diseases, the true sources of which have until »*«ntly 
^068^-8- BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. g 
B -§©-© B 
T been overlooked. In early infancy the children of scrofulous parents T 
co are liable to much suffering and danger. The process of Teeth, ng which co 
generally progresses well with the children of healthy parents, causes 
much anxiety and difficulty in the scrofulous infant, and causes in them 
fits and eruptions of the skin. A year or two later and the child be- 
comes affected with Worms. The eyes become sore, the ears discharge, 
and the glands or kernels are perceived under the arms, in the throat, 
&c. Scrofula causes also Whiteswelling, and is a common cause of 
Dropsy of the Brain. 
Every one knows that Consumption is considered the pest, the 
plague-spot of America. Scarcely a family escapes its fatal ravages, and 
nearly every one can call to mind some near dear friend or relative who 
has been cut off by this fatal and sleepless malady, and yet how few 
refer it to its true cause, Scrofula. How little, too. is a scrofulous affec- 
tion considered in forming that most important of all earthly connexions, 
the marriage tie. How little regard is paid to the health of those who 
embark together upon the great voyage of life, and whose good or bad 
constitution will exercise an important influence upon their offspring; 
for scrofula is a disease which can be inherited, and which is transmis- 
sible from parents to children. There are many persons who enjoy a 
tolerable degree of health, but who have been subject, in childhood, to 
enlarged glands, sore eyes, or some other forms of scrofula. These per- 
sons do not hesitate to marry, and yet according to Lugol they are sei- 
X dom in a condition to have a healthy progeny. Lugol too considers (i 
o early marriages to be a fruitful source of the propagation of scrofu- M 
lous diseases, and so too with those who are more advanced in life. A ® 
JocL long chapter, p. xiv. 
Considered in these different lights, " Lugol's Researches" is the most 
important book which has been issued for many years from the Ameri- 
VT can press. And if it be read faithfully, and its directions regarded, it can w 
W not but be of immense benefit to the American people. To guard against 
M an evil or to provide a remedy for it, its nature must first be fully un- M 
T derstood. The evils of scrofula are fully discussed in Lugol, which J 
c» can not be circulated too extensively. c? 
A long chapter is devoted to the consideration of the important sub- 
ject of the marriage of scrofulous subjects. The author believes that 
married life is highly detrimental in scrofula, and adduces many instances, 
more particularly of females, in which the scrofulous predisposition, 
which bad until then lain dormant, was called into activity by the circum- 
stances incidental to that condition. 
The unhappy state of the married scrofulous female is described 
in this chapter, with a fidelity which can not fail to bring to the recol- 
lection of the reader many instances among his own acquaintances. 
Sterility, which has been faithfully discussed by Mondat (on Sterility, 
published by J. S. Redfield), and its accompaniments of vexation and 
envy, is the lot of some ; repeated abortions, inability to nurse, and Hie 
death one after the other of a sickly race of infants, is the prospect of 
others ; in all, a file which might have been tolerable in celibacy, is ren- 
dered by marriage a period of sorrow and suffering. 
That a matrimonial connexion should not be formed by a person 
predisposed to scrofula, without deep deliberation, is admitted by every 
one ; but few are to be found, unfortunately, who will hesitate when the 
• question is one which regards either themselves or their relations. Hu- 
cb man nature and selfishness are inseparable, and if man will seek grati- 4, 
ificatiou even at the risk of his own health or life, it can not be expected X 
that be will be deterred from the pursuit of it by any considerations hav- ® 
iug reference to beings yet unborn. fi