6oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and incontestably prove, from increased demand, the necessity for in- 

 creased supply. 



This view, which we admit to be an extreme one, of ventilation 

 requirements in dwelling-houses, may serve, at least, to impress upon 

 many the advantage of living as much as possible out-of-doors, and of 

 taking some regular exercise. On the other hand, it will certainly 

 show the futility of the petty, peddling expedients adopted under the 

 name of ventilation, when the prevailing apathy is stirred to such an 

 extent as to cause " something to be done," which may be a little 

 better tlian resting content with doing nothing at all. 



What we have said of the indifference, ignorance, or error as to 

 ventilation, has had special reference to the designers of houses " built 

 to look at," and to sell ; but a deficiency so general and complete can- 

 not be ascribed to those only who, while they occupy the position of 

 teachers, are compelled to take their cue from the taught. The edu- 

 cation of public opinion is a delicate process. It is essentially one of 

 action and reaction, requiring concurrence to initiate and cooperation 

 successfully to work out. The illness of the Prince of Wales did 

 much to amend house-drainage, for the torpidity of public opinion 

 gets well aroused when royalty suffers ; and the asphyxiation of a 

 nobleman or the blood-poisoning of a bishop would, no doubt, be a 

 wonderful stimulus to the application of common-sense to house- 

 ventilation. 



The second rule that we lay down relates to the conditions of 

 the supply of the large volume of fresh air we have indicated as neces- 

 sary for perfect health: it must be tempered warmed. No raw, 

 damp, frosty air of an ever-changing temperature ought to have un- 

 controlled and constant ingress to our dwelling. Air out-of-doors is 

 suited to out-of-door habits. It is healthy and bracing when the body 

 IS coated and wrapped, and prepared to meet it, and when excercise 

 can be taken to keep up the circulation ; but to live under cover is to 

 live artificially, and all essential conditions must be dealt with to suit 

 an abnormal state, and all the evils attaching to ventilation, as gener- 

 ally effected, spring from the neglect of this consistency. We admit 

 raw air, and we warm it most at the critical moment when we send it 

 up the chimney ! We freeze our backs and scorch our faces. We sit 

 with our feet in a current of cold air, and our heads are kept in an 

 impui-e atmosphere, vitiated by human lungs, the products of gas-con- 

 sumption, and loaded with animal matter. We have a torrid zone 

 bordered by the hearth-rug, and the arctic regions in the neighbor- 

 hood of the windows and door. Medical men shiver at the abstract 

 idea of violent changes of temperature, but they raise no warning 

 voice against delicate patients being subjected to a variation of 60 in 

 a modern drawing-room. The notion is stereotyped that night air is 

 unwholesome. The casual admission of air during the day is no longer 

 permitted, all known apertures are carefully closed, and, if intention 



