BREATHE PURE AIR. 193 



Finally, after nearly twenty years of suffering according to 

 the common lot of man, I resolved to try the pure-air cure, and 

 from that time to this the windows of my room have been open 

 almost constantly day and night. The result was immediate and 

 striking, and for the last seven years I have not had one serious 

 cold. My sore throats are wholly a thing of the past, and certain 

 other physical derangements not usually associated with colds 

 have also disappeared. 



Like others, I have often to spend hours in crowded rooms. 

 It sometimes happens after such an " exposure/' as I prefer to 

 call it, that I suffer for a day or two from a " head-cold." But in 

 every case so far it has proved to be entirely superficial — a natural 

 and easy throwing off of the poison contracted in that crowded 

 room, followed by no serious effects whatever. 



At this very moment in the house where I live there are twelve 

 persons, every one of whom, except myself and one other, is suffer- 

 ing from the effects of a cold. It certaiidy does look as if the ex- 

 emption I enjoy is due to the exceptional privilege of the pure 

 air to which I constantly treat myself. Perhaps it would help 

 the argument to state that nearly all of my father's large family 

 died of consumption. 



It should be borne in mind that the difference between the air 

 of an ordinary room in which people live and that of the air out- 

 doors is far greater than is generally supposed. Do but think of 

 the emanations that constantly proceed from every object in such 

 a room — carpets, walls, and dra])eries. People say : " Oh, yes, we 

 believe in ventilation. We ojien the windows in the morning 

 and let the air draw through ; and at night we open the doors 

 of our sleeping-rooms. We believe in pure air." And I feel 

 like saying to them : " My dear friends, you know no more of 

 really pure air than the blind mole down in the ground knows 

 of sunlight." 



I w^ould not by any means advise persons who have been liv- 

 ing in a close atmosphere to suddenly sit or sleej) in the draught 

 of an open w^indow. It is only by degrees that such changes can 

 be made with safety. But by degrees they can be made, and why 

 might not most i3eoj)le begin at least to make them ? 



In the town where I live, in Massachusetts, a new system of 

 ventilation required liy the State has recently been put in opera- 

 tion in the high-school building. By means of it thirty cubic feet 

 of air, it is said, are furnished to every pupil every minute. It 

 seems to me this forward step in so vital a matter should be 

 heartily approved by every lover of humanity. 



Meanwhile, it is painfully apparent that multitudes of people, 

 sick with constantly recurring diseases of the lungs and related 

 parts, continue to breathe the old foulness. Is it not worth while 



VOL. XL. — 16 



