204 



THE FAVORITE POISON OF AMERICA. 



The first transatlantic secret of health, is a 

 much longer time passed daily in the open air 

 b}' all classes of people ; the second, the better 

 modes of heating and ventilating the rooms in 

 which they live. 



Regular daily exercise in the open air, both 

 as a duty and a pleasure, is something looked 

 upon in a very different light on the two dif- 

 ferent sides of the Atlantic. On this side of 

 the water, if a person — say a professional 

 man, or a merchant — is seen regularly de- 

 voting a certain portion of the day to exer- 

 cise, and the preservation of his bodily powers, 

 he is looked upon as a valetudinarian, — an 

 invalid, who is obliged to take care of him- 

 self, poor soul ! and his friends daily meet 

 him with sympathising looks, hoping he "feels 

 better," etc. As for ladies, unless there is 

 some object in taking a walk, they look upon 

 it as the most stupid and unmeaning thing in 

 the world. 



On the other side of the water, a person who 

 should neglect the pleasure of breathing the free 

 air for a couple of hours daily, or should shun 

 the duty of exercise, is suspected of slight 

 lunacy ; and ladies who should prefer continu- 

 ally to devote their leisure to the solace of luxu- 

 rious cushions, rather than an exhilerating ride 

 or walk, are thought a little tite montee. 

 What, in short, is looked upon as a virtue 

 there, is only regarded as a matter of fancy 

 here. Hence, an American generally shivers, 

 in an air that is only grateful and bracing to 

 an Englishman, and looks blue, in Paris, in 

 weather when the Parisians sit with the case- 

 ment windows of their saloons wide open. 

 Yet it is, undoubtedly, all a matter of habit ; 

 and we Yankees, (we mean those of us not 

 forced to "rough it,") with the toughest natu- 

 ral constitutions in the world, nurse ourselves, 

 as a people, into the least robust and most 

 susceptible physiques in existence. 



So much for the habit of exercise in the 

 open air. Now let us look at our mode of 



warming and ventilating our dwellings ; for 

 it is here that the national poison is engen- 

 dered, and here that the ghostly expression is 

 begotten. 



However healthy a person may be, he can 

 neither look healthy, nor remain in sound 

 health long, if he is in the habit of breathing 

 impure air. As sound health depends upon 

 pure blood, and there can be no pure blood 

 in one's veins if it is not re-purified continu- 

 ally by the action of fresh air upon it, through 

 the agency of the lungs (the whole purpose of 

 breathing, being to purify and vitalize the 

 blood,) it follows, that if a nation of people 

 will, from choice, live in badly ventilated 

 rooms, full of impure air, they must become 

 pale and sallow in complexions. It may not 

 largely affect the health of the vien, who are 

 more or less called into the open air by their 

 avocations, but the health of women, {ergo 

 the constitutions of children,) and all those 

 who are confined to rooms or offices heated in 

 this way, must gradually give way under the 

 influence of the poison. Hence, the delicacy 

 of thousands and tens of thousands of the 

 sex in America.* 



" And how can you satisfy me," asks some 

 blind lover of stoves, " that the air of a room 

 heated by a close stove is deleterious. 1" Very 

 easily indeed, if you will listen to a few 

 words of reason. 



It is well established that a healthy man 

 must have about a pint of air at a breath ; 

 that he breathes above a thousand times in an 

 hour ; and that, as a matter beyond dispute, 

 he requires ahout Jifiy-seveyi hogsheads of air 

 in twentj'-four hours. 



Besides this, it is equally well settled, that 

 as common air consists of a mixture of two 

 gases, one healthy (oxygen,) and the other 

 unhealthy (nitrogen,) the air we have once 



* We have said that the present generation of stove-reared 

 farmer's daughters are pale and delicate in appearance. We 

 may add. that the most lieallhy and bloomins: looliinij Ameri- 

 can women are those of certain families where exercise, and 

 fresh air. and ventilation, arc matters of conscience and duly 

 here as in Europe. 



