WARMING AND VENTILATION. 



139 



"In daring to commit such cases to the public," 

 saj's the benevolent and enthusiastic Bediloes, "I 

 feel that I am preparing a feast for those who re- 

 sort to ridicule, if not as a test of truth, yet as the 

 supreme delight of rational and immortal minds; 

 but I hope also to interest those whom no ludicrous 

 accessories can prevent from viewing with com- 

 placency the first awkward and unsteady advances 

 towards an useful object." 



A daughter of the celebrated Priestly having 

 applied for advice : In her case, to liavc placed the 

 smallest reliance on medicine," says the doctor, 

 " would have been to encourage a fatal delusion; 

 and there only remained the choice between a sea- 

 voyage and a constant residence with cows. She 

 asked me which alternative I should prefer in her 

 situation. I told her luidoubtedly with cows." 

 And she made the experiment under his direction. 



The stable provided for this lady was twenty- 

 four feet long, fourteen feet wide, and nine feet 

 high. A space partitioned off, was sufficient to 

 contain a bed, a table, and allow a little room to 

 move about in. Its floor, formed of rough boards, 

 was raised a few inches above the ground of the 

 stable. The windows were ill-placed; they faced 

 the north, on account of the convenience of com- 

 municating with the house. They should have faced 

 the south. 



Two cows were placed in it for a month, and 

 three cows for the remaining five months. There 

 was a small stove in the part where Mrs. Finch 

 lay, which was used for two months, for nearly 

 half the day, but afterwards only in extreme frost, 

 or on the room feeling damp. 



The temperature for two months was kept from 

 60o to 65o, afterwards from 65o to 70o, but in gene- 

 ral at 680. The temperature was found best be- 

 tween the two latter temperatures, and the air at 

 a medium between excessive damp and too dry 

 heat of a stove. The stove lighted in the morn- 

 ing to drj- a little of the moisture collected during 

 the night was pleasantest to her feelings. Succes- 

 sive generations of flies were found to be a great 

 nuisance, and the cordage and other parts of the 

 bed were speedily rotted. The vapors however 

 gave nobody cold, nor did any attendant suffer from 

 a longer or shorter continuance in a medium so 

 much warmer than the external atmosphere. On 

 the contrary, one lady who paid many and long 

 visits, had her symptoms of chronic rheumatism 

 much alleviated. 



The management of the cows was found to l)e a 

 matter of some importance. For a month or six 

 weeks they were allowed very little straw, nor 

 was tlieir standing cleaned; afterwards they had 

 l)lenty of straw, and their beds were kept tolera- 

 bly dry. Hay of the best quality anil free from 

 dust, was found j)referable on all accounts, and 

 straw that was clean and dry. The cows were 

 watered twice a day, but not so sparingly as they 

 might have been. The better the hay they were 

 supplied with, the less water was necessary. 

 Tlieir horns were noisy, particularly during the 

 night; on that account young cows witliout horns 

 would have been more desirable, and such as were 

 young in calf; and halters better than chains to 

 tie them with. 



Mr. Finch observed, that if the patient could 

 have been on a low floor above the cows, many 

 disagreeable circumstances would have been 

 avoided. 



The effect of their wet was all along nauseous 

 to a stranger, but the feelings of the patient should 

 alone be consulted. The genial warmth relieved 

 oppression on the chest, took off restlessness, and 

 produced a feeling the lady described by compar- 

 ing it to nourishment conveyed through the pores 

 of the skin; and so different were her feelings in 

 the cow-house to what they were before, that she 

 would have been reluctant to have changed her 

 apartment for the night, however she might have 

 wished a cleaner and more cheerful one for the 

 day. After the first night, the air was to use her 

 own expression, balsamic. 



In this she remained through autumn and winter, 

 for six months, with three exceptions. About a 

 week after her entrance, she slept a night out of 

 the cow-house, when the hectic symptoms and 

 night sweats which had left her returned. Six 

 weeks afterwards, she lived for three da}-s in an 

 apartment 3o warmer than the cow-house. The 

 night-sweats did not return until the third night, 

 and her breathing became laborious; instanta- 

 neous relief took placeon returning to the cow- 

 house. On a subsequent removal for a week no 

 relapse occurred. 



The effect on the cows living in a climate at this 

 temperature was not observed by the doctoi", but 

 it is pleasing to reflect that while alleviating hu- 

 man suffering, the second mothers of mankind were 

 benefitted themselves. '< A cow," says Anderson, 

 to enjo3' existence, requires a temperature not low- 

 er than oQo, nor higher than 70o." But he sets 

 one limit too low: a cow does not appear to feel 

 pleasure in a climate under 60f ; and we have seen 

 them in a northeasterly wind prefer a moist warm 

 cow-house at 75" to one lOo lower. 



During the following winter, Mrs. Finch con- 

 fined herself to an apartment heated artificially by 

 a stove; but she then said, "I still prefer the air 

 of the cow-house to my warm room, although it 

 is of a good size, and lies to the sun." [Vol. II., 

 p. 291.] 



A detailed account is given of all the 

 most remarkable modes of heating apart- 

 ments by stoves, open fire-places and grates, 

 of the last century or two, including Dr. 

 Franklin's " Pennsylvania stove," and the 

 celebrated Count Rnmford's various im- 

 provements in burning fuel. The neatly 

 executed diagrams which accompany the 

 text, give one, in a small space and at a 

 o-lance, a very excellent idea of the con- 

 struction of the different apparatus. The 

 chapters on heating by steam and hot water, 

 are very interesting, both in a historical and 



