NO. _'3 INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE ON HEALTH (J 



windless, warm atmospheres, it is wholly against the health and 

 vigor of the nation. The open fire and wide chimney ensure ventila- 

 tion, the indrawing (if cold outside air. streaky air— -restless currents 

 at different temperatures, which strike the sensory nerves in the skin 

 and prevent monotony and weariness of Spirit. By the old open 

 fires we were heated with radiant heat. The air in the rooms was 

 drawn in cool and variable in temperature. The radiator and hot- 

 air system give us a deadly uniformly heated air — the very condi- 

 tions we find most unsupportable on a close summer's day. 



In Labrador and Newfoundland, Dr. Wakefield tells us, the mor- 

 tality of the fisher folk from tuberculosis is very heavy. It is gener- 

 ally acknowledged to be four per 1,000 of the population per annum, 

 against 1.52 for England and Wales. Some of the Labrador doctors 

 talk of seven and even eight per 1,000 in certain districts. The gen- 

 eral death-rate is a low one. The fishermen fish off shore, work for 

 many hours a day in the fishing season, and live with their families 

 on shore in one-roomed shanties. These shanties are built of wood, 

 the crannies are " stogged " with moss, and the windows nailed up, 

 so that ventilation is very imperfect. They are heated by stoves and 

 kept at a very high temperature, for example, 8o° F. ( )utside in 

 the winter the temperature may be 30 below freezing. The women 

 stay inside the shanties almost all their time, and the tuberculosis 

 rate is somewhat higher in them. The main food is wdiite bread, 

 tea stewed in the pot till black, fish occasionally, a little margarine 

 and molasses. The fish is boiled and the water thrown away. ( iame 

 has become scarce in recent years ; old, dark-colored flour — spoken 

 of with disfavor — has been replaced by white flour. In consequence 

 of this diet beri-beri has become rife to a most serious extent, and 

 the hospitals are full of cases. We (M. F. and L. H.) have found by 

 our feeding experiments that rats, mice, and pigeons cannot be main- 

 tained on white bread and water, but can live on whole meal or on 

 white bread in which we incorporate an extract of the sharps and 

 bran in sufficient amount. Recent work has shown the vital impor- 

 tance of certain active principles present in the outer layers of wdieat, 

 rice, etc., and in milk, meat, etc.. which are destroyed by heating to 

 120 C. A diet of white bread or polished rice and tinned food 

 sterilized by heat is the cause of beri-beri. The metabolism is en- 

 dangered by the artificial methods of treating foods now in vogue. 

 A.s to the prevalency of tuberculosis in Labrador, we have to con- 

 sider the inter-marriage, the bad diet, the over-rigorous work of the 

 fishermen, the over-heating of, and the infection in, the shanties. 



