NO. 23 INFLUENCE OF MMOSPHERE ON HEALTH >3 



action, was the same tens of thousands of \ ears ag' 1 as n< w. I< »r ages 

 primitive man lived as a wild animal in tropical climes ; he discovered 

 how to make fire, clothe himself in skins, build shelters, and so en- 

 able himself to wander over the temperate and arctic zones. Finall) . 

 in the last few score of years, he has made houses draughtless with 

 glass windows, fitted them with stoves and radiators, and every kind 

 of device to protect himself from cold, while he occupies himself in 

 the sedentary pursuits and amusements of a city life. How much 

 better, to those who know the boundless horizon of life, to be a 

 frontiersman and enjoy the struggle, with body hardened, perfectly 

 tit, attuned to nature, than to be a cashier condemned to the occupa- 

 tion of a sunless, windless pay-box. The city child, however, 

 nurtured and educated in confinement, knows not the largeness and 

 wonders of nature, is used to the streets with their ceaseless move- 

 ment and romantic play of artificial light after dark, and does not 

 need the commiseration of the country mouse any more than the 

 beetle that lives in the dark and animated burrows of his heap. But 

 while outdoor work disciplines the body of the countryman into 

 health, the town man needs the conscious attention and acquired 

 educated control of his life to give him any full measure of health 

 and happiness. 



CHEMICAL PURITY OK THE AIR 

 THE OXYGEN 

 Experimental evidence is strongly in favor of our argument that 

 the chemical purity of the air is of no importance. 



Russell 1 gives the average percentage of oxygen as follows : 



In the open country or sea ^i.<>^ 



1 n the streets of London -' '-888 



Backs of houses 20.70 



Alines 20-18.2 



Pit of a theater, 11.30 p. m 2074 



Court of Queen's Bench 20.65 



Chemical Theater (Sorbonne) (before and after lecture ) 20.2& 19.86 



Cow house 20 -75 



Analyses show that the oxygen in the worst-ventilated schoolroom, 

 chapel, or theater is never lessened by more than 1 per cent of an 

 atmosphere ; the ventilation through chink and cranny, chimney, 

 door and window, and the porous brick wall, suffices to prevent a 



l F. A. R. Russell: The Atmosphere in Relation to Human Life and Health. 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 39, 1806. Pub. No. [072. 



