NO. 23 INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE ON HEALTH 53 



THE HEAT AND RELATIVE MOISTURE 



No less than thirty years ago Hermans ' found the evidence in 

 regard to the had effect of the chemical impurities insufficient, and 

 suggested that the results of had ventilation are thermal in origin. 

 Susceptible individuals suffer from oppression, headache, sickness, 

 and may faint under certain conditions in crowded rooms. The 

 symptoms resemble those experienced in the open air on excessively 

 hot and humid days. The axillary temperature may be raised O.3 

 to o.6° C. in a hot theater. Heat and moisture increase very greatly 

 in crowded places where the occupants are jammed together and 

 the usual channels of dissipation of body heat are checked. Flannel 

 and linen garments may increase in weight 13 to 14 per cent. The 

 wetness of the clothes increases the unpleasant feelings and the 

 danger of chill on coming out of warm rooms into the outer air. 



Under the direction of Fliigge 2 a series of admirable experiments 

 have been carried out on this question in the Institute of Hygiene in 

 Breslau by Heymann, Paul, and Ercklentz. 



Normal individuals were placed in a cabinet of 3 cubic meters 

 capacity, and shut within it for periods up to four hours until the 

 CO a percentage rose to from 1.0 to 1.5. No symptoms of illness or 

 discomfort were felt and the chemical impurity of the air had no 

 influence on the power to carry out ergographic tests or mental 

 computations so long as the temperature and moisture of the air 

 were kept low. Paul shut a man in the chamber for 4^ hours. 

 The temperature rose to 24 C, the relative humidity to 89 per cent, 

 the CO a to 1.2 per cent. He was very uncomfortable. Those who, 

 from outside the chamber, breathed the air in through a mouthpiece, 

 felt no discomfort. Immediate discomfort was felt by one who 

 went into the chamber. In another experiment the temperature was 

 30. 2 C, relative humidity 87 per cent, C( )._, 1.1 per cent. Symptoms 

 of discomfort were pronounced although the subject breathed pure 

 air from outside through a mouthpiece. The symptoms were allayed 

 by a fan which impelled the air in the chamber at a rate of a few 

 meters per second. 



When the chamber was cooled to 17 C. there were no symptoms 

 of discomfort although the C0 2 rose to 1.6 per cent. Ercklentz found 

 that the sensitivity of patients to close air is wholly due to tempera- 



^rch. f. Hygiene, Vol. 1, 1883, p. 1. 



"Xtsclir. f. Hygiene, Vol. 49, 1905, pp. 363, 388, 405, 433. 



