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business away from home, and being seldom under its 

 roof, will not listen to complaints of the nuisance, if ever 

 made, little dreaming that the grumblings and snappish- 

 ness he is exposed to proceed from this cause. Habit, too, 

 becomes a kind of second nature, and the dwellers therein get 

 partly unconscious of the contaminated atmosphere, although 

 the debilitated nervous frames, particularly of the mother, and 

 the sallow looks of the children, whether thin or puffed up, 

 wofully tell that something is wrong, besides mere want of 

 food and clothing. The tone of the system being once im- 

 paired, it is evident the cure of other disease, when it settles, 

 must be difficult, and accordingly amidst this class epidemics 

 find their many victims. Moreover, such an atmosphere, 

 with its concomitant discomfort and bad health, is sure to 

 produce a morbid craving for stimulants, and to drive many 

 from home ; thus inducing wandering and vicious habits, which 

 if assisted by times, however temporary, of pinching poverty, 

 no wonder the solace of a gin or ale house, usually airy and 

 and attractive, is sought, and recklessness ensues. 



It is of little use recommending open doors and windows, or 

 placing gratings in walls, when we cannot bear them ourselves, 

 and do every thing to close the smallest crevices against the 

 admission of cold air ; besides, the poor, from bad food and 

 clothing, and living in deteriorated air, are rendered more 

 sensitive. Hence, it is at the hearthstone of the poor, and the 

 very cradle of the infant, that a wholesome surveillance is 

 required ; and, according to the prudence and enthusiasm dis- 

 played, the number will be lessened in our gaols and hospitals, 

 and a saving effected in our fiscal and charitable expenses. 



I am fully aware, it is the destruction and want of a fresh 

 supply of vital air, or oxygen, and the evolving of carbonic 

 acid by respiration, which chiefly debilitate the frames of our 

 working classes, and that it is argued, smoke in itself is 

 not very hurtful to breathe, its presence only acting as a 

 salutary warning for freer ventilation; but most coals contain 



