farmers' houses. 325 



sleeper. "When there is only one openmg into a room from oiit-doors, the 

 physical law which governs tlic atmo.'^phere operates so that the warm, impure 

 air goes outward at the upper part of the opening, Avhile the pure air from without 

 comes in below. This may be proven any winter's night by placing a lighted 

 candle or other flame at the lower opening, when the flame will turn inward ; 

 if put at the top it Avill tend outward. 



If a neglect of these things were invariably followed by death before morn- 

 ing, attention to them would be compelled. But, although the deleterious ef- 

 fects do not thus speedily and impressively follow, they do inevitably result 

 to all persons under all circumstances ; coming on slowly, it is true, but none 

 the less surely and disastrously. To show what a little taint in the atmos- 

 phere not natural to it may affect the Avholc system, it is only necessary to 

 state an observed f ict, that a man who sleeps near a poppy field, with the wind 

 blowing towards him from the field, will die before morning. A canary bird, 

 in its cage, hung to the ceiling of a curtained bed where thei-e were two 

 sleepers, was found dead in the morning. Professor Carpenter, the first physi- 

 ologist in Great Britain, ascertained that an atmosphere containing six per cent. 

 of carbonic acid gas would produce immediate death ; and that less than half 

 that amount would prove fatal in a short time. But every expiration of a sleeper 

 brings out Avith it some portion of carbonic acid gas, and disperses it through 

 the room; and if six per cent, of carbonic acid gas will cause speedy death, the 

 effects of breathing it nightly, even in very small quantities, for twenty or 

 thirty years, cannot be otherwise than pernicious to the whole system, must 

 lower the standard of human health, and materially shorten life. 



But not only is the air in a close room thus constantly being impregnated 

 with carbonic acid gas to the amount of about twenty-eight cubic inches per 

 minute for each adult sleeper, but the lungs and pores of the skin are con- 

 stantly discharging an equal amount by weight — that is, three and a half 

 pounds in twenty-four hours — of effete, decaying animal substance, in the form 

 of invisible vapor, which we often see condensed in drops upon the window 

 glass of crowded rooms, rail cars, or other vehicles. These drops, if collected 

 and evaporated, have been found to leave a thick, putrid mass of animal mat- 

 ter, Avhich is believed to be quite as injurious as carbonic acid gas if breathed 

 into the lungs ; but if not at all injurious, the idea must be abhorrent to every 

 feeling of purity of taking such a substance into our bodies, and incorporating 

 it into the very blood which is at the next instant to be dashed to the lips and 

 tongue for food and nutriment. 



In the winter of 18G0 a man named Robertson, his wife, and three children 

 were in the habit of sleeping in one small, ill-ventilated room. One morning, about 

 five o'clock, the wife woke in a very exhausted state, and found her infant of 

 nine months dead in her arms. She immediately aroused her husband, who 

 had barely strength to get out of bed. They next discovered that their son of 

 three years of age was also dead, and a daughter of nine in an apparently dy- 

 ing condition, but recovered on being removed to another apax-tment. Facts 

 like these show that breathing a bad air for a single night is perilous to life, 

 and ought to have an impressive effect on the mind of every man who has a 

 family when he is contemplating building or arranging for them a home for 

 life. 



Every chamber, then, should be arranged to have a ventilating process go- 

 i\ig on all the time, Avhen it can be done by having an open fireplace in it ; 

 and as there can be no advantage, but a positive injury, resulting from sleep- 

 ing in any room colder than forty degrees above zero of Farenheit, a little fire 

 should be kept burning in the grate or fireplace under such circumstances. 

 This creates a draft up the chimney, and keeps the atmosphere of a sleeping 

 room comparatively pure. In cases of sickness, where an actual fire cannot be 

 kept, an admirable substitute will be found in placing a large lamp in the fire- 



