436 Experiments and Observations on the State of the Air, ts’. 
connected with accidental circumstances to be anette no- 
ticed. Observations. 
Though EF did not indulge any sanguine expectations as to the 
benefit likely to result from a chemical examination of the air in 
the Fever Hospitals, I thought the inquiry might be useful. If 
the air in the wards had been found impure, means certainly 
ought to be adopted in order to improve it ; but as this is not the 
case, the very knowledge of the fact may tend to Jnll suspicion 
where it is alive, and create. some degree of confidence in the 
public mind. In this point of view, my investigation may per-. 
haps have some little value, though Iam far from attaching any 
undue importance to it. All my experiments seem to lead to 
this gratifying conclusion, that there is no material difference in. 
the chemical constitution of the air in the crowded fever wards of 
this city, and the atmosphere in places that are very generally 
supposed to be more salubrious. I certainly was not prepared to 
expect this uniformity of result ; but it seems to me to be inti- 
mately connected with the s¢éwation, and more particularly with 
the ventilation, of both Fever Houses. The ,site (as might be 
expected) i is certainly very good in both cases, and the ventila- 
tion, especially in the House of Recovery, seems to be quite un- 
exceptionable. 
The necessity of a thorough ventilation in sick chambers, hos- 
pitals, &c. is universally felt and acknowledged, and the tendency 
of this inquiry is to prove its importance. It shows that the air 
of fever wards crowded with cases of infectious disease may, by 
a well regulated ventilation, still preserve its salubrity. 
Respiration being in all cases a consumption of oxygen or vital 
air; this process, especially i in crowded fever wards, is attended. 
with great loss of oxygen; anda deficiency. of this principle is 
equivalent to an excess of the other two noxious gases, carbonic 
acid and nitrogen. In circumstances where the uniformity in the 
composition of the air is every instant destroyed, it is difficult to 
conceive how it can be momentarily renewed, except by the 
quick and uninterrupted circulation of its parts. Perhaps, a 
thorough ventilation is, of all others, the most simple, and at 
the same time the most effectual means of preserving the salu- 
brity of the air in crowded sick wards; and ventilators on the 
most approved construction, that allow a free ingress and egress 
of the air, and fires that quicken the circulation, would seem to 
be the most efficient methods for securing this desirable object. 
In close moist weather, and in cases when, from different 
causes, the air of crowded sick chambers may be damp, or con- 
tain an excess of aqueous moisture, the use of quick lime in 
powder, I presume, will be found very benelicial ; it will absorb 
the excess $ of moisture, and render the rooms comparatively ae 
or 
