112 On the use of Peruvian Bark, 



to accompany them, and each cottage (or tent), was iso- 

 lated and separated eighteen yards each way from every 

 other one. 



The rains and hurricanes, which prevailed the begin- 

 ning of December, obliged the officers of health to offer 

 to the sick in these cottages or tents that chose to return 

 to the hospital, but they unanimously determined, unless 

 obliged by violence to do otherwise, to remain where they 

 had experienced the good effect of their situation, both 

 for themselves and their assistants, not one of whom had 

 fallen sick. Such is the enormous difference between 

 the two degrees of ventilation. 



The imperfect construction, the tumultuous and ever- 

 continued interruptions, of the best of these great build- 

 ings, has not a single point of resemblance with the natu- 

 ral and tranquil circulation, which, without ceasing night 

 and day, pierces the innumerable cracks or pores of a tent 

 or cottage. In buildings we continually breathe the very 

 slightest offensive vapors, for at least eight or ten hours 

 every night, when we are obliged to close our doors and 

 windows, but in a cottage, always sufficiently porous and 

 open, the very laws of the circulation of air make it im- 

 possible to retain one moment any of the miasma which 

 escape from the contagious persons or effects, even al- 

 though the door should be shut, and there should be no 

 window. A chamber, in which a single healthy person 

 sleeps one night, smells offensively to any person who 

 from without opens the door suddenly, until it is venti- 

 lated ; and the smoke and smell of a single cigarr is easily 

 preserved, and for a long time, in an apartment plastered 



