52 HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY RESIDENCES. 



sumption; it also deserves the attention of those who are healthy, 

 and desire to maintain that condition unimpaired in themselves and 

 their children. We advise, if possible, a country residence, and the 

 selection of a house so constructed as to secure dryness of the 

 foundation walls and roof. The site should be dry a gentle slope, 

 a gravel soil and the frontage generally southerly or easterly; the 

 bedrooms, especially those appropriated to cases of sickness, should 

 have this aspect. It should also be a site from which there is 

 thorough drainage, but toward which there is none. If the 

 house is not upon a slope, the artificial drainage must be perfect. 

 In towns and crowded places, in which the accumulation of decom- 

 posing and decomposed animal and vegetable matter is great, artifi- 

 cial channels or drains must be so constructed that all noxious 

 matters and vapors may be rapidly removed and carried to a dis- 

 tance, before they can decompose and impregnate the atmosphere 

 and water with their vicious poisons. Every dwelling, to be whole- 

 some, should be accessible to the free passage of currents of air, 

 and provided with an unlimited supply of good water. In the 

 choice of a site for a house, a locality should oe avoided in which 

 the water is impregnated with lead, iron, or other mineral substan- 

 ces, or in proximity to stagnant waters ; the ground should be above 

 the level of the mist or vapor which rises after sunset in marshy 

 and other districts. In short, the fundamental condition of healthy 

 dwelling-places is perfect purity of air and water ; this must take 

 precedence of all other considerations. The cause of the spread 

 and fatality of all the plagues of the middle ages in the Eastern 

 nemisphere was neglect of the conditions necessary to secure pure 

 air and cleanliness. 



Surroundings Other points of subordinate importance 

 may be glanced at. The house snould not be too closely surrounded 

 by trees, or in immediate proximity to thick woods, as they both 

 attract and retain moisture, while they exclude much sunlight, and 

 prevent evaporation and also the free circulation of air, and thus 

 render the climate cold, damp, and consequently unhealthy. A 

 cheerful situation, at the same time commanding the view of green 

 trees, hedges, shrubs, etc., has a beneficial tendency. If compelled 

 to live in a town, the house should face a park, square, or other 

 open place, or at least be situated in a wide, airy street, with cheer- 

 ing pleasant views. Lastly, a house should contain adequate bath 

 arrangements, or at least provision for free personal ablutions. 



Some who read these pages may not have it in their power to 

 carry out these hints fully, but be compelled to live where their 

 occupations, families, or means determine; nevertheless, even such 

 may oe benefited by these suggestions; for, although they cannot 

 secure perfection in a house or situation, they may aim at an ap- 

 proximation to it. 



It is true that many of our readers may be prevented, by 

 circumstances, from selecting the kind of house which would most 



