o2 HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY KESIDENGES. 



great, and Pettenkofer, one of the most distinguished German hy- 

 gieniste, has demonstrated the possibility of blowing out a candle 

 through a nine-inch brick wall. 



Walls should be buik double, with an interspace, strengthened 

 occasionally by cross-ties of brick. This will prevent to a great 

 extent the bad results that follow from a driving rain, but it is al- 

 ways well to cover the outer walls with plaster or slate. It is very 

 important to put ventilating brick at frequent intervals just below 

 the level of every floor, so that the joists and other woodwork of 

 both floor and ceiling shall be preserved from damp rot by contin- 

 v ous ventilation from without. 



The style of architecture need not be discussed here, but it is 

 necessary to remind the reader of the following points: 1. That 

 light (and therefore plenty of window space) is essential to health ; 2. 

 That windows, for purposes of ventilation as well as light and 

 cheerfulness, should reach almost to the top of the room, should face 

 the south, southeast, or west, and open at the top and bottom; 3. 

 That no sleeping room should exist in the basement. These are all 

 important points in house construction. But to plan and build in a 

 sanitary sense successfully, drainage, water-supply and ventilation, 

 must be all considered separately and collectively. The chief error 

 of house-building (as of ship-building),even in the present day, con- 

 sists in the fact, that the house is ouilt first, and rendered fit for 

 habitation afterwards; that is to say, drains are put in here, ventilat- 

 ing shafts there, and outlet or inlet pipes anywhere, the result being, 

 as a rule, by no means satisfactory. The size of bed-rooms must of 

 course be governed by circumstances. Make them as large as prac- 

 ticable, but remember that each person should have, for purposes of 

 health, at least 500 cubic feet of air, and as much more as can be 

 given and with ample opportunity for fresh supplies. 



Danger of New Houses One of the many errors which 

 people who build houses are apt to commit is that of living in them, 

 or rather suffering and dying in them, before they are sufficiently 

 dry for occupation. It not unfrequently happens that a man, dis- 

 gusted with the defective sanitary arrangements of the generality of 

 houses, ancient and modern, builds a dwelling for himself and his 

 family, constructed with all the latest improvements, and in his ex- 

 treme anxiety to commence a career of longevity rushes into it be- 

 fore the workmen are^out of it, and while the walls are still satura- 

 ted with moisture. Tne consequences are, as might have been 

 expected: in addition to the architect's charges, the rash owner is 

 called upon to pay within the first few months a further bill to the 

 doctor, and too often to the undertaker also. A house agent, not 

 Jong ago, being asked why the house agency business was so com- 

 monly combined with that of the undertaker, grimly replied that 

 the two "went together;" and on being asked for a further explana- 

 tion, stated that he had found, as an almost invariable rule, that 

 as a house agent, he found a tenant for, a newly -built house, 



