92 AIR AND VENTILATION. 



ventilation cannot be had without a way for the egress from the 

 upper part of a room of the impure air, and provision in the lower 

 part for a sufficient supply of fresh air from the external atmos- 

 phere. In the greater number of dwelling-houses no direct provision 

 at all has been made for this purpose, and the only ventilation ob- 

 tained is due to the imperfect fittings of the windows and doors. The 

 floor:; are covered with carpets, the windows and doors made as im- 

 jpervious as possible to the air, and in the ceilings no apertures 

 exist for the escape of carbonic-acid gas. From this all classes of 

 the community suffer almost equally. 



Airy Sleeping-Rooms The fact that carbonic acia gas 

 endangers health and life shows the importance of making provision 

 for its uninterrupted removal from our houses and places of assem- 

 bly, and above all, from our sitting rooms and sleeping-rooms. Airy, 

 well-ventilated sleeping-appartments should be ranked with the 

 most important requirements of life, both in health and disease. 

 Bed-rooms, in which about one-third of human existence is passed, 

 are generally too small, and are crowded and badly ventilated. The 

 doors, windows, and even chimneys, are often closed, and every 

 aperture carefully guarded so as to exclude fresh air. The conse- 

 quence is, that long before morning dawns the atmosphere of the 

 whole apartment becomes highly injurious, from the consumption 

 of its oxygen, the formation of carbonic-acid and the exhalations 

 from the lungs and the relaxed skin. In an atmosphere thus loaded 

 with effluvia the sleep is heavy and unrefreshing. There are some 

 diseases in which the cause of death is simply the accumulation of 

 carbonic-acid gas in the blood; and this condition is brought about 

 to any person m some degree, in every badly ventilated bed-room. 

 If provision were made for the admission of fresh air and the escape 

 of impure air the sleep would be lighter, shorter and more invigor- 

 ating. In most cases the door of the bed-room may be left open, 

 and the upper part of the window let down a few inches more or 

 less according to the state of the weather with perfect safety. 

 Currents of air may be kept off the face of the sleeper by placing 

 the bed in a proper situation, or by suspending a single curtain from 

 the ceiling. During thick fogs or severe winds the out-door open- 

 ings may oe closed, and ventilation secured from the adjoining 

 hall. 



The importance of the subject is very correctly and very strik- 

 ingly put by a medical writer of the last century: " If any person 

 will take the trouble to stand in the sun and look at his own shadow 

 on a plastered wall, he will easily perceive that his whole body is a 

 Bmpking mass of corruption, with a vapor exhaling from every part 

 of it. This vapor is subtile, acrid and offensive to the smell; if 

 retained in the body it becomes morbid; but if re-absorbed, highly 

 deleterious. If a number of persons, therefore, are long confined 

 in any close place not properly ventilated, so as to inspire and swal- 

 low with their spittle the vapors of each other, they must soon feel 



