80 EFFECTS OF DEFICIENT VENTILATION. 



quences of an inadequate supply of ah*. 146 in 

 number were thrust into a confined place, 18 feet 

 square. There were only two very small windows 

 by which air could be admitted, and as both of them 

 were on the same side, ventilation was utterly im- 

 possible. Scarcely was the door shut upon the 

 prisoners when their sufferings commenced, and in 

 a short time a delirious and mortal struggle ensued 

 to get near the windows. Within four hours, those 

 who survived lay in the silence of apoplectic stupor ; 

 and at the end of six hours, ninety-six were relieved 

 by death ! In the morning when the door was opened, 

 23 only were found alive, many of whom were sub- 

 sequently cut off by putrid fever, caused by the dread- 

 ful effluvia and corruption of the air. 



This tremendous example ought not to be lost 

 upon us. If the results arising from the vitiation 

 of the air to an extreme degree be so appalling, we 

 may rest assured that those arising from every 

 lesser degree, although they may be less obvious, 

 are not less certain in their operation. It is, indeed, 

 readily admitted in the abstract, that a constant sup- 

 ply of pure air is indispensable to the healthy per- 

 formance of respiration ; but if we inquire how far 

 this condition is attended to by mankind at large, we 

 shall have no reason to think the present warning 

 unnecessary. I have already noticed (at p. 19) the 

 case of Captain Ganson who was suffocated in the 

 cabin of the Magnus Troil in Leith Harbour on 1st 

 March, 1833, and whose brother was recovered with 

 great difficulty from a state of stupor, induced ap- 

 parently by an insufficient supply of respirable air. 

 To these instances another may be added from the 

 Globe newspaper of 1st April, in which it is men- 

 tioned, that the captain and mate of the French 

 Chasse maree Royaliste lost their lives from suffo- 

 cation in the harbour of Jersey, in a precisely simi- 

 lar way. In both vessels the cabin was very small, 

 and the door having been carefully shut, the access 

 of fresh ail was completely prevented* 



