182 EFFECTS OF DEFIIEK7 rENTlLATIOff. 



the doors being shut, and from there being no current 

 of air in the whole seven or eight hours during which 

 they are occupied, the vitiation of the air is the 

 greatest, and in which, consequently, size is most 

 required, are uniformly the smallest and most con- 

 fined ; and, as if this source of impurity were not 

 sufficient, we still farther reduce the already too 

 limited space, by surrounding the bed closely with 

 curtains, for the express purpose of preventing ven- 

 tilation, and keeping us enveloped in the same 

 heated atmosphere. Can any thing be imagined 

 more directly at variance than this with the funda- 

 mental laws of respiration ? Or could such prac- 

 tices ever have been resorted to, had the nature of 

 the human constitution been regarded before they 

 were adopted 1 In this respect we are more humane 

 towards the lower animals than towards our own 

 species ; for, notwithstanding all the refinements of 

 civilization, we have not yet aggravated the want 

 of ventilation in the stable or the cow-house, by 

 adding curtains to the individual stalls of the in- 

 mates. 



So little, however, are we taught to think of the 

 nature and wants of the human constitution, that in 

 Edinburgh we have instances of large public rooms, 

 capable of holding from 800 to 1000 persons, built 

 within these few years, without any means of ade- 

 quate ventilation being provided. This could not 

 have happened, had either the architects or their 

 employers known any thing of the laws of the hu- 

 man constitution. When these rooms are crowded, 

 and the meeting lasts for some hours, especially if 

 it be in winter, the consequences are sufficiently 

 marked. Either such a multitude must be subjected 

 to all the evils of a contaminated and unwholesome 

 atmosphere, or they must be partially relieved by 

 opening the windows, and allowing a continued 

 stream of cold air to pour down upon the heated 

 bodies of those who are near them, till the latter are 



