186 EFFECTS OF DEFICIENT VENTILATION. 



very abundant perspiration from the skin excited 

 by the heat and confinement. Few of the lower 

 classes, either in town or country, extend their 

 cleanliness beyond the washing of the hands and 

 face. Hence the cutaneous exudation, in such 

 persons, is characterized by a strong and nau- 

 seous smell, which, when concentrated, as it was on 

 this occasion, becomes absolutely overpowering. 

 Accordingly, at the conclusion of the service, there 

 was heard one general buzz of complaint of head- 

 ache, sickness, and oppression; and the reality of 

 the suffering was amply testified by the pale and 

 wearied appearance even of the most robust. 



One of the evils of ignorance is, that we often 

 sin and suffer the punishment, without being aware 

 that we are sinning, and that it is in our power to 

 escape the suffering by avoiding the sin. For many 

 generations, mankind have experienced the evil re- 

 sults of deficient ventilation, especially in towns, 

 and suffered the penalty of delicate health, head- 

 aches, fevers, consumptions, cutaneous and nervous 

 diseases ; and yet, from ignorance of the true nature 

 and importance of the function of respiration, and 

 f the great consumption of air in its performance, 

 architects have gone on planning and constructing 

 edifices and houses, without bestowing a thought on 

 the means of supplying them with fresh air, although 

 animal life cannot be carried on without it: and 

 while ingenuity and science have been taxed to the 

 uttermost to secure a proper supply of water, the 

 admission of pure air, though far more essential, 

 has been left to steal in like a thief in the night, 

 through any hole it can find open. In constructing 

 hospitals, indeed, ventilation has been thought of, 

 because a notion is prevalent that the sick require 

 fresh air, and cannot recover without it ; but it 

 seems not to have been perceived, that what is in- 

 dispensable for the recovery of the sick may be not 

 less advantageous in preserving from sickness those 



