THE FARMER AT HOME. 447 



avarice or mere convenience. Air, when it is confined for any time 

 within a room, or rendered stagnant by any other means, soon 

 becomes, not only unfitted for respiration, but absolutely destructive 

 to life. 



Under such circumstances, its composition is quickly changed from 

 various causes ; while at the same time, it is loaded with dust and 

 deleterious exhalations given out by the human body, even in health, 

 or produced from the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances. 

 Every one who has entered a room, that has been completely shut up 

 for even a few days, whether inhabited or not, must have been struck 

 with the peculiar smell of the air in it, and experienced the disagree- 

 able sensation, caused by its admission into the lungs. The walls and 

 furniture are soon covered with a damp mould, every thing within the 

 apartment of a perishable nature, falls quickly into decay, and affords 

 materials for the still further vitiation of the atmosphere. Many 

 complain of the unpleasant smell and dampness of their houses, with- 

 out suspecting for a moment that this is merely the result of defective 

 ventilation. 



It is all important, therefore, that the air from without should be 

 allowed to enter freely into every part of a building, if not in a con- 

 tinued current, at least at frequent intervals, so as fully to expel that 

 previously existing in the several apartments. The causes of deficient 

 ventilation are either, the location of the building in narrow crowded 

 courts or alleys the want of a free communication between the 

 different rooms, in each story the improper position of the doors and 

 windows, or, the want of an open space of sufficient extent in the 

 rear of the house, in consequence of which the free circulation of the 

 air, is entirely prevented. The healthiness of a dwelling is increased 

 very considerably by allowing to it a capacious yard, which may 

 either be well paved, laid down in grass, or cultivated as a flower 

 garden. In the largest and best constructed houses, ventilation 

 should be promoted, by leaving the doors and windows open several 

 hours, during the day, in fair weather and when the air is driest, and 

 closing them carefully before nightfall. Even in winter, a proper 

 opportunity should be taken, during the day, to admit freely the exter- 

 nal air in every apartment of the house, especially the bedrooms ; the 

 ventilation of workshops and manufactories, can be maintained by 

 proper furnaces, which, while they supply a current of heated air, for 

 warming the apartment, cause its atmosphere to be constantly re- 

 newed. 



VETERINARY. The art of managing cattle, and curing their 

 diseases, whence a veterinary surgeon, vulgarly called a horse doctor 

 or farrier, and the veterinary college, where horses are taken in for 

 cure, and persons resort to acquire practice and information in all that 

 relates to the care of animals. The principal diseases to which horses 

 are subject are the water farcy, or dropsy of the skin ; ascites, or 



