GENEEALi HEALTH HINTS 697 



taking place, but is rendered invisible by absorption 

 by the porous paper and plaster, where it undergoes 

 putrefactive changes, sending out foul and putrescent 

 gases to add still further to the contamination of the 

 poison-laden atmosphere of the close and musty rooms. 

 Better by far, from a hj^gienic standpoint, was the 

 old-fashioned log house, with its huge fireplace and 

 its capacious throat, breathing up great volumes of 

 air, and here and there a chink between the logs, with 

 loosely fitting window-sash, and door jambs too large 

 for the doors, extending an invitation for God's pure, 

 life-giving oxygen to come in with its energizing, vital- 

 izing, purifying, beautifying, health-giving potencies. 

 If every house were provided with an efficient, auto- 

 matic, ventilating apparatus, double windows would 

 offer no disadvantage to health. But when windows 

 are the chief means for the admission of fresh air as 

 well as of light, in the majority of houses, they may 

 well be looked upon as dangerous, and deserving of 

 the most vigorous condemnation. 



PURIFYING THE BLOOD 



One of the most erroneous of popular notions is that 

 the blood can be purified by swallowing some bitter 

 stuif or nauseous medicine. Dr. Bacon, the modern 

 substitute for Shakespeare, announced a theory many 

 years ago, that everybody should be bled in the spring, 

 and treated with purgatives, because the blood became 

 so vile during the winter that it was necessary to purify 

 it by emptying the blood-vessels. This was undoubt- 

 edly one way, and a robust person might suffer no real 

 harm from the treatment ; but it would be very difficult 



