RESPIRATION 195 



36. Another unmistakable result of living in and breathing 

 foul air is found in certain diseases of the lungs, especially 

 consumption. For many years the barracks of the British 

 army were constructed without any regard to ventilation ; and 

 during those years the statistics showed that consumption was 

 the cause of a very large proportion of deaths. At last the 

 government began to improve the condition of the buildings, 



certain morning, one of these, not the least zealous and prompt in the 

 performance of his duties, was missed from his usual post at the matin 

 service. His colleagues hurried back to their common dwelling in search 

 of the missing priest, and found him lying prostrate and insensible upon 

 the floor of his bed-chamber. A doctor was immediately called in, and 

 at the first sight of his patient, declared him to be suffering from an attack 

 of typhus fever. The Sisters of Charity, upon whom devolved the duty 

 of nursing him, and those clerical associates who were active in their 

 sympathy and prompt to visit him and give assistance, were, a few hours 

 after, attacked in the same way. The doctor did not hesitate in his 

 diagnosis, and pronounced the additional cases also typhus fever. A 

 general alarm prevailed in the city, and many called at the house of the 

 priest, who was greatly beloved. Among others was an old woman, who 

 discovered a strong smell of gas, and believing this to be the cause of the 

 sickness, obtained permission to remove the priest to her own house. The 

 priest had no sooner breathed the fresh air than he began to revive, and 

 during the very first evening of his removal to the new abode he became 

 so much better as to make an importunate demand for food. He soon 

 got entirely well. The old woman, thus confirmed in her gas theory, and 

 eager to save the remaining patients, who had continued to increase in 

 number in the priests' house, now had an interview with the manager 

 of the gas-works which supplied the town, and prevailed upon him to 

 investigate the condition of the gas-pipes in the vicinity of the priests' 

 residence. This was done, and a leak from which the gas was escaping 

 into the ground was found and stopped. The air of the house was per- 

 ceived at once to improve, and with it the health of the patients that were 

 not removed ; these finally completely recovered from what the doctor even 

 was compelled to admit was not typhus fever, but poisoning by gas.' " 

 The Book of Health. 



8. Pure Air and Good Morals. "Cleanliness and self-respect go to- 

 gether, and it is no paradox to affirm that you tend to purify men's 

 thoughts and feelings when you purify the air they breathe. * * * * 

 With a low average of popular health you will have a low average of 

 national morality, and probably also of national intellect. Drunkenness 

 and vice of other kinds will flourish in such a soil, and you cannot get 

 healthy brains to grow on unhealthy bodies." Lord Derby. 



36. A cause of consumption ? How was the fact illustrated ? 



