APPENDIX 347 



THE HOME AND HEALTH 



The location of the house should be airy, dry, and sunny. 



A certain amount of elevation is necessary, in order to secure proper 

 drainage. Too much shade must not fall upon the house, as sunlight is 

 very necessary to a proper degree of animal vigor. Young children, as 

 is well known, especially profit by the tonic influence of sunlight. 



The cellar is an important part of the dwelling ; therefore, unless care 

 be taken for its ample ventilation, it will be the source from which is sup- 

 plied much of the air breathed in the upper chambers of the house. If 

 the cellar is damp the house is liable to become so, and if vegetables are 

 stored in the cellar, an especial degree of care is needed to ventilate it 

 thoroughly and constantly. 



House Drainage. An English writer has stated that "the most 

 important part of the house is the drains. 1 ' This, no doubt, sounds 

 strangely to the ears of many, who have been brought up to view the 

 parlor or drawing-room as the true centre of the house ; and yet it is no 

 foolish saying, when we reflect that with a bad system of drainage to a 

 house every dweller therein stands in peril of several forms of disease 

 that, mild as the cases may be, are a source of anxiety, and when severe, 

 too often have a fatal termination. Drain-diseases, such as typhoid 

 fever, dysentery, diphtheria, and scarlet fever, often destroy entire fami- 

 lies. These diseases do not always come upon a home through defective 

 drainage, but when they do, they frequently show themselves in a very 

 violent form. 



Drainage (as applied to dwellings) consists in conveying away from 

 the house the liquid and solid impurities that would otherwise accumulate 

 in or near the dwelling. Waste is a necessary accompaniment of all 

 animal life, to the preparation and taking of food, to the clothing of the 

 body, to bathing and other simple acts of daily life. The waste material 

 of houses tends to decay and to become offensive. It must, therefore, 

 not only be put out of sight and smell, but must be removed so far away 

 that it cannot return in the form of dangerous, invisible gases of decom- 

 position. 



The best house-drains are made of iron or glazed earthenware, care- 

 fully selected and well laid. The joints of the pipes should be gas-tight. 

 The soil-pipe should be carried up to and through the roof. All the 

 waste-pipes from basins, etc., in the rooms should be joined in a gas-tight 

 manner to the soil-pipe, and each and every basin and other fixture 

 should have a separate trap. What is a trap? It is a device that is 

 designed to retain a certain portion of the water running through it 

 called the " water-seal " so that the ascent of air or gas, from the drain 

 back into the room, is prevented. It "traps" the sewer gas away from 

 us. Whenever a fixture has been used and there is not, beyond all 



