14 VENTILATION AND LIGHT. 



they may say, or we think, the practice is carried on to an 

 alarming extent, and even desired by some employers. 

 "Men willingly believe what they wish to be true;" and 

 warmth, like darkness, has a tendency to fatten. These facts 

 were thoroughly well understood by the ancients, if we may 

 judge from their low, ill-built, ill-ventilated, and worse lighted 

 stables — for light is as vital an essential of health as is fresh air. 

 They preferred round barrels and glossy coats to the health 

 of their horses ; and, now-a-days, men who think more of 

 appearances than intrinsic usefulness, foster the same prac- 

 tices. It will probably always be so to a greater or less 

 extent, for — 



" The tinsel glitter and the specious mien 



Delude the most ; few look behind the scene." 



But my subject is running away with my pen. I shall have 

 occasion to recur to it in the chapter on " Condition." 



