178 RESULTS OF BREATHING FOUL AIR. 



3. Foul Air is Worse than Insufficient Food. If a man 

 be nearly starved to death and then be carefully nour- 

 ished, he may soon be all right again, but if he has been 

 slowly poisoned, as well as starved, he is not so likely to 

 recover. When a man does not get enough fresh air to 

 breathe, he is not only starved for want of oxygen, but 

 poisoned. The wastes or excretions of the foul air are 

 absorbed into the blood from the lungs, and are then 

 carried by the blood to every organ. The health of the 

 body, when pure air is breathed, depends on the perfec- 

 tion with which the blood carries oxygen to every nook 

 and corner. When impure air is breathed, the hurtful 

 substances taken into the blood as it flows through 

 the lungs, are carried in exactly the same way to all 

 parts. 



You know that there are quick poisons and slow 

 poisons. Quick poisons kill in a few minutes or a few 

 hours. Slow poisons may not kill for weeks, months, 

 or even years. Many slow poisons do not themselves 

 actually cause death, but they so much weaken some of 

 the organs that the body is very apt to take disease, and 

 in its feeble condition cannot master and overcome it. 

 Foul air is rarely foul enough to act as a quick poison, 

 but unless proper care be taken, the air in rooms much 

 lived in, soon becomes foul enough to act as a slow 

 poison. How quick or how slow, depends simply on how 

 foul the air may be. 



3. What is the usual result if a man be carefully fed after being 

 nearly starved to death? If he has been also poisoned? Apply to 

 want of sufficient fresh air. How are the poisonous matters in foul 

 air carried over the body? 



What are quick poisons ? Slow ? How do many slow poisons act ? 

 What is said of foul air as a quick and a slow poison ? 



