11 



house, but they may be and are more or less under ouj 

 dwellings, their abundance depending on the nature of the soil 

 and the proximity of their source. And though there may be no 

 production of them in our own yards, yet these exhalations may 

 travel a long distance under <^round. In other words, there are 

 currents and winds underground as well as above it. One 

 proof of this is seen in the fact that in cities and large towns 

 where coal gas is burned for illumination, it may often be per- 

 ceived in a cellar where the pipes are not laid, and even where 

 there is not a main for a long distance. Another proof is found 

 in frozen wells, which are not uncommon. How far underground 

 these gases may travel and enter our cellars like demons of de- 

 struction research has not yet informed us, since so much depends 

 on location, the nature of the soil, and the prevalent winds above 

 the ground, but the fact remains that deadly gases do course rap- 

 idly through the soil, making what Pettenkofer calls " ground 

 air," and these gases do come up under our dwellings, and pro- 

 duce certain diseases. These gases travel much more slowly in 

 cold than in warm weather, since sunlight and cultivation render 

 the soil poroiis and easily permeable by them. And hence we see 

 why fall fevers prevail, as the air during the summer months has 

 been silently but continually permeating our houses, until the 

 body is so loaded that the low lingering fever sets in as a neces- 

 sary result of accumulative poisoning. 



In view of this fact is it not a hopeless task to try 

 to relieve ourselves of this evil, unless we adopt the Chinese 

 custom of living in a boat, or else of going up in a balloon ? 



The first common sense antidote is is to carefully absorb all the 

 animal manure or filth on our own premises by dry earth, loam 

 or ashes. When this is done ventilate the cellar. The first day 

 in spring or late winter when the cellar windows can be opened, 

 then let the air course freely through it. And never till the next 

 early winter chill threatens to freeze the succulents, allow them to 

 be closed. Allow the air to stir and be most thoroughly stirred 

 in the lower stories of the house, cellar and all, and then, saving 

 the tin-roofed garret, the other stories will be quite sure to be ven- 

 tilated also. Or if a housekeeper ventilates her cellar and first 

 stories she will be quite apt to ventilate the chambers. " Take 



