THE FAVORITE POISON OF AMERICA. 283 



an invalid, who is obliged to take care of himself, poor soul ! and 

 his friends daily meet him with sympathizing looks, hoping he " feels 

 better," etc. As for ladies, if there is not some object in taking a 

 walk, they look upon it as the most stupid and unmeaning thing 

 in the world. 



On the other side of the water, a person who should neglect the 

 pleasure of breathing the free air for a couple of hours, daily, or 

 should shun the duty of exercise, is suspected of slight lunacy ; and 

 ladies who should prefer continually to devote their leisure to the 

 solace of luxurious cushions, rather than an exhilarating ride or walk, 

 are thought a little tete montte. What, in short, is looked upon as 

 a virtue there, is only regarded as a matter of fancy here. Hence, 

 an American generally shivers, in an air that is only grateful and 

 bracing to an Englishman, and looks blue in Paris, in weather when 

 the Parisians sit with the casement windows of their saloons wide 

 open. Yet it is, undoubtedly, all a matter of habit ; and we Yan- 

 kees, (we mean those of us not forced to " rough it,") with the tough- 

 est natural constitutions in the world, nurse ourselves, as a people, 

 into the least robust and most susceptible physiques in existence. 



So much for the habit of exercise in the open air. Now let us 

 look at our mode of warming and ventilating our dwellings ; for it 

 is here that the national poison is engendered, and here that the 

 ghostly expression is begotten. 



However healthy a person may be, he can neither look healthy 

 nor remain in sound health long, if he is in the habit of breathing 

 impure air. As sound health depends upon pure blood, and there 

 can be no pure blood in one's veins if it is not repurified continual- 

 ly by the action of pure air upon it, through the agency of the 

 lungs (the whole purpose of breathing being to purify and vitalize 

 the blood ), it follows, that if a nation of people will, from choice, 

 live in badly ventilated rooms, full of impure air, they must become 

 pale and sallow in complexions. It may not largely affect the 

 health of the men, who are more or less called into the open air by 

 their avocations, but the health of women (ergo the constitutions of 

 children), and all those who are confined to rooms or offices heated 

 in this way, must gradually give way under the influence of the 

 poison. Hence, the delicacy of thousands and tens of thousands 

 of the sex in America. 



