LABORATORIES AND PROBLEMS 



for replenishing the oxygen supply among large assem- 

 blies, as any one can testify who has, for example, vis- 

 ited their theatres or schools. And as to the private 

 dwellings, after making them as nearly air-tight as 

 practicable, they endeavor to preserve the status quo 

 as regards air supply seemingly from season to season. 

 They even seem to have passed beyond a mere nega- 

 tive regard for the subject of fresh air, inasmuch as 

 they will bravely assure you that to sleep in a room 

 with an open window will surely subject you to the 

 penalty of inflamed eyes. 



In a country like France, where the open fireplace 

 is the usual means employed to modify the tempera- 

 ture (I will not say warm the room), the dwellings do 

 of necessity get a certain amount of ventilation, particu- 

 larly since the windows are not usually of the best con- 

 struction. But the German, with his nearly air-tight 

 double windows and his even more nearly sealed tile 

 stove, spends the winter in an atmosphere suggestive of 

 the descriptions that arctic travellers give us of the air in 

 the hut of an Eskimo. It is clear, then, that the models 

 in the Museum of Hygiene have thus far failed of the 

 proselyting purpose for which they were presumably 

 intended. How it has chanced that the inhabitants of 

 the country maintain so high an average of robust 

 health after this open defiance is a subject which the 

 physiological department of the Institute of Hygiene 

 might well investigate. 



Even though the implied precepts of the Museum of 

 Hygiene are so largely disregarded, however, it must 

 be admitted that the existence of the museum is a hope- 

 ful sign. It is a valuable educational institution, and 



201 



