Vo. 216.] 407 



it will be evident that the care of the sick, and the support of the 

 widows nnd orphans, must add greatly to the expenses of the city; 

 and if it can be proved that degraded habits, bad associations and 

 immoral practices, (though the results only of circumstances, not of 

 education) are their consequences, it will be equally apparent, there 

 will thus be continued, a class in the community more difficult to 

 govern, more disposed to robbery, mobs, and other lawless acts, and 

 less accessible to the influences of religious and moral instruction. 



With regard to the first question, an argument can hardly be nec- 

 essary. Almost every one can recall to mind, some proof of the 

 effects of nauseous odors, of the inhalation of foul air, or of sleeping 

 in a small confined apiirtment, upon his own health and feelings. 

 These eiFects may have been only temporary, but they will serve to 

 show that a prolonged continuSnce of them, must, in reason, produce 

 permanently bad results upon the mental and corporeal powers. If 

 the inhaled air (one great source of the life, health, and vigor of 

 the animal structure) is deteriorated in quality, or diminished in 

 quantity, below the standards necesisary for a perfect decarbonization 

 of the blood in tie lungs, the blood necessarily becomes burdened 

 with impurities, and fails to impart to the system the qualities de- 

 manded by nature for the due maintenance of health and strength. 

 Every city resident who takes a stroll into the country, can testify to 

 the ditference between the atmospheres of the two situations: — the 

 contrast of our out-door (to say nothing of the in-door) atmosphere, 

 loaded with the animal and vegetable exhalations of our streets, 

 yards, sinks, and eeliart. — and the air of the mountains, rivers, and 

 grassy plains, needs no epicurean lungs to detect it. The superior 

 corporeal activity, and the mental exhilaration imparted by it, are 

 the prima facie proofs of its superiority. Compare the pale face of 

 the city belle, .or matron, after the long confinement of the winter 

 and spring, with the same countenance in the fall, upon her return 

 Trom a few week's tour to the Springs and Niagara, and observe 

 whether the return ot the long absent rose upon the cheek, is not 

 accompanied with a greater elasticity of frame, and a happier and 

 stronger tone of mind. 



Descend a few steps further, from the airy and well-lighted cham- 

 ber and parlor, to the confined apartments of the pent-up court, and 

 the damp, secluded cellar; didw a contrast between the gay inhabi- 

 tant of the former, and the attenuated tenant of the latter, and we 

 ma} then judge of the influences of the air, which they respectively 

 respire. 



