1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



525 



HOUSE WABMING AND VENTILATION. 



Those who have made experiments for the pui-- 

 pose of determining the quantity of pure air re- 

 quired per minute b}' each individual vary in their 

 conclusions. They ])ublish from three to ten 

 cubic feet, but when physiological facts in relation 

 to size of lungs, health of persons and various 

 circumstances are considered, we concede the ac- 

 curacy of either amount. 



We learn by science that the laws of nature do 

 not long permit the enjoyment of health where 

 pure air is not ; and also when health is lost 

 there can be no possible recovery of it without the 

 aid of pure air. When we breathe, although the 

 air in the lungs is on one side of a membrane and 

 the blood on the other, a reciprocal action takes 

 place between them. The blood receives,, through 

 the membrane, oxygen from the air, and at the 

 same time the air receives from the blood carbonic 

 acid gas and watery vapor. The amount of oxy- 

 gen and carbonic acid gas thus exchanged are 

 said to be equal — that is, pure air taken into the 

 lungs is expelled with about 85 jjer cent, carbonic 

 acid gas, and an equal amount of oxygen has been 

 taken from it by the blood. 



It appears that a middle sized man, aged about 

 38 years, and whose pulse is 70 on an average, 

 gives ofl" 302 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas 

 from his lungs in eleven minutes, and supposing 

 the production uniform for 24 hours, the total 

 quantity in that period would he 39,534 cubic 

 inches, (agreeing almost exactly with Dr. Thomp- 

 son's estimate.) Meighing 18,GS3 grains, or rather 

 more than 11 ounces Troy. The oxygen consumed 

 in the same time will be equal in volume to the 

 carbonic acid gas. See Respiration, under Physi- 

 ology, in the Encyclo])edia Britannica. 



It has been shown by experiment that pure air 

 once breathed contains 85 per cent, of carbonic 

 acid, and that the same air by continued respira- 

 tions would not take more than ten per cent. 

 Hence the necessity in the preservation of health 

 of breathing air but once as it enters and departs 

 from a room. Proper ventilation permits the air 

 to pass away after having l)een once breathed, for 

 in respiration the air expelled from the lungs be- 

 ing warmed ascends, and is not where it may be 

 received by their next expansion. But if by in- 

 sufficient ventilation air is breathed more tlian 

 once, it gives less oxygen to tlie blood and takes 

 less carbonic acid and watery vapor from it than 

 is nec^ssary for the preservation of health. The 

 efficacious action of the blood ceases because of 

 the deleterious presence of carbonic acid in the 

 blood and in the air. Carbonic acid gas has a lit- 

 tle more specific gravity than atmospheric air, but 

 the difterence is so slight that when in a current of 

 air it is carried upward, or if where there is no 

 current it tends downward. When a multitude 

 meet in a room M'hjch has not been planned to 

 admit fresh air, the carbonic acid gas descends to 

 the floor and from thence it accumulates upward. 

 When it enters the nostrils of the assembly the 

 ibices of all become pale, most of them think impa- 

 tiently of the pleasure of breathing out-door air, 

 and some, perhaps, faint. I am persuaded that 

 the germs of painful sickness and early death are 

 thus often fixed in the human system. 



We reflect with astonishment upon the sad con- 

 sequences of bad ventilation — the great loss of 

 cheerfulness and success in the attainments of in- 



tellectual power. A healthy circulation of air is 

 often disapproved by the untutored. As needful 

 medicine which is unpleasant to the taker may be 

 rejected, so a healthy circulation of air by a morbid 

 sensibility may be prevented. Because of bad 

 ventilation children in school may dread their 

 task. For want of pure air perhaps their diges- 

 tion is impeded. They then feel as if a heavy 

 burden was upon them. If they try to learn they 

 seldom succeed. If they succeed in committing a 

 ])aragraph to memory it is soon forgotten. Being 

 ignorant of themselves and the cause of their mal- 

 adies, they judge themselves incapacitated for in- 

 tellectual pursuits. 



It is from the same cause, very frequently, that 

 religious congregations have many members who 

 spend in church an hour of sleepy thoughtless- 

 ness, and return home without being able to tell 

 the points of the speaker's discourse, though they 

 had l)een where one of the most interesting and 

 instructive sermons was preached. It is doubt- 

 less because of bad ventilation that the power of 

 the advocate of the Gospel in the pulpit is much 

 less than it would otherwise be. Houses of wor- 

 ship are mostly so constructed that the impure air" 

 is driven, by opening the door, upon the preacher. 

 He, in the act of speaking, inhales it more injuri- 

 ously than others. Asa victim he may be marked 

 for an early death. The sympathy and defence 

 which he would have if a wild beast of the forest 

 should assail him in the pulpit does not appear to 

 defend him from the consequences of bad ventila- 

 tion, which fact is a proof of the absence of knowl- 

 edge in relation to the subject. — Artisan. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 ESSEX CATTLE SHOW. 



Mu. Editoii : — I have looked in vain for some 

 notice of the show in Essex County, which took 

 place at Georgetown this week, but find none in 

 your columns. Presuming that a word on the sub- 

 ject will be acceptable, having been present on the 

 last day of the show, I will give my impressions. 



The Plowing Match. — This, as is always the 

 case in this county, was well contested, there be- 

 ing eighteen teams in operation. Everything was 

 done as well as it might be, on a field so poorly 

 fitted for the purpose. The field was the worst I 

 ever saw plowed. It was a miserable ])iece of poor 

 pasture, with no sod ; and full of cobble stones ; 

 neither fit to be plowed or to produce anything 

 when plowed. If the town cannot off"er a better 

 field, they may never expect another show. At 

 least, such would be my opinion. 



There was a good number of animals present, 

 but few of them appeared to have been bred with 

 any special regard for improvement. If I do not 

 mistake, I could name farms in the county on 

 which are herds superior to all that were there. 

 This was not as it should be. 



The show of horses was creditable ; some of 

 them being of the first order, but there were not 

 one-tenth part as many as there should have been 

 in a county where so many horses are owned, and 

 where so much good service is done by them. 



Of the Working Oxen I cannot speak, never 

 having fancied the experiments of drawing loads 

 of rocks covered with boys, up a steep ascent. 

 This may be a good way of testing their capabili- 



