The Necessity of Pure Air for Health. 



By E. D. Rowland, M.B. (Edin.J 



[HE well known metaphor of one of our learned 

 men of the day comparing life to a game of chess 

 in which each individual plays one side and 

 nature the other, is perhaps best of all appreciated when 

 applied to the laws that govern healthy living. For there 

 we see most perfe6lly the just but unrelenting course 

 nature pursues : no slip, be it from ignorance, from 

 negle6l, or from deliberately taking the chance in the 

 hope that the disobedience will not be found out, is ever 

 overlooked. Nature plays her side of the game regard- 

 less of the consequences. Equally with the man on whom 

 the fate of a nation or family depends as with the most 

 insignificant animal in the world, disobedience of the law 

 is punished, and as a rule the punishment is swift and 

 immediate. But, on the other hand, we can repose 

 securely in the knowledge that no advantage will be 

 taken of us ; the game is played without favour, fairly 

 and honestly. Thus by obedience each and all of us 

 may easily secure health, and so be fitted to play our 

 parts on this stage well, to the advantage of the whole 

 world ; so that it may be a little better for our having 

 lived in it. 



It is to the attainment of health by obedience to some 

 of the primary laws of nature that I wish to especially 

 draw attention. These primary laws of healthy living have 

 been formulated for the most part as the result of years 

 of observation and study by men working in Medical 



