Apkil 23, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



643 



the old story "we have used the water for 

 years without harm, etc." What do you 

 think would happen in such a city if some 

 trolley road were so badly managed as to 

 kill 75 people every year and injure 675 

 others ? Do you fancy it would be long be- 

 fore there would be mob demonstration 

 against such a road? Or again, suppose a 

 foreign warship should drop shells into the 

 streets of such a town, killing from one to 

 two people weekly and wounding nine 

 times as many; would the people who had 

 been hit be likely to listen with patience to 

 such of their neighbors as claimed that 

 because they had not been struck they 

 doubted if there were any war vessel in the 

 river after all? 



Let us glance for a moment at the ques- 

 tion of atmospheric air. 



We all breathe, but we have been doing 

 it so long and for the most part so easily, 

 that a great many of us forget that we do 

 it at all. We also eat, but the occasions 

 for eating produce an impression upon us. 

 Moreover, we are to a large degree par- 

 ticular as to the quality of the things we 

 eat. Fancy trying to induce your em- 

 ployees to accept improper and tainted 

 food. Such an effort would very probably 

 and properly breed a riot, and yet those 

 same people will sleep in badly overcrowded 

 rooms and will likely complain of drafts 

 if the windows be open. Without food 

 they could live a week and more, while 

 with no air they could not survive five 

 minutes, yet one hears but rarely any com- 

 ment upon the quality of that necessity of 

 life which is so vastly more important than 

 food. 



It doubtless would be a surprising state- 

 ment to preach very widely, but the cold 

 fact remains that bad air is responsible for 

 more deaths than alcohol. Much as we 

 deplore the evil effects of strong drink, its 

 victims, both innocent and guilty, are few 

 compared with those of the "great white 



plague." Are you aware that practically 

 ten per cent, of all those who died in the 

 state of New York during the past year 

 died of consumption, a disease which is 

 closely connected with polluted air ? Please 

 remember those figures, one in every ten. 



This has been termed "the age of hy- 

 giene" and I think the expression a good 

 one. Much hygienic advancement has been 

 accomplished, but a great deal more re- 

 mains to be secured. Perhaps as note- 

 worthy an instance of improvement as can 

 be quoted is the smaller amount of spitting 

 one sees in the street cars. That is a most 

 encouraging fact, but why should not ven- 

 tilation of the cars be insisted upon also. 

 Given a crowded ear upon a misty evening 

 in January when the workers are returning 

 home with garments soiled and wet, if the 

 ventilators be closed, as they commonly are, 

 the air within is utterly unfit for breathing. 

 If the two halves of the ear roof were 

 hinged upon a sort of ridge pole and occa- 

 sionally thrown open for a short time, 

 much improvement in the air would result 

 and that too without complaint, because 

 the public will accept a great inrush of cold 

 air for a moment when they would object 

 to a small stream of continuous flow. 



As already said, much has been done, 

 but the question is often asked, is there any 

 substantial benefit to show for it ? Are we 

 really better off than our forefathers be- 

 cause we possess these so-called improve- 

 ments ? 



There is but one answer to such a ques- 

 tion and that is to ask the inquirer to con- 

 sult the recorded death rates and to note 

 that the total rate for London has fallen 

 75 per cent, in less than 300 years; that 

 consumption in the English army has less- 

 ened since an increased air space has been 

 provided in barracks; that small-pox is 

 now practically unknown in the German 

 army, because of compulsory vaccination; 

 and that typhoid fever has been reduced in 



