53 On Plants in our Dwellings ; 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ON PLANTS IN OUR DWELLINGS; AKE THEY BENEFICIAL 

 OR NOT ? 



E have now a very important question to 

 consider, that is, whether it is beneficial, 

 wholesome or otherwise, to have flowers in 

 our dwellings ? I have heard it said by people who 

 ' pretended to know that you should not have flowers in 

 your house at all, as it is greatly against the health of 

 the inmates, because the noxious gases they give out 

 have a baneful effect on the air, especially if they are 

 in the sleeping apartments. I hope to be able to show 

 you that such an idea is to a great extent chimerical. 



All plants absorb through their leaves carbonic acid 

 gas from the air around them. Now this carbonic acid 

 gas is composed of carbon and oxygen. During the 

 hours of daylight the plant retains the carbon and 

 releases the oxygen, — giving it out to the air again. — 

 Now with us and all animal life this order of things is 

 reversed, for we retain the oxygen and give out the 

 carbon. Therefore, during the hours of daylight the 

 oxygen without which we could not live is given out 

 by the plants, while they retain the carbon which affords 

 them nourishment, while it would kill us if we breathed 



