VENTILATION. 133 



used for nearly three-quarters of the year, the neglect of 

 ventilation is fast causing the health and beauty of our 

 women to disappear. The pallid cheek, or the hectic flush, 

 the angular form and distorted spine, the debilitated appear- 

 ance of a large portion of our females, which to a stranger, 

 would seem to indicate that they were just recovering from a 

 long illness, all these indications of the lamentable absence 

 of physical health, to say nothing of the anxious, care-worn 

 faces and premature wrinkles, proclaim in sorrowful voices, 

 our violation of God's physical laws, and the dreadful pen- 

 alty with which He visits our transgressions. 



Our people must, and I have no doubt that eventually they 

 will be most thoroughly aroused to the necessity of a vital 

 reform on this important subject. Open stoves, and cheerful 

 grates and fire-places will again be in vogue with the mass 

 of the people, unless some better mode of warming shall be 

 devised, which, at less expense, shall make still more ample 

 provision for the constant introduction of fresh air. Houses 

 ■will be constructed, which, although more expensive in the 

 first cost, will be far cheaper in the end, and by requiring a 

 much smaller quantity of fuel to warm the air, will enable 

 us to enjoy the luxury of breathing air which may be duly 

 tempered, and yet be pure and invigorating. Air-tight and 

 all other lung-tighl stoves will be exploded, as economizing 

 in fuel only when they allow the smallest possible change of 

 air, and thus squandering health and endangering life. 



The laws very wisely forbid the erection of wooden build- 

 ings in large cities, and in various ways prescribe such regu- 

 lations for the construction of edifices as are deemed to be 

 essential to the public welfare ; and the time cannot, I trust, 

 be very far distant, when at least all public buildings erected 

 for the accommodation of large numbers, will be required by 

 law, to furnish a supply of fresh air, in some reasonable 

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