46 



CHAPTER XI. 



VEXTILATION AND LIGHT. 



Plants breathe. This fact has been ascertained by the 

 carefally conducted experiments of very eminent scientific 

 botanists. I do not consider it necessary to adduce arguments 

 to prove tliat which is Acknowledged by all who have studied 

 the subject, to be a fact. Plants, like human beings, receive 

 considerable nourishment from the contents of the atmos- 

 phere, for it, like water, contains life in many forms, and is 

 composed mainly of oxygen, nitrogen and carbonic acid gases. 

 We, by the process of respiration, consume oxygen, and from 

 the lungs and through seven millions of pores diffused over 

 the skin, are incessantly' pouring out a deadly poison, carbonic 

 acid gas. Vegetation consumes this gas as well as nitrogen, 

 and through the pores of the leaves and stems of vegetable life 

 is emitted oxygen. Hence we see how necessary to the health 

 of each other are the components of the' two kingdoms, viz : 

 the animal anti vegetable. To use an old expression, " We can 

 kill two birds with one stone " by giving the plants v* e grow in 

 our homes pure air. While benefitting our plants we benefit 

 ourselves. If the air we breathe is impure, its inhalation will 

 certainly- be followed by a feeling of lassitude, languor and ir- 

 ritability ; the nervous system becomes affected, the intellect- 

 ual faculties weakened, and if the cause is not removed, disease 

 will sooner or later follow. Since plants breathe much after 

 the same manner as we do, (though consuming a different 

 component of the atmosphere) it certainly follows that we 

 both require in this respect the same stimulant, pure air. As 

 we have arrived at this conclusion, we now come to the subject 

 of Ventilation ; and while we endeavor to get pure air for the 

 plants, we also want the pure air for the fair owner of these 

 plants, that he or she may live long to enjoy their rich beauty 

 and delightful fragrance. When Uie breath of the body issues 

 from the chest, it being heated, is rarified, and consequently is 

 specifically lighter than the surrounding atmosphere, hence it 

 immediately ascends, and before the next respiration it has 

 given place to a purer air. This vitiated air that has risen can 



