Village Sanitary Economy: 
221 
of the question, we are at this moment without any positive 
information or recognised regulations as to the breathing space 
and ventilation necessary to secure health within the cottage. 
There seems to be no doubt in the minds of all persons that the 
owners of large estates should provide a certain number of cot- 
tages in villages, as well as a proper proportion on farms, as the 
former are especially suitable for labourers with large families of 
young children, who are then within immediate reach of school 
and the church ; that the larger share of these, both in villages and 
on farms, should contain five rooms, of which three should be 
bed-rooms, to secure decency among the children of large families, 
while the rest should have four rooms, of which two should be 
bed-rooms, to suit smaller families ; and that the space within 
each room should be sufficient to maintain health, though the 
exact space has not been authoritatively defined. The scientific 
principles upon which to determine the cubical space necessary 
for wholesome breathing within living and sleeping rooms have 
not been generally acknowledged, and perhaps this is the cause 
why the Inclosure Commissioners, who control the amount of 
money to be charged upon entailed properties for cottage building, 
have not thought it right to prescribe rules on the point. It is, 
nevertheless, much to be regretted that this omission exists, as 
the materials now within the office of the Inclosure Commis- 
sioners might be made the basis of positive regulations, by which 
those doubts and difficulties, which have led to all manner of 
estimates of, and misconceptions as to, the cost of cottages, might 
be avoided. According to Dr. Arnott, the quantity of air respired 
by .an adult human being amounts to 300 cubic inches per 
minute — not quite one-sixth of a foot — and th'e total quantity 
of air directly or indirectly vitiated in a day to 2880 cubic feet. 
According to another authority — Tredgold — the amount of air 
respired is as much as 800 cubic inches per minute, or nearly 
half a foot, and the total quantity of air vitiated during the day 
to 4320 cubic feet. In our best-constructed hospitals no less a 
quantity than 1000 cubic feet is given to each person ; in prisons 
800 cubic feet, in the model lodging-houses 550 cubic feet, and 
in the barrack dormitories of the army 500 cubic feet. In the 
absence of any regulations from the Inclosure Commissioners it 
may be stated that the least floor and breathing spaces recognised 
by those who desire to act upon some sanitary data as sufficient 
provision in rural labourers' cottages are : — 
Superficial spaee. Cubical contents. 
Tarents' bedroom 120 feet 900 feet. 
Children's bedi-ooms .. ..each 80 „ .... GOO „ 
Living-room 150 „ .... 1200 „ 
Scullery 100 „ .... 800 „ 
