NOTES ON THE AIR OF BRISTOL, AND ITS ANALYSIS. 
537 
This was the usual series of tubes and bulbs, the air being gently drawn 
through by means of an aspirator, the only difference being that Geissler’s 
modification of the potash bulbs was preferred to the ordinary form. 
To give some idea of the state of town air, the following analyses are given to 
show the great increase of carbonic acid that is sometimes present. How any 
of the inmates existed in health, or anything approaching to it, is hardly 
imaginable, and fortunate, indeed, is it for the citizens, that the sanitary law 
of diffusion cannot be stopped :— 
Analytical Table of the Air in Bristol , showing the volumes*of Carbonic Acid 
present in 10,000 volumes. 
(The average proportion in pure air being 4 per 10,000.) 
1. Parlour of a dwelling-house . 7*8 
2. Bedroom of a dwelling-house . 28*0 
3. Lodging house.106*9* 
4. Infants’ schoolroom .... 24*5 
5. Workroom.29T 
6. North Street (March) . . . 5*73 
7. North Street (June) .... 4-09 
8. Wine Street (November) . . . 6*68 
9. Temple Street.15*44 
10. Lewin’s Mead.16*95 
11. A ragged school.126*7* 
12. Avon Street.11*95 
13. Stoke’s Croft.3*6 
14. College Green.4*6 
15. St. James’s Churchyard ... 8*5 
16. Schoolroom.22*8 
17. Full Moon Yard.4*3 
18. Maryleport Street.9*71 
19. Love Street.6*67 
20. Ashley Road.3*9 
21. Sewer in North Street . . . 48*4 
22. Host Street.17*5 
23. St. Michael’ Hill.4*5 
24. Fremantle Square.3*6 
25. Charles Street.5*3 
26. St. Augustine’s, back ... 4*7 
27. Barton Street.6*9 
28. Ashley Hill.2*2l 
29. Marsh Street.7*6 
30. Clare Street.4*95 
31. House in Little James’s Street. 88*3* 
32. Nelson Street.7-2 
33. Portwall Lane.8*2 
34. House in Davies’s Court . . 97 6* 
35. Harrow Weir.6* 12 
36. A Printer’s Workroom . . . 35 6 
37. Redcliffe Street.8*23 
38. HouseinLewin’sMead(lodging)115*0* 
39. Guildhall (crowded) .... 3-57 
40. Room in Infant School . . . 114*3* 
41. Durdham Down (West Wind). 2*05 
42. Durdham Down (East Wind) . 3 24 
43. St. Phillips. 9 -24 
Six of these (marked by an asterisk) show more carbonic acid gas present 
than in a sewer! ! We seem to do all we can to frustrate nature’s efforts to 
help us : we shut up every door and window, close every crevice, enclose our 
beds with a dense array of curtains, and then, as if we could not get rid of the 
oxygen fast enough, often destroy more by burning a gas jet in our bedrooms. 
The final burying our heads under the bedclothes consummates our evil con¬ 
trivances, for breathing that vitiated air which our pulses are throbbing to get 
rid of. 
When our babes are born, they are very commonly wrapped up in flannel 
enclosed in an atmosphere saturated with animal exhalations. 
We have Dr. Lankester’s experienced opinion that thus many infants are 
killed, being really suffocated by breathing air from which the oxygen has been 
extracted by their own lungs. 
The author then proceeded to notice the presence of sulphurous and sulphuric 
acids, and sulphide of ammonium, which are often present in notable quan¬ 
tities. 
The paper was concluded by describing the organic matter which had been 
found in the air of crowded apartments. This impurity is greasy, very offen¬ 
sive in its odour, and adheres tightly to the windows and furniture, requiring 
the use of soap and water for its complete removal. 
After a few days’ deposition, it begins to ferment and teem with infusorial 
life. 
