The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-02-12

| 1852, with svery facility for a convenient use
The whole AMOUNT Of receipts from all source,
during the last ycar was e274,5l Al. OF thi,
amount q. 273 AZ weie expended for books. The
total amount OF expeI oIures and Investments
during The same period was S272,S58 Is.
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Ventilation and He sting ofPubIis Buildings.
TIE LECTURE or DR.. WATSON.
On Saturday last, DIR. Watson, of the New York
Hospital, delivered a discourse on the above sub
ject in the theatre of the hospital large number
of the medical pr ofession ana OF medical students
were present, as were also some of our most res
pectable citizens belonging to other professions.
He began by stating that the improvements in the
hospital were commenced in May last, and have
been in active progress ever since, and the new ar
rangements were SO far complete as to allow the
wards In every part of the building to be again
open for the accommodation of the sick. 1t was,
he said, thought advisable to invite the attention
of the public towards them in their present state of
renovati on, and TO solicit careful inspection of
them by the medical profession. Under this view,
the executive commttee of the Board of Cover
nors, who have been more immediately instrument
tai in bringing about the present changes, and the
physicians and surgeons OF the institution, by
whose advice and recommendation they were
commenced, have solicited the favor of your at
tendance on the present occasion, and have in
structed me to present TO you a summary account
Of the Improvements, and of the reasons and cir
cumstances which have led to them. The health
and comfort of domestic life are intimately con-
nected with the abundant and unfailing supply of
pure and genial air. To furnish this far as pos
sible free from accompanying annoyances, is pro-
blem which of late hal. excited much thought and
ingenuity. The great fact developed the Hygeianic
nj he mi nhoYAy
is, that the sources of indoor contamination are
more abundant, more difficult of removal, and more
deleterous in various ways than had been previous
ly acknowledged or suspected. The words of
Count Rumford, until recently a great authority,
are in proof of this As long, says he, as fire 10
kept up in a room and there is a considerable cur
rent in the chimney, notwithstanding all the reduc
ZION that can be made in the size of its throat, the
change OF ali will be quite sufficient for keeping
the room sweet and wholesome; and even in rooms
in which there is no draught from the free space
directly into the chimney, as IN those heated by
German stoves, and where the windows and doors
are double and closed in the most exact manner
possible by strips of pasted paper or of list far
along the crevices, yet when those rooms are tole
rably large, and not very much crowded nor filled
with burning lamps and candles, the air in them is
seldom so much injured as to become unwhole-
some. In reference to such disregard of thorough
air. 1t is well remarked by respectable authority,
Mr.. Barnen, that we nstinctively shun approach
to the dirty-ths squalid-the diseased. We shun
the garment that may have been worn by another I;
we open wers for matters offensive to the sight
and smell; we carefully remove impurities from
what we eat and drink we filter turbid water, and
fastidiously avoid drinking from cup that may
have been passed to the lips OF friend yet, on the
other hand, we resort TO places OF assembly, and
draw into our mouths air loaded with efiluva from
the lungs, and from steam, and the clothing OF
every individual In the promscuouB crowd; exhala-
tons offensive to rtain extent even from
healthy individuals, but when rising from a
living mass of skin and lung in all stages OF
evaporation, disease and put.dlty, and prevented
by walls and ceiling from escaping is in the
highest degree deleteiious and loathsome.
Estimating the pulmonary and cutaneous exhala-
tons at 40 OF, daily, for every healthy individual
and the monthly accumulations OF family OF ten
persons, in one of our close ill-ventilated city
houses, where the inmates are confined not more
than half the time. at about 800 lbs, nofincon-
siderable portion of which consists of animal mat
ter which cannot long remain suspended in the
air, and which must in consequence, be precipltated
and allowed to decompose IN the apartment, and
we have sufficient materials to account for the
frequent generation of typhus fever Apply the
same reasoning TO the wards OF our hospitals, the
inmates of which confined 10 their apartments
both night and day, with their exhalations at the
time OF evolution already approaching state OF
putrefaction, and the quantity Of animal matter
contained in these out of all proportion greater
than that of the healthy, and we have some data
| from which to estimate the agencies continually at
work for the propagation OF yphus, dysentry, gan
creme, and other diseases; not TO speak OF other
nameless but not unknown peculiariiee OF diseased
| action which render the treatment Of hospital pa
tients difficult, their vital force so languid, and
their chances Of recovery from disease, which,
/ under more favorable circumstances, would be
looked for as a matter of course, deceptive and
precarious. Like breeds like, is law in pathology
| as well as in animated nature-a law recognizable
in all the negative processes within the body, and,
at least, sometimes out Of il. For all the changes
| occurring in what is usually culled eGete matter,
are not III strict subservience TO the supple laws OF
inorganic chemistry. Doctor Watson then ex-
planned the law Of propagation, that U.s. the laws by
| which disease ispropageted; and went on to say,
| that the class of diseases TO which that law is
universally admitted to apply, is comparatively
small. In the simple process OF what is called
| healthy Inflammation, We can see the tendency
| TO propagation from surface to surface. We
| see In the communicating touch OF the lip
| in the diffusion OF furuncul in the progress
Of tubercle in the corroding ulcer, and in tie
multiplication OF carbuncles as well as IN the ex-
tensisn Of yphus etc. After some further remarks
on the subject OF propagation, he said IL was found
| that filthy clothing and foul rooms propagate
disease in every way identical with such as oTigi-
| nate from internal causes. The study, says he, of
this primary law Of organic deyeopement il never
to be overlooked, by the inquirer into the hidden
causes OF disease. Applying II to the exhalations
Of the living body, he Is, at least, in part prepared
TO resolve some Of those questions which formerly
confounded, and whcbH still continue to battle, the
judgment and sagaclty OF the most acute and as
siduous Observers Thus far directed by il, II has
furnished most of the suggestion which, Of late
| years, have led to 30 much improvement in the
comforts and amenities Of social life, and, among
| the rest, 10 the creation Of what has now become
almost new science-thermal ventilation. After
remarkng that the art of purifying in door air has
been greatly improved within the past ie years,
he lgave brief history of ventilation ia all ages,
and particularly as il was known TO the Romans.
lie showed that almost every appliance, now ia use
for heating and airing dwellings, were employed
for the same purpose, and with very little modiica-
| ton, for centuries, and some of them since the
earliest times. From these fdcts, he sad Il is
ptx
date, but that they had, long ago. been occasionally
employed for that purpose. He then gave brief
history Of the New York Hospital. The main
ego, by Mr.. John Jones, surgeon Of great reputa-
ton in this city about the middle of the last century,
and the author Of the first medical work ever pub
lished IN the country. The hospital was construct.