The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1854-11-03
From the wes.mlnistor r,evlew.
WHY EPIDEMICS RAGEAT NIGH

WHY EPlDEMlCS RAGEATNlGHT
II was in one night that four iboueant
persons persisted Of tie plague in Lon
don. II was by night that The army o
SeDnucharib was destroyed. Both il
England and on the continent o large
proportion Of cholera cases, in its severa
forms, have been observed 10 have oc
cured between one and two O'Clock in
the morning. The danger Of expos.
ure to The night air has been theme o
physicians from time immemorial; but i
is remarkable that they have mover ye
called in the aid of chemistry TO accoun
for The fact.
Il is at night that the stratum Of ali
nearest the ground must always be the
most charged with the particles Of ami
malized matter given out from the skin
and deleiorous gases, such os carbonic
acid gas, the product ofreSpiralion, and
suIphura,ed hydrogen, the product Of the
sewers. In the day, gases and various
substances Of all kind rise in the air by
the rarsfaciion of The heat. Al night
when this rarefaciion leaves, they fall by
an increase Of gravity, il imperfeciy mix.
ed with the atmosphere, while the gases
evolved during the night, instead Of as
cending, remain at nearly the same lev
el. Il is known the carbonic acid at a
low temperature, partakes SO nearly Of
The nature Of fluid, tina, il may be pour.
ed out Of one vessel into another. |, RI
ses at the temperature at which il is ex>
hailed from The lungs, but its tendency is
towards the floor, or the bed Of the slee>
per, in cold an unveniiJated rooms.
AT Hamburg, the alarm Of cholera at
night in some parts ofihe city YVES 80
greOt tha, many refused to go 10 bed,
lest they should be attacked unawares
in their sleep. Sitting up, they proba-
ly kept their stoves or open fires burns
ing for the sake Of warmth, and TIM,
warmth giving the expansion to any del.
eterious gases present, which would
best promote their escape, and promote
their dlution, In the atmosphere the
means Of safety were then unconscious
ly assured. AT Sierra Leone, the ma
tives have practice in The sickly sea-
son Of keeping fires constantly burning
in their huis at nights, assigning that
the fires keep away the evil spirits, to
which, in iheil ignorance, they aiiribu-
fed farer and ngue. Ltiierl9. Europe.
ans have begun to adop. the same pruc-
,ice, and those who have tried j. assert
that they have now entire immunity from
the tropical fevers TO which they were
formerly subjected.
In the epidemics of the middle nges,
fires nsed to be lighted in the streets for
the publication Of the air, and in the
plague of London, in 1865, fires in The
streets were at one ume KEEP! burning
necessarily, till exiinguished by vio-
lent storm of rain. Latierly, trans Of
gunpowder have been fired, and cannon
discharged for the same object, but it is
obvious iha, these measures although
sound in principle, mus, necessity,
though out of doors, be on too small o
scale, as measured agains. All ocean Of
atmospheric air to produce any sensible
effect. Within doors, however the case
is different. II is quite possible TO heat
a room sufficiently to produce ararefac-
iion and consequent dilution Of any ma
Iignant gases it may contain, and il is,
ofcourse, the air Of the room, aud tba,
alone, at night, which comes in contact
with the lungs Of the person sleeping.