Litchfield enquirer., 1854-07-13
WhI EpidehaiOs Rago at MIghs.

It was in one night that four thousand persons perished in the plague ot Lon- don in 1865. It was by one night that the army of Sennacshrib vas dsstroyed. Both in England and the continent large portion of the cholera cases iD it's several forms have been observed to occpr be-. tween 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning 1: the danger of exposure to the night ais has been the theme of physicians from time immemorial; but il, is remar kable that they have never yet called in the aid of chemistry to account for the fact.
 It is at night that the stratum of air must always be most charged with the particles Of animalized matter given ous by the skin. and dsleterious gases. such as cafbonic acid gas, tbs pFoaAet oE ssssl piration, and sulphuretted hydrogen. the product of the sewers. In the day, ghses. of various substances of All kinds rise in the air by the rarefaction of the heat at night when this rarefaclion leavea them, they fall by an increase of gravity # i'm perfectly mixed with the atmosphere. while the gases evolve during lhe night. instead of ascending, remain at neatly the same level. IL is known that catbonic acid gas. at low temperature, par.akea so nearly of the nature of the tiaid. ,ha. |, may be poured out of one vessel into another; 1t rises at the tasnpcratnrs tt which it is exhaled from the lungs, but it's tendency is towards tho floor. or the bed of the deeper. in cold and unvenii- lated rooms.
 A. Hamburg the alarm of cholera at night in some parts of ihe city was so great ihas on some occasions many refu- sed to % to bed lest they should Dc ats tackled unawares in their sleep. Sitting up, they probably kept their stoves or open fires burning for the sake of warmth and that giving expansion to any delete rious gases present. which would best promote their escape, and promote their dilulion in the atmosphere. the means of safrty were thus unconscionsly assured. At Sierre Leone, the natives have a pfac- lice m the sickly season of keeping fires constantly burning in their huts at night assigning that the fires keep away the evil spirits, to which in their ignorance they attribute feyera and ague. Lately Europeans have began to adopt the same practice. and those who have tried t as. sert that they have now entire immunity from the tropical levers to which they were formerly. subjected.
 In the epidemic Of the middle ages. fires used to be lighted in the streets for the puriication of the air; and in the plague of London of 1865. fires in the streets were at one sAime kept burning incessantly. Gill extinguished by a violent storm of rain. Latterly trains of gun. powder have been fired. and cannons dis. charged for the same object. but 1t is ob. sious that these measures. although sound in principle, mus. necessarily out of doors be on too small a scale as measured against an ocean of atmospheric air, to produce any sensible effect. Within doors, however, the case is different. l. is quite possible to heat a room sufficient. ly lo produce rarefaction and consequent dilution. aud it is of course the air of tbs room. and that alone. at night, which comes into immediate contact with sht lungs of a persoTsleeping.
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