The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-07-22
Why Epideinics Rage at Night.

Is
1t was in one night that four thousand per-
sons persisted in the plague of London. 1t
was BY night that the army of Scnnachclib
was destroyed. Both in England and on the
continent large proportion of cholera cases
in its several FORMS have been observed to
in the morning. The danger of exposure to
night air has been theme of physicians from
tim. immcmorial; but it is remarkable that
they have never yet called in the aid Of chem
istry to account for the fact.
1t is at night that the stratum Of air nearest
the ground must always be the most charged
with the particles Of animalized matter given
out from the skin, and dcletcrious gasses,
such as carbonic acid gas, the product Of res
piration, and suiphurettcd hydrogen, the pro-
duet Of the sewers. In the day, gases and
various substances of all kinds rise in the
air by the raretaction Of the heat. At night
when this rarcfacton leaves, they fall by an
increase Of gravity if impcrfectly mixed with
| the atmosohcrc, while the gasscs evolved
during the night, instead ofascending. remain
| carLonic acid gas, at low temperature, par
takes so nearly Of the nature of fluid that
! it may b, poured ont of one vessel into an
other. 1t rises at the temperature at which
| it is cxhalcd from the lungs, but its tendency
Is towards the floor, or the bed Of the sleeper,
in cold and unvtntiatcd rooms.
! At Hamburg the alarm Of cholera at night
in some parts Of the city, WAS so great. that
on some occasions many refused to go to bed,
lest they should be attacked, unawarcs, in
their sleep. Sitting up, they probably kept
their stoves or open fires burning for the sake
of warmth, and that warmth giving the cXpan-
sion to any dcleterious gases present, which
| would best promote their escape, and promote
| their diluton in the atmosphere the means Of
safety were then unconsciously assured. AT
Sierra Leone, the natives have practice in
the sclly season Of keeping fires constantly
burning in their huts at night, assigning that
the fires keep a"ay the evil spirits, to which
in their ignorance they attribute fever and
| agre. Latterly Europeans have begun to
! adopt the same practice, and those who have
tried it assert that they have now entire in
| munty from the tropical icvcrs to which
they were formerly subject.
In the cpilcmics Of the middle ages, fires
used to be lighted in the streets for the pnri-
iication Of the air, and iii the plague of Lon
don, of 1868, fires in the streets were at one
time kept burning necessarily, till cXtinguish-
ed hy a violent storm of rain. Lattcrly trains
of gunpowdcr have been fired, and cannon
discharged for the same object, but it is OBJ
! vious that these measures, although sound in
principle, must necessarily, out Of doors, be
on too small scale, as measured against al
ocean Of atmospheric air, 10 produce any SEN
| siblc cllect.--Within doors, however. the
| case is di!lcrcnt. 1t is quite possible to heat
i room sufficiently to produce Il rarc.action
and consequent dilution Of any malignant
gases it may contain, and it is OF course the
air Of the room, and that alone, at night,
| which comes into immediate contag with the
lungs of person sleeping. - IVcs'mimtr Re
rier.