The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-08-17
NO. 40.
Why Epidemics Rage at Night.

1t was in one night that four thousand
persons perish in the plague of London.
1t was by night that the army Of Sen
nacharib was destroyed. Both in Eng
land and on the continent large proper
ton of cholera cases, in It's several forms,
have been observed to have occurred be-
tween l aud o'clock in the morning.
The danger of ofexposure to the night air
has been 4 theme of physicians from time
immemOrial; but it is remarkable that
they have never yet called in the aid Of
chemistry to account for the fact.
1t is at night the stratum of air near
est the ground must always be the most
charged with the particles of animalized
matter given out from the skin, and del
eterious gases, such as carbonic acid gas,
the production of respiration, and sulphu
retted hydrogen, the product of the sew
ers. In day gases and various substances
of all kinds, rise in the air by the rare
faction of the heat At night, when
this rarefaction leaves, they fall by an
increase Of gravity, if imperfcctly mixed
with the atmosphere, while the gases
evolved during the night, instead of as
ccndiDg, remain at nearly the same level
1t is known that carbonic acid gas, at
low temperature. partakcs so nearly Of
the nature of Guij, that it may be pour
ed ont Of one vessel into another. 1t ris-
es at the temperature at which it IS ex-
hailed from the lungs, but its tendency Is
towards the floor, or bed Of the sleeper,
in cold and unveDtilated rooms.
At Hamburg the alarm of cholera at
night in some parts Of the city, was 50
great that many refused to 90 to bed, lest
they should be attacked, unawares, In
their sleep. Sitting up, they probably
kept their stoves or open fires burning for
the sake Of warmth, and that warmth
giving the expansion to any deleterious
gases present, which would best promote
their diution in the atmosphere, the
means Of safety were then uuconseiously
assured. At Sierra Leone, the natives
have practice in the sickly season of
keeping fires constantly burning in their
huts at night, assigning that the fires kept
away the evil spirits, 10 which they at
tributed fever and ague. Latterly Eu,
ropeans have begun to adopt the same
prastice, and those who have tried it as
sert that they have now entire immunity
from the tropical feyers to which they
we're formerly subjected
In the ePiiouics Of tic middle ages,
Grcs used to be lighted in the streets for
the publication of the air, and in the
plague of London, of 1868, fires in the
streets were at one time kept burning iD-
ccssantly, till extinguished by violent
storm OF rain. LatterIy, trains Of gun
powder have been fred, and cannon dis
charged for the same object, hut it Is Oh
vious that these measures, although sound
in principle, must necessarily, out of
doors, be on too small scale, as meaSur-
ed against an ocean of atmospheric air,
to produce any sensible effect. Within
doors, however, the case is different. 1t
is quite possible to heat a room sufficient
ly to produce a rarefacton and conse-
quent dilution of any malignant gas
es it may contain and it is of course the
air of the room, and that alone, at night,
which comes in contact with the lungs Of
the person sleepin-.-II cStHliHSttr Hcr.