Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-08-30
WHY ErrDEMIcs RAGE AT NIGHT.

| II was in one night that four thousand
persons persisted Of the plague 10 London
1t was by night that the army Of Senuachs-
rib was destroyed Both il England and on
the continent. large proportion Of cholera
cases, in its several forms, hare been observed
to have occurred between one and two o'clock
in the morning. The danger Of exposure to
the night air has been theme Of physicians
from time immemorial; but it is remarkable
that they have never yet called in the aid of
chemistry to account Tor the fact
l. is at night that the stratum Of air near
est the ground must always be the most
charged With the particles Of auimalized mat
ter given out from the skin. ard deieterious
gases. such as carbonio acid gas, the product
Of respiration. and sulphuretted hydrogen, the
product of the sewers. 10 the day, gases aud
various substances of all kinds rise in the air
by the rarefaction Of the heat At night
when this rarefaction leaves, they fall by an
increase of gravity, If imperfectly mixed with
the atmosphere, while the gases evolved du-
ring the night. instead Of ascending. remain
nearly at the same level 1t is known that
carbonic acid gas, at low temperature par
takes SO nearly of the nature Of fluid, tina:
it may be poured out Of one vessel into ano-
Their. 1t rises at the temperature at which
it is exhaled from the lung. but its tendency
is towards the floor. or the bed Of the sleep
er. in cold and unventilated rooms
At Hamburg, the alarm Of cholera at nigh,
10 some parts of The CITY, was SO great thai
many refused to 60 to bed, lest they should
be attacked unawares in their sleep. Sitting
up, they probably kept their stoves or opet
CRATES burning for the sake Of warmth. and Til.
warmth, giving the expansion to any delete
rious gases present, which would best pro.
mote their dilution in tho atmosphere. tht
means Of safety were unconsciously assured
At Sierra Leone. the natives have practic,
In the sickly season Of keeping fires constant
ly burning in their buts at nights, assigning
that The fires keep away evil spirits. to which
10 their ignorance they attributed fever ant
ague. Latterly. Europeans have begun t.
adopt the same practice, and those who havt
tried it assert that they have now entire i'm
munity from the tropical fevers to which they
were formerly subjected.
In the epidemics of the middle ages, fires
used to he lighted in the streets for the pu
rifcation of the air, and in the plague of Lon
don, in 1865. fires in the street were at one
time Kept burning incessantly, till cztinguish-
ed by violent storm Of rain. Latterly
trains gunpowder have been fred and can
non discharged for the same object. but it is
obvious that these measures although sound
in principle, must necessarily. though out Of
doors, be on too small scale, cs measured
against an ocean Of atmospheric air, to rro-
duce any sensible effect Within doors, how
ever, the case is different 1t is quite possi-
BILE to beat a room sufficiently to produce q
rarefaction and consequent dilution of any
malignant gases it may contain. and 1t is Of
course the air of the room, and that alone, a.
night. which comes in contact with the lungs
of the person sleeping - Westminster Re
riew