The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1855-04-06
Why Epidemics Rage at Night.

II was IN one night that four thousand persons
persisted OF the plague in London. 1t was by
night the army of Sennacharb destroyed
Both in England and on the continent, large
proportion Of cholera cases, in its several forms,
have been observed TO have occurred between one
and two O'Clock in The morning. The danger Of
exposure 10 The mig ght air has been theme of
physicians from time imme nIorial but it is re-
markabie that they have never yet called n the
aid of chemistry 10 account for the fact. 1t IS at
night that The stratum Of air nearest the ground
must always be the most charged with The parti-
cles Of anlmalIsed matter q ven out from the skin,
and deieterous gases, such as carbnnlc acid gas,
the product OF respiration, and sui phureted hy-
drogen, The product Of the sewers. In the day
gases and various substances of all kinds rise in
the air by the rareGaction Of the heat. At night,
when this raretucion ceases, they fall by IN.
crease ol gravity, if mperfecrIy mixed with the
atmosphere, while the gases evolved during The
night, instead OF ascending, remain at searly the
same level. 1t is known that carbonic acid gas
ut low temperature, pHrtakes so nearly of the
nature of a fluid. that II may be poured out of one
vessel into another. 1t rises at the temperature at
which it is exhard from the lungs, bu, its enden.
cy is towards the floor. or the bed Of The sleeper,
in cold aud unventilated rooms.
At Hamburg, the alarm of cholera at night in
some parts Of the city was great that many re.
fused to 60 TO bed, lest they should be alta cked
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
10 any GeIeterIous gases present. which would best
promote their escape, and promote their dilution
in the atmosphere, The means Of safety were then
unc"nsciousfy assured
At Sierra Leone, the natives have practice in
the sicky season Of keeping fires constantly burn
ing in the huts at night, assigning that the fires
keep away the evil spirits, to which in their igno.
rance they attributed fever and ague.
Laterly, Europeans have begun TO adopt the
same practice, and those who have tried it assert
that they have now an entire immunity from the
tropical fevers to which they were formerly sub.
jeced. In the epidemics of the middle ages fires
used to be lighted in The streets for the puriica-
ton Of the air !; and in the plague of London, in
1885, fires in the streets at time kept
burning necessarily, till extingushed by violent
storm of rain.
Lattery trains Of gunpowder have been fred,
and cannon discharged for the same object; but
il is obvious that these measures, although sound
in principle, must necessarily, though Of doors,
be on too small scale, measured against an
ocean Of atmospheric air, TO produce any sensible
effect. Within doors, however, the case is differ
ent. 1t is guile possible to heat room sufficient
ly to produce rarefactiOn and consequent diu-
ton of any malignant gases 1t may contain, and
is Of the air of the room, and that alone,
at night, which comes in contact with the lungs Of
the person sleeping.- WeStminSter Revaea0