New-York daily tribune., 1856-04-29
CELLARS AND THEIR Expect UPON
HEALTH.

Now TODAY this WARN day-this faint Spring day,
90 rgtt away ard clean your cellar; tomorrow you
NAV paw the penalty. II IL work, h2rng WORK, ths'
must be done in city well as country, yet s often
neglected until some one in the family i down with
fever and everybody wondering where it came from,
or why the pa,ien. should be affected just at this time
tt G only wonder is that in some houses every mem
ber Of the family is not sick unto death With fever
ercsudered from miasma arising from the putreiactons
Of the cellar.
Inst look at the natural law Of miasm. The poison
Gus e1hala,ons dsengaged from purifying substances
are lighter than the atmosphere in it, healthy ooud
ton and Iise Just az naturally as smoke from the
kitchen fire.
In the open air this niasm may be blown away nom
its fountain and mixed with the atmosphere until It
losts ito character and may thus diluted, be taken
into the system without injury. But If its passage u
ohstrueted it collects ascumulates just az smoke
does or Ike dr-wocd in az eddy. In such cases the
air may be bresthed with mpunity right over the
spot that generates the mlasm while at little dis
tsrce, where it has collected in an EDDY, It may DE
deadly.
The same law governs the miasm Of the cell II, 20
that willie the ar there does indicate anything very
ofenfve vet if there are decaying vegetables, damp
foos, rotten wood, other matters to give off g4s-s
0tttTfOpS 10 urd4LA NhV-p "'4 N"s"4H''y
through imperfect hooIs or up sai-wsys to accumulate
in deadly strength in upper rooms.
If such room are used for lodging without venla-
ton, as line times out Of ten they are, there where
the deadly poison tha' originated in the cellar will do
It's work And we venture 10 say that a very large
proportion Of the sickness Of this city arises from this
caufe In many cases the waste water Of the house
| discharged from the bath room and kitchen into a
cesspoo VI der the cellar pavement to soak away as
best il may in the sand If any other substance par
ticulary soapsuds and urine sent down into this
reseryoir most deleterOus gas Will be generated.
But independent Of that almost every cellar in city or
country at this season of the year is damp and con-
taps some portion Of waste vegetables together with
rottipg straw rags wood or something TO generate
| ealtb-destroying gases.
This what We urge every one 10 clear out without
a moments delay, as they woudfee from pestilence.
II shOuld be the first business Of those who move INTO
strange houses to look TO the cellars, and give them
| thorough purfcation Every lower floor, whether
USED kitchen or dining room, and particularly II
more constantly inhabited, should be made air tight
when the house is built, and If not so made by the
carpenter, il should be made so by the hOusekeeper
with oil CLOTH just as danger of frost Is over
you should open the cellar windows, so as TO give
fee circulation Of air; and always, Summer or Winter,
keep the door closed that leads from the cellar to the
upper rooms.
The floor of every cellar should be grou'ed with
ceneIt. and the io,ts overhead lathed and well
Ilastered and whitewashed every Spring, together
with the sidewalks.
We hope the time will come when every house,
builder will feel bound by the laws of humanity,
he should be by the laws of the statutebook to
struct ventatiDg fue from the ceiling of the cellar
70 the roof OF the house.
We have not single doubt about the fact that
many unaCcounable diseases originate in the cellars
of our dwellings, both in city and country and we be-
leve that 10 more important Office could be created
in this city than an Inspector of Cellars whose duty
ehould be to make most rigid examination of these
llaeue spots. 1t is true that he would find human
beings abundance living apparently healthy in their
damp precincts. We have stated the reasOn-the
Joisonous naslna rises above their heads. And be-
sdes men become Injured to breathe poison, cot poison
and di ink poison.
! In cleaning house" the cellar i. the very La,
place thought of 1t should be the first 1t is not
enough to clean out the old rags old hats old boots
old barrels, and rotten potatoes; but every movable
tlug should be taken out into the yard and exposed
to the SUM- or, generally speaking, far better, TO the
frt-that great purifier Of all things.
Unlike the terrible malaria Of some Of the swamps
along the South Atlantic coast, the malaria arising
from cellars does not Kill in single night, else uni
versal attention would be drawn to tle cause; but il
is no less fatal, though Glow in developing its ei-
fects.
This is a subject that needs thinking about 1t i'
the want ofrehecton that breeds the evil. Let every
May day mover in New.York look to the cellar. Ten
chances to one he will thank for awakening his at
ttnticn.