The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1859-10-15

lsesssssrs Me, tally h ths Uaited Asases
Accordingto the best insormation which ",
can CLEAN, life Is gradually but alarmingly deter.
| iorating IN The United states. There are severa
| causes which operate to produce this effect. u
| All tne eiements of human subsistence, air L
most Immediately and most constantly necessary,
Ne can live more days without food, than We can
1''"sfes without air. Deprived Of food, q man
may i've sight or ten days; deprived Of air, he
will re dead in half that number of minutes.
says ". SouIHwooD sMITB, ply sician Of the
London Fever Hospital: Deprive an animal Of
air or oeEfne Hte hAa rhieA has olveody been res-
fe'tu, "snd carbun aecumuates In the venous 3
bs,cd, carbon nike with the arterisl blood In
hstf minute the blood How b,g in tho arteries Is
evftentiy darker; In three quarters Of q minute
II Is cf dushy hue; In . minute and half 1t IL
quite black. Every particle u arterial blood
now sisappears, and the whole mass becomes ve-
nous; the Anin,sl falls down insensible, and in
three, or, at most in four minutes, the heart en-
tireiy ceases its aetivn, and can never again be
excited" The animal is irrecoversbly dead.
The Importance Of this process Of the acrat ION
or Decentralization Of he blood, IL eyincel by n,
elaborate and beautiful provisions which natups
has made br carrying II on. 40 facilitate this
operation, the Creator has placed In the breast Of
each human being pair Of lungs so interpene-
trated with air-ces and blood essels-est i'm ed
at no less than Geo. 100000 that according to
late writer they Offer an amount Of surface on
which tie blood is or posed to the purify ing action
OF the air, Of 26l2 square feet. through the
minute pores VI these amazingly wrought lungs,
imrelled by an unseen power without our voi-
ti0n, without our thought, without our knowl-
edge, while We sleep ss while We wakc-from
the most distant extrcmties Of the system,
rushes the red tide f life-driven by
q contractile force In the heart equal 10
nearly LOCO pounds each minute. BY
this process, every drop Of the thirty pounds Of
blood In the system Is exposed to the purify ing
M otE he. al.
Is again repeated every succeeding three
minutes through life. And thus, In the course
Of year, not less than 1 900. 900 pounds OF
blood have been decarbonized, purified, and
rendered III again to carry life and health
through the system. To effect this puriica-
tion, l12.OOO cubic feet Of air have In the course
Of the year, been drawn In and OK pelled by tho
lungs At more than 9.OOO. 900 Of separate fespi-
rations. And by this wonderful proc. IS,
during the same period Of iime the blood has
been relieved Of no less than 1.10O pounds Of
caibonic acid, one Of the most rapid and deadly
Poisons in nature-these 1.10O pounds being ca
pable OF poisoning to degree Of immediate fa-
talty, 100000 or 6OO. 600 cubic feet Of air. Be-
sides this carlonic acid, there Is about an equal
amount Of ofiete putrescent fluid and solid ami
nal matter, discharged from the lungs and pores
OF tho skin Of each adult person; and these sub
stances, together, amount to about pounds
every "a hours. Both arc Of q gaseous form,
ami float in the surrounding air.
These substances being poisonous II re inhaled,
the benehcent Creator has provided In nature for
their constant, immediate and entire removal.
lie has placed man at the bottom Of an ocean Of
air 10 miles deep, which Ia perpetualy being stir.
ell and " hirled about by the winds. lie has like
wise established law, by which the air, being
raised by contact with the lungs and the sur
face Of the body to a higher Temperature than
the surrounding atmosphere, shall become light
or and Immediately Iise above the reach of q
second inspiration. He has male the animal
and tho vegetabl kingdoms nature to coun-
teIact the effect Of each o,her-the first absorb
ing oxygen and giving out carbonic acid, the
second absorbing and feeding upon carbonie acid
and giving out pure oxygen in return, thus pur-
ify ing the air and again rendering II III for tho
respiration Of animals. By these grest oom pen
sations the equilibrium Of nature IL kept up and
the life Of both the animal and the vegetable
self In close rooms, cuts himself OF from the
operation Of these benefcent laws, and prevents
the removal OF the poisonous products Of rcspira-
tion, for v hich the Creator has made such boaut-
ful and " ise proyis 10 nature. Our close ceil-
ings prevent the ascent Of these impure gaseous
exhalations, which are thus retained about us,
and breaihed and rebreatbod, hour after hour,
and year after year, and We reap the penalty IN
n catalogue Of diseases and suffering from W hich
tue lower animals, In a natural or wild state,
which breathe the pure air nature formed IL,
are entirely frcc. The ,tfcc' u 0 want VI ven
'hhibh po VI nun tndt
there are about twenty light cubic inches Of car
bo'ic acid gas discharged from the lungs Of each
adul, every minute. 10 produce death, IL il not
necessary that this should be breathed IN a pure
form. Dr. CATrENTER Prof. sILLIMAN, ani,
indeed, all authorities state that an atmosphere
containing only hye or six per cent, or one
eighteenth or twentieth part u its own IL
un.o Of this t,ns, will produce immediate death,
aud that ar ox1ain'ng only half this proper
ton Of carboI'c acid, will prove fatal IN a few
hours.
DIR. u. II. Rrm. who for fifteen years super
intended lbc ventilation Of the Houses ~ Parlia-
nent, intimate od that not less than ten cubic feet
Of fresh air per minute was necessary for each
person. ANA in the House Of Commons, aud In
many other building, ho provided for supply
Of much more ihin that amount in sOmo cases
sixty cubic feet for each person per minute. In
recent report made to tho General Board Of
Health of England, by commission Of medical
and scieutiic men appointed W examine into the
subject, and printed by oider Of the House os
Commons, II Is recommended that In the rooms
d private houses, provision bo made for supply
ing from fifteen TO twenty cubic feet Of frosh air
Per minute FOR each inmate, and for tns extrac-
ton OF an equal amount OF vitiated air, by OPEN
inRs at or near the ceiling. Miss FLORENCE q
kIGnTiNGALE, in paper read before the Health
Section Of the Association Of social Science, at
Liverpool last ctOb,r, thst the introduction OF
twenty five cubic feet of fresh air for each per-
son per minute, is necessary for pslft health.
In the United states within the last half csn-
tury, an entire change has taken place in the
"nIy IN, muaniit, NJ yen,iIst;on =, ,,h,nna .nd @
renewal az air in onr rooms bas hsen 'Srsa,Iu %I
dlmini,Led. lint bv whi,b The "a,Ii,y - me nj;
inJcrepdent or ~; cGFscI If Ss,inn r. ;rsc,I,
dct ciiOrated. The universal method Of warming
osen lire. nlsoes. Win our n rcf.Iherg thsss
,'er. on an aix ar sevon fe,t vida arJ as ,n,nv
biph. In these iarpe wo,I fire. were built nrn,