The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-12-22
Ventilation--its Necessity and Me-
o10of


The last generation paid no attention to this
matter, at least in this country. They had no
need. Dwellings were sufficiently ventilated
without resort to special appliances for that pur-
| pose. The fires generally used were of wood, or.
if coal was employed it was burned in an open
CRATE. The houses were not Theoretically sealed
boxes, with double windows, thick walls, and
closely fitting doors and window sashes. The
| old-fashioned fireplace, or even the Franklin
CRATE gave large egress to the vtiated air, while
the numerous cracks around the doors and win
| dows furnished sufficient pure air from the ex-
ternal atmosphere. Coal gradually usnrped the
place OF wood for fuel, and compelled the intro
duct on Of stoves, furnaces, and ranges which
gave out their heat, not only by imperfect radia-
ton, but by the contact of hot iron plates with
the air. This had the effect, in close room,
to destroy the natural humidity of the atmos-
phere, and for want OF ventilation a prejudice
against stoves and coal was engendered, as pro-
ductive OF disease. Perfect ventilation will re-
move these causes of complaint The heat gem
Grated by the combustion OF coal, whether an
thracite or bituminous, when burned in a close
stove, is not necessarily deleterious.
Oxygen, from its quality of supporting COM
bustion and sustaining life-itselfa form of slow
combUstion-was formerly called the +" vital
fluid" The effect of fire in a room is to use M
and absorb the oxygen of the air, rendering it
unfit for breathing. To sustain life, therefore,
as well as combustion, a fresh and continued
supply OF oxygen is needed Yet this gas alone
unmixed with hydrogen and nitrogen, is not fit
for either purpose--llfe or combustion. In eth
er case it DISTINGUISHES too rapidly--in one in
stance producing fever, and in the other destroy
ing the fuel too rapidly. Ventilation, therefore
is as necessary for the fire as for the lungs The
hre OF stove is not the only source of the dete-
noratlon OF the air in our rooms Gas lights.
lamps and candles, absorb large amount of oxy-
gen, and II the products of combustion are not
visible IN smoke, or unconsumed carbon, we.
Halter ourselves that no deterioration of the at
.mosphere Of the room is caused. There is no
combustion withoutthe generation of carbonic
acid, a gas rs fatal to animal organism as anv
drug in the apothecary's collection. Because
we do not see this in the form of smoke or a
noxious yapor, we provide no means for its es-
cape, and no means for introducing pure air. For
our ordinary fires we are compelled to do this
as the results of their combustion would soon
render our rooms uninhabitable
IL Is calculated that each person consumes, on
an average, five cubic feet of air in an hour or.
rather extracts from it that portion capable Of
supporting respiration. Put one hundred per-
sons in room as hall, containing %, 500 Gu
bic feet OF atmospheric air, room thirty feet long
twenty-five wide and thirty high, and in four
and half hours the air would be unfit to breathe.
prove deeterious. lis beautiful provision of
nature that this gas ordinarily much heavier
than atmospheric air, is, when first exhaled from
the lungs lighter than the surrounding air, and
rises. In time, however, it cools and descends
to our level, when we are compelled to inhale it
again. For this reason low studded rooms are
not healthy.
ventilatonof rooms is necessary, it must
not be supposed, what some have asserted, and
attempted to prove, that the proper ventila-
ton Ola room adds nothing to the cost of heating
In cold weather. fresh supplies of air are in
troduced, these supplies must be heated to pro-
duce the requisite temperature, which necessitates
an additional consumption of fuel The object
sought is, however, well worth the increased ex-
pense entailed
Ss--ltis unfortunate that our houses, especially
lore' e4Ser@os have not been constructed, hereto
one OF the objects.-~-.tancac with vant;Iot;on 90
rary measures to insure frestssss-, do,,t tor,-
purpose the opening of window at the tef'-.lp
the admission of pure air by door, or the low
er portion of window on the opposite side of the
room, is the most feasible means for ventilation.
Currents of air must be avoided, and this can be
done, in a measure, by stretching across the
aperture screen of thin muslin, or, better, per-
forated thin plates of tin or other metal. To be
sure, this is an imperfect and not altogether sat-
isfactory method of reaching the object sought,
but it is better than no ventilation.
This is subject too important, and compris-
ing too many conditions, to be justly considered
in SO brief an article as this Our object is how
ever to call attention to the necessity of proper
ventilation, in the hope tina. it may awaken in
quiry, and stimulate to some exertiou in the right
direction Scientific Amer