The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-02-24
Moving into New Houses.

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Many things which take place are
found, when the causes of them are
carefully weighed, 10 be the ordinary
consequence of some act or neglect
rather than the effect of the supernatu-
rel agency TO which they are attributed.
One of these decisions arises from the
frequent occurrence OF death as the re-
suit of inh2biting new house. In ev-
ery neighborhood there are those who
prOgnOsticate death as the consequence
of it, whatever may be the condition on
which 1t is inhabited. It Is enough
for them that the owner who constructs
1t moves in.
That death frequently ensues after
moving into new house is unques-
tiOnably true, but examination will
prove that it is due to the imprudence
of the occupant in many cases. The
most frequent cause of such an event Is
the state of the undried plastering. 1t
is, however, sometimes accustomed by
the entire change OF habits which fol-
lows what is frequently decisive step
upward in the career of the owner.
Sand is used in constructing plaster Tor
the simple reason that when the lime
itself hardens there shall be material
dispersed through 1t as hard rs itself.
Water is the agent which produces this
effect. When that is suddenly absorb
ed from contact with porus bricks, or
| 1TOul HA pOSuI6 " pO"61lul AchLSy VI IL
| drying winds, the necessary union is
not formed, and the material, insteadsOf
being mortar, consists of slaked lime
and dry sand. When the water is al
| lowed 10 remain in the mixture the
hardening process goes on, but proceeds
slowly. A mason, examined as wit
| ness some years ago in this city, testi-
| fed that mortar in a thick wall was
twenty or thirty years in acquiring its
full sOlidity. The process Is somewhat
| like that by which nature converts GER
tain materials in the earth into stone.
When plaster is applied to laths 1t
dries rapidly and thoroughly; but yet
1t is wholly unsafe to inhabit dwell
| ing only recently plastered: When a
house is occupied too soon it is as il the
walls consisted of water and the damp
ness were inhaled at every breath.
Very obstinate cases of sickness pro-
coed from this cause.
A friend occupied a new house last
| October, the plaster of which had stood
during the preceding summer exposed
to drying winds. AS compensation
for neglecting the advice to remain in his
old house for q time he set all the fur
naces going; but in December the
health OF his family was interrupted.
They were young and vigorous, and
have escaped any more serious damage
| thus far than II general lowering of the
tone of the system, tho effect of serious
colds. II any of the family had been
weak or sickly the exposure might
have proved fatal, as it frequently does
to those who are invalids.
\ "hOuse warming" is ordinarily the
experience of those who remove into a
new edilice. Friends are invited to a
banquet, and they all have COCd time.
The lmprudCnce OF Overlooking with
food Ia never wise, but 1t is wholly I'M
safe when sleep is affected by damp
Lee. = Nr,, 4 toll y,gt In
eight or ten days, attended with an eX-
traordinary difficulty of recovery. The
main cause.-the dampness of the house
lis Il continuing cause of disease. The
only difficulty ABOUT, the popular SUI
perstitiOn III this case results from the
inability on thepart of those who resort
to this explanation rigidly to analyZo
the facts, and to give them their true
force. Like most decisions widely en-
tertained, there is n strong apparent
| foundation for the one in question.
| But, unable to detect the actual cause,
| ;hey attribute to the special agency of
some superior power what should be
deemed a direct consequence OF lmpru-
dence.
Many houses arc now being con-
structed for occupancy in the spring.
The assertion that they are thoroughly
dried will QuestiCnHbly be made by
persons having them for sale or to let;
| anu blluuuSIl lIIhht vi III w III NC
stimulated by ambitious wives and
husbands to move into them for the
sake of losing no time in making ap-
propriate display, it will be far wiser
to wait for a whole year after IL house
is finished, and use in the winter fur
naces, and in thesummer drying winds,
to render it safely habitable.
| Tho tendency 10 seek for supernatu-
raj causes for singular events has mark
ed every age of tho world, but is The
most active in ignorant times. There
| is a pride OfintelleCt which leads us to
furnish some explanation for whatever
occurs; and although moving from
dry to IL damp house ought to be re-
garied as IL sufficient cause for serious
ill-henlth, there are but few who per-
ceiYe it. inasmuch as it is the interest
of many persons to keep the true cause
away from observation, in order that
new houses may not remain on their
hands unoccupied by tenants, and also
that there may be patients needing to
be cured.
The condition in this respect OF the
house into which one designs moving
cannot be too carefully weighed, or Il
now case may be furnished toad the
popular conviction which ignorance so
readily assigns in such cases as a cause
OF death II it occur.