The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1871-07-20
What we Breathe.

The Scientific Amer;cnn says, we
have all heard of the Black Hole at
Calcutta. 1t was a room eighteen
feet square. In this room one huE-
drcd and forty-siX persons were con-
fined. 1t had but. one window, and
that small one. DR. Dnnglison, in
his "Elements of Hygiene" says:
"In less than an hour, many Of the
prisoners were attacked with extreme
difficulty of breathing; several were
delirious, and the place was filled with
incohercnt rawlings, in which the cry
for water was predominant This
was handed 70 them by the sentinels,
but without tue effect Of allaying
their thirst. In less than four hours
many were suffocated or died in vio-
lent delirum. In five hours the sur
vivors, except those at the CRATE,
were frantic and outrageous. At
length most Of them became inscnsi.
bic. Eleven hours after they were
imprisoned, twcnty-threc only Of the
one hundred forty-six came out alive
and these were in highly putrid
! fever"
There are many "blacls holes" like
this used for sleeping rooms, says the
London Co-oprrator, the difference be-
tween them and the one at Calcutta
is that they are not crammed quite
50 full Of human beings. In a word,
then, we NAV say n sleeping apart
ment should be large, lofty and airy.
1t is q poor economy for health to
have large and Spacious parlors, and
small, iIl~ventilated bedrooms. Fash
ion, however, is a reigning deity in
this respect. and will, no doubt, cor,-
tinue to bear sway Notwithstanding
our protest against her dominion.
You will scarcely drink after anoth-
cr person from the same glass, yet
you will breathe over and over the
same air charged with the filth and
poison of u hundred human bodies
around you. You can not bear to
touch a dead body because it is 81
poisonous and poluting; but you can
take right into your lungs, and con-
scquontly into your body, your sys-
tenn, those poisonous particles and
roxious exhalations which the bodies
around you have refused, and which
have been cast into the atmosphere
by their lungs, because the health of
their bodies required them to be
thrown off.
If the "timoronsly nice creatures
who can scarcely set . foot on tho
ground" who are $50 delicate that
they run distracted at the crawling
of worm, flying Of Il bat, or squaking
of mouse, could sec what they
breathe ut the midnight caronsal, the
very polite ball, and bright theatre,
they would never be caught in such
company again. Nay, if they could
sec what they breathe in their own
dwellings, after the doors and win
dows hayc been closed Il little while,
they would soon keep open houses.
More sickness is caused by viliatcd
air than can be named. 1t is one of
tho prominent causes of scroiula,
which is but another namc for halt
the diseases that attack the human
body. 1t vitiates and destroys the
whole fountain Of lite-thc blood.
In the sick room it often augments
the disease or renders it incuraLle.
If the physician comes in and opens a
window, the good nurse or the tender
mother, or the kind wife, or the low
ing sister. will fly up and close it as
thounh the life OF the sick were at
stake. All this is well meant kind,
ness, but really crncl. ..-
II you would have health, breathe
! fresh air; throw open your windows
every morning, and often during the
day; leave off the muticrs from the
chin. For twenty Years was accns'
toned 10 never going out without O
handkerchief tied closely around the
mouth, and for nearly that period
have left it off. I have had fewer
colds and suffered far less from
changes of climate than previously
Let air into your bedrooms; you car
not have too much Of it, provided, il
does not blow directly upou you.
Many students arc injured by vita
| ted air in their studies. These arc
small, and wlien the doors and win
dows are closed. the atmosphere soor
becomes loaded with n0Xious vapors
The man is intent upon his snhject-
he scarcely knows whether he Dreathcs
or not, much less docs be think O.
what he brcathes. Many, also, art
seriously injured by the manner o.
heating their studies. All close stoves
should Be avoided. The good, old
fashioned, open, large chimney, will
y fire place sufficiently capacious tt
receive tho wood with but little chop
ping, is much preferable to the stove:
and CRATES and the whole parapherna
liz of modern fucl.saving invcn
tions.