Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-04-02
What We Breathe.

4uo oCNWtWC AWTtcuU says: we
have all heard of the Black Hole, at
Calcutta. 1t was room eighteen
feet square. In this room one hun
drcd and forty.six persons were con-
fined. 1t had but one window and
that small one. DR.. Dunglison, in
his elements Of Hygiene" says =
'In less than an hour many Of the
prisoners were attacked with extreme
difficulty of breathing; several wore
dolirious and tho place was filed with
incohcrent rawlings, In which the cry
for watcr was predominant. This was
handed 10 them by tho sentinels, but
without the effect Of allaying their
thirst. In less than four hours many
were suffocated or died In delirium.--
In FIVE hours the survivors, except
those at the gate, were frantic and
outrageous. At length, most of them
became insensible. Eleven hours af-
ter they were imprisoned, twenty.
three only Of the one hundred and
forty-six camc out alive, and these
were in highly putrid fever"
There are many "black holes" like
this used for sleeping rooms, says the
London Co-operdtor, the difference
between them and the one at Calcutta
is that they are not crammed quite so
full Of human beings. In u word,
then, We may say, a sleeping apart
ment should be large, lofty and AIRY.
II is u poor economy for health to
have large and spacious parlors and
small, ill.ventilated bedrooms. Fash.
ion, however, is a reigning deity in
this respect, and will, no doubt, con-
tinue TO bear sway, notwithstanding
our protest against her dominion.
You will scarcely drink after an.
other person from tho same glass, yet
you will breathe over and over The
same air, charged with the filth and
poison Of Hundred human bodies
around you. You cannot bear to
touch dead body because it is SO
poisonous and polluting; but you can
take right into your lungs, and consc.
quently into your body, your system,
those poisonous particles and noxious
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 of
If the "timorously nice creatures
who can scarcely set n foot on the
ground" who arc so delicate that they
run distracted at the crawling of a
worm, flying of bat, or squeaking
Of o mouse, could sec what they
breathe at tho midnight carousal, the
very polite ball and bright thcater,
they would mover bo caught in such
company again. Nay, if they could
see what they breathe in their own
dwellings, after the doors and win
dows had been closed little while,
would soon keep open houses. More
sickness is caused by vitiatcd air than
can be named. 1t is one of the most
prominent causes Of scrofula which is
but another name for half the dis
eases that attack tho human body
1t vitiates and destroys the whole
fountain of lfe-the blood.
In the sick.room it often augments
the disease, or renders it incurablo.-
If the physician comes in and opens a
window, or door stands ajar for q
moment, the good nurse, or the tender
mother, or the kind wife, or the low
ing sister, will fly up and close it as
though the life Of the sick wero at
stake. All this is well.meant kind
ness, but really cruel.
If you would havo health, breathe
fresh air; open your windows in the
morning and often during the day I;
leave off your mufilcrs from tho chin.
For twenty years 1 was accustomed
to never going out without a hand
kercbief tied closely around the mouth
and for nearly that period have left il
off. have had fewer colds and suf-
fer far less from changes of climate
than previously. Let the air into
your bedrooms; you cannot have too
much of 1t, provided 1t does not blow
directly upon you.