The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-24
the importance of sunlight.

No one who has compared plant raised
in the shade with another grown in the sun
light can doubt the absolute necessity of
the direct rays Of the sun for the perfect
development of plants. The first is, per-
haps, equal in size, but the fibres are want
ing in firmness and filed with watery sap
the flowers are pale and inodorous, and in
many cases almost without color; the
fruit, if it ever develops, IS very imperfect
and tasteless whereas. in the plant where
the sunlight has stimulated the vital forces,
the fibre is firm, the sap rich, the flowers
distinctly colored, and the fruit perfect in
form and taste.
Now, this same law is applicable to ami
NAL life. Why is it that miners, who live
IN darkness, look pale, and are only colored
by the coal.dust of the mine? Why is the
fashionable woman who sleeps while the
sun shines and is active chiefly at night,
imperlectly developed, and wanting in
freshness. being coored not by the hand of
nature from within, but by some other hand
without? If they were the only suffer-
ers it would not be so bad, but their chill
dren are pale, sickly, sad-looking little
creatures, and may well be compared
to the fruit of tree grown in the
shade. 1t is very true that this is due to
the want of fresh air, but it is equally
true that much of it is owing to the alb
sence of sunlight. 1t is common to hear it
said that our health in this age Of stoves
and furnaces would be SO much better if
we would return to the open fireplaces of
the past. We would add that the improve
ment in health would be as much more
increased were we to build our houses so
that the sun could shine in on three sides.
tits fact that in two-thirds of the rooms
in the dwelling-houses Of New York city
the direct rays of the sun never reach and
it Is equally true that in those rooms where
it can enter, in all cases it is excluded
much of the time, and ID many cases the
whole time, by curtains, shades and shut
tiers. The only excuse for excluding the
sunlight is that it darkens the complex
ion and fades the carpets, &c. By ex-
GLIDING sunlight, the bills for carpets,
&C., are diminished, but the doctors
bills are proportionally increased. This is
what we find in private dwellings. Let us
look at our hospitals, institutions for the
cure of the sick, supposed to have been
built on scientific principles; but, first lei
us see what is required of them so far as
sunlight is concerned. Miss Nightingale in
her excellent work, "Notes on Hospitals, y
under the head of deficiency of Light
says: INSTANCES could be given, almost
endless, where in dark wards or in wards
with Northern aspect, even when tho
roughly warmed, or in wards with Dor
rowed light even when thoroughly ventila
ted, the sick could not by any means b.
made speedily to recover" Again she says
ut is generally said that the effec
is upon the mind. Perhaps so; but it il
no less upon the body on that account
Miss Nightingale lays down as one of thu
principles of hospital construction that The
long axis Of ward should be as nearly as
possible North and South; the windows
on both sides, SO that the sun shall shint
in from the time he rises till the time he
sets at one side or the other" Strange te
say, this most important principle has beer
violated in the construction of all our city
hospitals, the Roosevelt being about the
only exception to the rule.