The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-05-04
Everyday Murder.

IRON Inc Baltimore a uierlcan j
How much of disease is attributable to
oyerheating and bad ventilation Of buildings
and defective draining is not to be deter
mined accurately, but that the proportion is
large is beyond question. When modern
architect builds modern house in any oil
our large cities he puts in all the appliances
Of our modern civilization. Among these
appliances there is much more attention
paid to decoration and effect than to comfort
and sanitary precautions. City houses are
constructed for the most part with studi-
Gus eye TO ornament aud show, and
the careful exclusion of any surplus
supply of air, light, and ventilation.
While they are richly decorated and up
bolstered, and everything is done to please
the fancy, the breath Of life which must be
drawn in these domestic palaces comes in
through openings so few and ill.contrived as
to afford the least possible clement towards
the sustaining o! human life and strength.
Still less is the healthy and Inspiring suu-
light permitted to visit the interior. The
apartments which ought TO be the pleasantest
in the house are the most thoroughly sealed
against the family. The parlor in most
American homes, in which the household ic-
come is mainly spent to collect handsome
objects and produce adorumen1 Is farthest
removed from the home.life. This is a charac-
terlStic OF the absurd sacrifice to show at any
expense that attends our social customs.
But not content with keeping out as much
as possible of the pure air, marvellous pains
are taken TO poison that which is breathed
within doors. The patent improved hot-air
furnace is the most elaborate and ingenious
contrvance in the world for poisoning and
destroying the atmosphere. The roaring
tres of coal which supply this heated air are
kept up for six or eight months of the year,
and SO the family goes on, breathing not the
natural air Of heaven, but an atmosphere
manufactured 10 order in the cellar base.
ments. l-veDtilated or Differentiated
houses, heated to seventy.6ye or eighty de-
gees, are mere death.trapS. nsdiously un-
dermning the human constitution by slow
poison, While every roof is camped down
tight over the inhabitants, as if they were so
many little animals carefully shut up in an
exhausted receiver.
FMS evil Of bad ventilation is one that can
De avoided hy all who appreciate The bene-
flis Of pure air aud light, but there is another
form of household murder which it is not 30
easy to avoid. This is drainage. The first
law in sanitary science is to have good.
souhd, pure, and sweet elements around us:
cue second and equally important law is TO nut
away all foul and deleterious elements. Both
OF thcse laws are Systematically violated in
me building Of modern houses, The drain.
age OF very many leads either into stagnant
"a ,sspnols, which breed all manner of poison.
tos.s emoyia, or else the water-pipes lead into
'Olh "s "nico, uncovered ut many points. send
upth cir reeking aud fetd breath to be in.
hslea bf those living over or around them.
Our cE.es are thus honeycombed by disease
and the comfortable, wc!l.housed, weIl-ied'
and unth.nking citizen permits his builder
to erect for him home with defective yenti.
latioD, poisonous wafer, and feculent cess-
pools to slowly poison the family.
IL the present style Of house-bu 'ldiDg had
prevailed when De Quincy wrole bis essay
on Murder as One OF the Fine A IT'S" be
might have enumerated it as pointed illus
fallon. scaIIet.feyer, typhoid-fever, ,diph.
nerla' and neuralgia are ali results OF S. nut.
ibg OUT fresh air and living In that which is
laie aud foul. Where men are able t.,
alla Tor themselves and expend large sums
money TOR their residences isanight be-