The daily gazette., 1875-10-20
EDITION
Lecture on Ventilation.


DE-; THOMAS Hicks lectured before
lhe teachers Institute, yesterday, on
ventilation. He spoke of the physiol-
ogy OF breathing; showed how the |
D.ood is purified by contact with the |
ar In the lungs; that air once breathed |
Is not mt for respiration, because it has |
iost large percentage of oxygen, and |
taken on five per cent. of carbonic acid.
Alr once breathed Is loaded with ami
NAL impurities. A mans own breath
Is poison to himself and in crowded
room, without ventilation, one is COM
PEELED to breathe, over aad over again,
the exhalations from the lungs and
bodies of others.
An adult man needs about 400 cubic
feet OF pure air every "a hours. Air is
not furnished in any such quantity,
either In churches, halls OF dwellings.
Indeed, in many public places there
IS NO arrangement whatever, for ven-
tilation while meetings are in session,
and the oxygen is often so nearly ex-
hausted, that the air is offensive to
the smell, oppressive to the lungs, and
poisonous to the blood. 1t is not
wonder that persons have headaches
and sometimes more dangerous all
ments, after an hour in such an
atmosphere.
| No subject is more important than
that of ventilation. The air is the
breath of life, and in proportion to Its
purity and abundance, is the life health
and strength of the persons breathing
lit.
In the Fall, windows are closed to
keep out the cold. Instead of this,
fires should be built up, and the ven-
tilstors thrown open.
The worst way to warm room, is
by animal heat. Impure, stagnant
air is not better because it Is cold =.
Whether the room is cold or warm,
after the air it contains has been once
breathed, q change is needed, that the
carbonic acid and poisonous animal
matters may be carried away, and
more oxygen taken in. There is much
less danger, even from draught of
pure air than from the breathing of
air which has been exhaled from the
lungs.
Much is said Of the value of fresh
air. Invalids are recommended to go
to the sea side, to the country, or to
the mountains, for a change of air; yet
people do not value the fresh air right
at their doors. There is, perhaps, as
goods air on the Wilmington hills, a.
anywhere else. Let US let into our
dwellings, the pure air which God has
placed all about us. Then we shall
have less need of going abroad for a
change of air,
Many persons going abroad, so shut
themselves up in confined cabins on
steamers, in confined railway cars, and
in close rooms at hotels, that they re-
ceive but little benefit.
The speaker was glad to notice that
an effort is being made to secure better
ventilation in the school houses OF
Philadelphia, and hoped that if it was
needed, there would be improvement
in ours.
A first requisite togood ventilation in
Winter is plenty of heat. The room
should be kept comfortably warm, ,and
then if there are no better means of
ventilation the windows should be let
down.
Every school house should be thor
oughly ventilated in the evening after
school, or in the morning before school,
and at recess and intermissions. There
should also be openings for the change
of air throughout the day. 1t would
cost but little more in coal, this would
be abundantly made up in the health,
comfort, and p. ogress in study of the
pupils.
| Pupils who are ill or have weak
lungs, suffer most from the deficiency
of pure air. The very strong may get
used to breathing impure air, but mol
without injury. Nature can resist in
fluences unfrlendly to life for a long
time, but all such resistance exhausts
vital capital.
/. Parentsand school committees should
: see that the school houses are well
warmed and ventilated. In no way
can they do more for the physical wei
fare of their own children.
Church sections are prevented from
ventilating the audience rooms often.
times, from fear of complaint of cold.
People seldom complain of beng toe
warm. The only remedy for defective
church ventilation, is such popular
knowledge on the subject, that church
goers shall demand pure air, and be
. willing to pay the additional expense
of better fires.
In conclusion, the speaker made {
few remarks on the prevalent practic,
among women, of COMPRISING the
waist so, that even in the midst of the
best of air, they could not breathe
more than two thirds as much as ma.
ture designed them TO breath.
At an early age the little girls wais
is compressed, and the ribs being
yielding, give way under the pressure
the child gets used to a tight dress an(
Il lie waist does not grow to its nature
size. Many ladies who think they
can take full breath (and who can dc
so in the sense that they can fill thu
air cells which they are in the habit o
using), are deprived of the use of thei
lower lungs. From compression, thu
air cells In these lobes have becom,
collapsed. They only use in breath
1 IL n.