Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-15
GAS.
Bad Effects of the Flames on the Human
System.
Not,

Bad Effects of the Flames on the Human
System.
From Nature
OF the so-called improvements which
have been effected from time to time
In the means by which we make our
selves comfortable and render them
selves independent of the limitations
which nature would impose upon us,
perhaps the introduction of gas was
hailed and has been looked upon as
among the greatest. It wants but little
experience, however, of the manner In
which people live In towns to convince
us that the reverse of this is the case,
and the pain and misery which it has
been the means of inflicting must far
outweigh its advantages. If any one
doubts this, let him determine his SEN
Stations IN a morning after having spent
the previous evening in a close room
blazing with gas, and compare them
with what he feels after having spent
the corresponding hours in the open
air, or In fresh room moderately light
ed with oil or candles. There are but
few people to whom such experience
would not show that the effect Of the
gas was feeling of lassitude and de-
preston, if not a downright headache;
and If they were to repeat the expert
ment, who would not suffer a general
loss Of tone. Yet, wherever gas is to be
procured, this is precisely the misery to
which people subject themselves. In
nine out of ten houses In the neighbor-
hood of towns, if one goes from the
fresh air into room in which the peo-
pie are sitting on a winter evening, the
first breath is enough to suffocate one,
and yet the people in the room are en-
tlrely unconscious; they may be more
or less restless and depressed, but as
this Is their normal state they do not
recognize the cause. In this way, to
say nothing of what takes place in the
theatres and places of amusement, the
evils which gas is answerable for are
incalculable, though if they could be
estimated they must far outweigh the
blessings which accrue from the album
dance and cheapness of its light. The
fact is that the money cost of the fuel
forms only one part of the expense of
the light; there is the consumption of
oxygen, and IN this particular gas is
very extravaganza; SO that, altogether,
we now obtain tenfold the light in our
rooms which we had before the intro
duction of gas, without any increase of
expense in money we have to pay for it
by tenfold vitiation of the air. Three
orfouu gas flames consume as much air
as moderate fire, yet you would live
In room with fire or even pan of
charcoal without chimney. Yet it is
a common thing to go in room in
which three, four or five gas flames
have been burning for hours without
either door or window having been
open; that the people who live in these
rooms escape the evil effects is not to
be supposed. The only thing is that
they have not sense Or courage enough
to trace the effects to their cause.
Rather than give up their warmth and
light they wilfully close their eyes to
what follows When people inf1ict
these miseries on their friends, whether
consciously or not, they become a
positive nuisance and are fit subject to
be dealt with by the sanitary inspector.
To dine with them is punishment, a
headache is sure to follow, however alb
stemious one may be.