Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-08-15
Popular FAllacicS.

Night air and damp weather are held in
great horror by mulitudes of persons who
are sickly or of weak constitutions; conse-
quently, by avoiding the night air, and
damp weather and changeabe weather,
and weather that is considered too hot or
too cold, they are kept within doors the
much largest portion of their time, and as
Il matter of course continue invalids, more
and more ripening for the grave every
hour; the reason is, they are breathing an
impure atmosphere nineteen-twentieths of
their whole existence.
As nothing can wash Us clean but pure
water, so nothing can cleanse the blood,
nothing can make health-giving blood, but
the agency of pure air. So great is the
tendency of the blood to become impure
in consequence of waste and useless mat
tiers mixing with it rs it passes through
the body, that it requires IL hogshead Of
air every hour of our lives TO unload it of
these impurities; but in proportion us this
air is vitintcd, in such proportion does it
infallably fail TO relieve the blood of these
impurities, and impure blood is the fom-
daton of all disease. The great fact that
those who are out of doors most, summer
and winter. day and night, rain or shine,
have the best health the world over, does
Of itself falsify the general impression that
night air or any other outdoor air is I'M
healthy as compared with indoor air at
the same time.
Air is the great necessity of life; so
much 50, that if deprived of it tor mo-
ment. we perish; and so constant is the
necessity of the blood for contact with the
atmosphere, that every drop in the body is
exposed to the air through the medium Of
the lungs every two minutes and n half OF
our existence.
Whatever may be the impurity of the
outdoor air of any locality, the indoor air
OF that locality is still more impure be.
cause of the dust, and decaying and odor.
ferrous matters which are found in all
dwellings. Besides, how can indoor air
be more healthy than the outdoor air.
other things being equal, when the dwell.
ing is supplied with air from without?
To this very general law there is ono
exception which it is of the highest i'm.
portance to note. When the days are hot
and the nights cool, there are periods OF
time within each twenty-four hours. when
it is safest to be indoors, with doors aud
windows closed that is to say, for the hour
or two including sunrise and sunset, be.
cause about sunset the air cools, and the
vapors which the heats of the day have
caused to ascend far above us, condensc
and settle near the surface of the earth, SC
as to be breathed by the inhabitants; II,
the night grows colder, these vapors sink
lower, and are within foot or two of the
earth, so they are not breatned. As the
sun rises, these same vapors are warmed
and begin to ascend, 10 be breathed again
but MS the air becomes warmer, they are
carried so far above our heads as to be in.
nocuous. Thus il is that old citizens q
Charleston, S, c., remember, that while Il
was considered important to live in the
country during the summer, The common
observation of the people originated the
custom of riding into town, not in the
cool of the evening or of the morning, but
in the middle of the day. They did no
understand the philosophy; but they OBJ
served the fact that those who came to tn,
city ut midday remained well, while those
who did so early or late suffered from it.
All strangers at Rome are cautioned no
to cross the Pontine marshes after the hea
of the day is over, Sixteen Of shipt