Smyrna times., 1877-08-29
Outdoor Air and Indoor Air.

Night air and damp weather are held in
great horror by multitudes of persons who
are sickly or Of weak constitutions; con
sequently, by avoiding the night air, and
damp weather, and changeablo weather,
and weather that is considered too hot or
too cold, they are kept within doors the
largest portion of their time, and as a
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 blood to become impure in
| consequence Of waste and useless matters
mixing with it as it passes through the
body, that it requires hogshead of air
every hour Of our lives to unload it of
these impurities but in proportion as this
air is vitiated, in such proportion does it
infallibly fail to relieve the blood of these
impurities, and impure blood is the foun-
dation 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 un-
healthy as compared with indoor air at the
same time.
Air is the great necessity Of life; SO
much so, that if deprived of it for q
moment, we perish and 50 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 oi
the lungs every two minutes and half oi
our existence.
Whatever may be the impurity of the
outdoor air of any locality, the indoor all
of that locality is still more impure, because
of the dust, and decaying and odoriferous
matters which are found in all dwellings
Besides, how can indoor air be more
healthy than outdoor air, other thing;
being equal, when the dwelling is supplied
without2
} To this very general law there is one ex
ceptlon, which it is of the highest i'm
portanco to note. When the days are hot
and the nights cool, there are periods O
time within each twenty -four hours, wher
it is safest to be indoors, with doors ant
windows closed; that is to say, for tn,
hour or two including sunrise and sunset
because about sunset the air cools, and tn,
vapors which the heat of the day hav,
caused to ascend far above us, condens,
and settle near the surface of the earth, 81
as to breathed by the Inhabitants; as tn,
night grows colder, these vapors sinl
} lower, and are within foot or two of tn
earth, SO they are not breathed. As tn
sun rises, these same vapors are warmed
L and begin to ascend, to be breathed again
but as the air becomes warmer, they ar
D carried so far above our heads as to be in
e nocuous. Thus it is that the old citizens O
Charleston, S. c., remember, that while
l was considered important to live in tn
: country during the summer, the common
observation of the people originated tn
custom Of riding into town, not in the coo
of the evening or of the morning, but i
the middle of the day. They did not III
i derstand the philosophy, but they observes
the fact that those who came to the city a
+ midday remained we'll, while those VIII
l. did so early or late suffered from it.