The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-08-25

proportion does it infallibly fail to re-
lieve the blood of these impurities, and
impure blood is the foundation of all
disease. The great fact that those who
are out of doors most summer and win
ter, 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 out door 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 a
moment we perish; and so constant is
the necessity of 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 half of our existence.
Whatever may be the impurities of
the outdoor air of any locality, the in
door air of that locality is still more i'm
pure, because of the dust and decaying
and odoriferous matters which are found
in all dwellings. Besides, how can in
door air be more healthy than the out
door air, other things being equal, when
the dwelling is supplied with air from
without?
To this very general law there is one
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 the safest to be in
da5ers, and windows closed; that is to
say, for the hour OF two including sun
rise and sunset, because about sunset
the air cools, and the vapors which the
heats of the day have caused to ascend
far above us condense and settle near
the surface of the earth, so as to be
breathed by the inhabitants; as the night
grows colder, these vapors sink lower,
and are within foot or two of the earth,
so they are not breathed. AS the sun
rises, these same vapors are warmed
and begin to ascend, to be breathed
again, but as the air becomes warmer,
they are carried so far above our heads
as to be innocuous. Thus it is that the
old citizens of Charleston, S. c., remem-
Der that, while it was considered i'm
portant 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 not understand the
philosophy, but they observed the fact
that those who came to the city at mid
day remained well, while those who did
50 early or late suffered from it.
or ut I(npna aI
not to cross the Pontine marshes after the
heat of the day is over. Sixteen of a
ships crew, touching at one of the
West India Islands. slept on shore sew
eIal nights, and thirteen of them died of
yellow fever in few days, while of two
hundred and eighty who were freely
ashore during the day not single case
of illness occurred. The marshes above
named are crossed in six or eight hours,
and many travellers who do it IN the
night are attacked with mortal fevers
This does, at first sight, seem to indicate
that night air is unwholesome, at least
in the locality of virulent malarias, but
there is no direct proof that the air
about sunrise and sunset is not that
which is productive of the mischief.
For the sake of eliciting the observa-
tons of intelligent men, we present our
theory on this subject.
A person might cross these marshes
with impunity, who would set out on his
journey an hour or two after shutdown,
and finish an hour or two before sun-up,
especially if he began that journey on a
hearty meal, because, in this way, he
would be travelling in the cool Of the
night, which GOODNESS keeps the malaria
so near the surface of the earth as to
prevent its being breathed to a hurtful
extent.
But if it is deadly to sleep out of
doors all night in malarial locality,
wouldit be necessarily fatal to sleep in a
house in such locality? 1t would not
1t would be safer to sleep in the house,
especially if the windows and doors
were closed. The reason is, that the
house has been warmed during the day,
and, if kept closed, it remains much
warmer during the night indoors than
1t is outdoors; consequently, the malaria
is kept by this warmth so high above the
the head, and so rarefied, as to be con-
paratively harmless. This may seem to
some too nice distinction altogether,
but it will be found throughout the world
OF nature that the works of the Almighty
are most strikingly beautiful in their
mtnutig, and these minute are the foun-
dation of His highest manifestations.
Thus it is, too, what we call fever and
ague might be banished from the coun-
try as general disease, if two things
were done: 1. Have fire kindled
every morning at daylight, from spring
to fall, in the family room, to which all
the family should repair from their
chambers, and there remain until break
fast is taken. 2. Let fire be kindled
In the family room short time before
sundowD; let every member of the fami-
ly repair to il, and there remain until
supper is taken.
In both cases, the philosophy of the
course marked out consists of two things:
First, the fire rarefles the malaria and
cuses it to ascend above the breathing
point. Second, the food taken into the
stomach creates an activity of circula-
ton which repels disease. --Halrs Jour-
nal Of Health.
ToURNAI, in Belgium, has Just lost, in
Francois BaisieuX one of its most noted