The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-12
HYR.c. KEDz1E, NJ. D., OF MICHIGAN.

BY re.
The first commandment in the sanitary
decalogue is the word of God sounding
ever through the ages BE YE CLEAN.
The capital crime Of physical existence is
flth. The attention of the sanitarian is
turned then first of all to the natural puri
fers, to the agencies which act on a scale
so vast and with force so energetic that
life is victorious even amid the ceaseless
triumphs of death.
Among the natural purifiers, air and
water hold the first place, but they pri-
marily purify by themselves becoming inn
pure We use them by soiling them. The
vigorous remark of Prof. Corfeld may be
applied to them both. They come to the
community to be soiled. They come to
wash and purify communities, places, and
habitations. They come, l repeat, to be
soiled. and when soilej, they are useless
for the purposes for which they were
wanted, and have either to be purified or
got rid Of" First and last there is but
one purifier, oxygen. In air, in earth, or
in the sea. free or combined, it is like
refner's fire" 1t is natures high priest,
by which atonement is made for physical
Sins by stupendous and ceaseless burnt
sacrifice. By leaping fame or by view
less oxidation, the publication is one and
the same. There are agencies of special
activity, such as ozone, but ozone is only
the Jeathery edge of oxygen.
Of the two great purifiers, air is the
most active, because containing the most
free oxygen. We live at the bottom Of
this great ocean OF air-'an ocean without
island or shore ocean whose tides
aud currents and clashing waves
Are hurried in eternal motion
Its pulsating waves battle us every
moment of our existence, and sitt and pen
citrate our bodies with a completeness little
recognized by the careless thinker. This
surging ocean of air, by its vast extent and
ceaseless motion, is also such a diluent OF
gaseous animal pollutions that we have
only to permit its natural motions to Sc
cure the conditions of Lealtb, II Is too
big for as 10 poison. Its very vastness
makes it such diluter of gaseous poisons
that we pay little heed to the source
from which it comes, 1t is only when man
directly interferes to prevent its natural
motions, that we are in danger. Man be-
came a living soul when God 'breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life" II
he would continue to be living soul, the
process must be repeated, not once and
again, but a thousand times every hour
The life and the breath march with locked
step from birth to death; if either flags,
the other stops. To maintain vigorous
activity, he must breathe the breath OF
life, and not has OlCn dead ashes in his
expired breath. Death and life meet and
part in every breath, and if their meeting
is not to be final, their separation must be
eternal. The expired air is dead air, and
to inspire this breath Of death Is not to
bring life back to the body. We must
eject death from our habitatiOns by inject
ing living air; and this is the central fact
of ventilation.
Under natural conditions, water is
also an oxidizer of organic matter to a
small extent, but the quantity Of free oxy
gen held in solution is very small and soOL
exhausted in the presence of organic mat.
ter, unless the supply of oxygen is renewed
by agitation with air. By the Joint action
Of air, the tides and the waves, the ocean is
kept in pure condition so far as regards
organic matter; it would otherwise become
literally dead sea-
Water is only feeble chemical purifier
1t acts mainly as physical purifier, and il
removes impurities by dissolving them OF
holding them in suspension. 1t remOUe,
in large amount, it destroys in small
amount, So also the quantity we employ
rs a purifier is insignificant compared with
the quantity Of air we USE A few gallons
a day measures our necessities in one case
tor all purposes, while $4,000 gallons ar
hour is our health limit in the other The
small amount we consume, and the com
parative fxedness with which it remain:
IN the body in one case, compared witt
the large amount we respire, and tht
evanescence Of its stay, in the other. SHOW
how concentrated would be the action O
the first as compared with the second.
Of the natural purifier, therefore, VIZ
IND that water demands the most atten
ton. Air will force itself in some uuanti
ty even into unventilated rooms, it viii
rapidly dilute and speedily consume the
most poisonous gases; it has a singular
capacity to take care of itself. 1t is fal
otherwise with water in small quantities
such as are required for domestic use. Its
Oxidizing power is small and soon exhaust.
ed, unless constantly renewed, while its
solvent power both for organic and inor-
ganic matter is large. Its power to &C.
cumulate and concentrate these substances
both by evaporation and by freezing, IN.
creaSes the danger.
Another source of danger is often over,
looked, and lies 10 the nature of aohat a
hOCdS an solution or suspension Water
may contain two classes of poisons; the
first | will call tired, because incapable OF
STANDARDIZATION under any circum-
stances; such as arsenic or strychnine.
These have q fixed or definite toxic power.
A grain OF arsenic, under any and all cir
cumstances in or out of the body, can only
be grain of arsenic; it can never develop
into an ounce, or become starting point
of an indefinite quantity of the same mater
ial, Dilution OF the solution by division of
It's quantity will proportionally diminish its
danger. IL it should be announced that
some mlscreant had recently thrown a
hundred pounds OF arsenic into the Schuyl-
kill you might conclude not to drink water
during your stay in Philadelphia, and yet
the diluCion might be so great as to remove
all actual danger to the consumer. The
other class of poisODs l will call gernllnaL,
capable, under appropriate conditions, OF
INDEFINITE reproduction. In this case, d.
tut'0n does not pr0pOrtiOndlty diminish
danger. thistle-seed, though swept
through miles OF air, or carried thousand
miles by water, Is thistle seed still. and
under appropriate conditions will produce
aplant yielding seed after his kind" and
thus be starting point of thousand thou.
sands, Germinal matter is not DESTROYED
by dilution, but only by death or oxidation.
Men wondered how single morsel of
trichinous pork could fill every muscle of a
man with these parasites. until the physi-
ologist, with the microscope, demonstrated
their enormous power of reproduction.
We might as well wonder how spark can
as easily ignite n whole mapazipa nc n s;D