Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-02-01
Hygiene of House Plants.

Hygiene of House Plants.
Every lady who delights in bay
window full of house plants, should,
by all means, duly understand their
hygienic influences. The leaves Of
plants are their lungs, and through
the pores of these organs, the pro-
cess of respiration is carried on with
as much regularity as similar pro-
cess is maintained through the instru-
mentality of the lungs of animated
creatures. The breathing process OF
plants and animals is relatively re-
versed. An animal draws oxygen
into his lungs and throws out car
bonic acid; Will. n plant absorbs
carbonic acid an i"Apcls oxygen. 1t
will he oh-"' ,c>i then, that the ami
NAL and vegetable worlds exactly
balance each other; being, in fact, q
kind of duplicate machinery, either
department of which would languish
and die without the other. Did the
earth contain only animals, the whole
mass of the atmosphere would, in
time, be converted into carbonic acid
gas, without hope Of change or relief
and universal death would ensue.
On the contrary, did the earth nour-
ish only plants. the !. air would
soon be changed into oxygen gas
with correspondingly fatal results.
AS it is, however, the one part of
vital creation chemically prepares
the air for the healthful respiration
of the other. Some very interesting
experiments have recently been tried
in the Royal Winter Gardens at
Munich. A conservatory is covered
with an immense dome of glass, ad-
> hitting the light but cutting off free
communication with the outside at
! mosphere. Here it is practically
, shown that tie plants would. ina
short time, completely fill the spa
cious appointments to the top OF the
3 lofty dome with almost pure oxygen
gas, and then wither and die for the
want OF their natural respiratory ele-
i. ment, were it not that air enough is
admitted to furnish the required car
bonic acid. While the respiration
of plants and animals bears close
resemblance, the one TO the other,
they widely differ, however, in one
respect. Animals make many in
, SEPARATIONS and 'expirations in q day,
while plants make but one, that is,
they absorb carbonic acid during the
, day and expire or breathe out oxygen
during the night. In some species
of plants, both of these processes are
carried on at one aud the same time
, the upper surface of the leaves tax,
!, lug in one kind of gas and the und 81
surface giving out the other gas.
In this way, by completing the
circuit, there is kind compensation
maintained which tends to preserve
the purity of the air which surrounds
such plant, even though it be for
some time inclosed in small space.
Where only few pots of plants are
. kept in the house, there is, probably
, no appreciable difference in the air
of the loom in which they stand. as
is usually the case, but it is a bad
practice to keep then in q sick-room,
!, or small, ill-ventilated sleeping
rooms. After all, while it is quite
essential for every adult member
, of household to understand the
} hygiene of the vegetable world, the
: chief good arising from the keeping
, of house plants, is the moral and in
! tellectual pleasure afforded us in
) their companionship. A spacious
conservatory, well stocked with ex-
otics, is little world of itself, and
} there is a corresponding world of
| pleasure in their contemplation. If
} ladies would set free their birds
and in their place substitute rare
and beautiful Towering and aromatic
plants, they would be the gamers in
more ways than one.
|
DIR. D'Unger, of Chicago, is re.