River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-12-25
WET VERSUS DRY.

EDITORS J0URNAL:-The article |
contributed to the educational column
of your valuable paper, on the neeessl-
ty of pure air in inhabited dwellings,
and public buildings, was designed to
invite the attention of the citizen land
especially the School Board to the sub
ject of heating and ventilation, of the
school building soon to be erected, so
that they may be qualified to select
the most approved methods. The
mass of the people are not yet educat-
ed to the necessity of proper system
of heating and ventilation as the only
means of avoiding the long list of
preventable diseases, and loss of life,
consequent upon the non-observance
of sanitary laws.
Mr.. Bintliff, in his lecture at the
Normal, said that the mortuary statis-
tics show that one half of the deaths
in the United States were children
under five years of age, caused by
breathing foul air, and chargeable to
the ignorance of the people in regard
to Sanitary and Hygienic laws.
This enormous sacrifice an
nually, at the shrine of ignorance,
of two hundred and fifty thousand hui
man beings, calls for national reform
| in the architecture of our buildings.
| These statistics prove that the average
| habitations are little better than death
| pens. In my former article on this
| subject, while depreciating the dis
| seminatlng of steam in our school
| rooms as a sanitary measure, acknOwl-
| edged the facts referred to, as set
| forth by the committee. | gave facts
| from high authority, to establish my
adverse views to the MIGRATING as rec
| commended, which has not, nor can be
controverted by any rule of science.
| Facts are stubborn things, and science
must harmonic with them. l ac-
knowledge there are two sides to this
question. The advocates of the popu-
lar side, claim that in artificial heating,
| the hygrometric condition of the air is
changed from moist to dry, that in
| consequence of the diminished hydra
ton, the air becomes oppressive, and
unsanitary III its influence on the sys-
TEN; therefore artificial hydration
should accompany the artificial heat
| ing. This looks PLAUSIBLE upon the
face, but when we consider the in
creased tendency of heated air to alb
sorb moisture from the entire sur
roundings, and that every scholar in a
| school room thus heated, exhales at
least an ounce of water every hour,
it would appear difficult to regulate
the hydration, by the evaporation of
water in the form of steam. connected
as it must be with an adventitious gas)
! lHydrogen) between damp and dry, if
| there was a necessity. Previous to
the invention of stoves, house warm
ing and ventilation was by means of
fire places, from two to four, in the
center of the house, connected with a
stack of chimneys, terminating in ca
pacious main hue. From the lambs
of the kitchen fire place, movable
CRANE was attached, to suspend the
pots and kettles used for cooking,
were swung over the fire, and under
the fiues, where all the steam would
go up the chimney. The sitting
room and parlor were warmed and
ventilated by these fire places aud
fiues. The supply of air was from out
door, where the temperature was some
times twenty to forty degrees below
zero. containing less than one-ffteen
hundredth of its own weight of water,
and no evaporating pans to furnish
steam for the necessary hydration,
yet the air in those rooms possessed a
salubrity and healthfuiness unknown
stree the invention and use of stoves.
TIL, advocates of the popular or The
illogical side of this question. are vary
loguacioas, but when confronted with
these and other stubborn facts, tilat
I science rails ON them 81 explain. tneg
dodge behind SOME flrtifseati0a. and
shoot 81 their hydrogen gtn without
an attempt at a reasonable expIana.
ton. ;. u. DAVIS, II. D.