Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-09-09
.Iqss A wafYs or ran SALT Alb
WE WANT 70 CATCH"


on his flying trip to Long Branch, 'itsa
xhif Of the salt air Of to-day we want to
catch"
And when the goal was reached ana
he turned upon his bed to look out upon
the dark. blue sea, he drew long
breath a. the pure saline air was waited
through his open window, and exelaim.
ed, Thank God, it is good TO be here"
He had come from the national man
sion, the home OF our Presidents, with
all its comforts and elegance OF sur
roundings, and with al the added ap-
planes which skill and science have
suggested during his period Of prostra-
ton, and was laid down in q rather un-
pretentious cottage, somewhat contract
ed in its space and appointments, but
forgetting the contrast when he got a
breath of "fresh air." he could but ex'
claim, Thank God it is good to be
here!"
How much, indeed, is expressed IN
that oft used term, "a breath oil iresh
air"
The illness Of the President and the
information daily given the public
through the press OF the course and
character Of his treatment, has done a
great deal to educate the people in the
use and value of sanitary laws, both
for the preservation and restoration Of
health, and this last resort OF the doc
tors to a ''iresh breath Of air" is the
most significant, aud ought to be the
most valuable hygienic lesson the pub
lie has been taught.
IL comes when the science OF med:-
cine, when the skill of the surgeon, when
all the of science and art have
been exhausted to save the life OF the
President, as a potential refuge and
restorative upon which the hopes OF the
nation nov hang-even - breath OF
fresh air."
The American people are almost GRIM
inally ignorant OF the laws OF health
and negligent to an alarming degree OF
the most simple and essential rules OF
physiology and hygiene, but in no par
ticular are they so careless and inditfer'
ent as about the most vital Of all con-
siderations-the air they breathe.
"a man ought to live a hundred years
in this age OF the world said a Wheel
ing physician the other day. We ought
to know better how to live than all other
people who. have ever lived, and we
have better means Of making life COM
Portable and the body healthful than in
any other age, but the majority who die
in this day Of the world, die through
ignorance or neglect OF the laws OF
health. Our public schools, u public
halls, our very homes are but death
traps N which the seeds OF disease and
death are carefully nurtured and sucked
up by the masses with as much sppa-
rent indifference as they take q meal.
The popular notion seems TO be that
when a man feeds himself on proper
food, provides himself with proper
clothing snd avoids all kinds OF expos
ures he is taking care OF his health, and
doing all be can to prolong lie. The
same class Of persons are often dying
slowly from the effects Of foul sir-dying
from the most potent destroyer known
to the human race.
Nearly one half the deaths recorded
in this country are caused by the dis
ease called Consumption" 1t IS the
most common form OF disease known to
every community. But who thinks OF
consumption as a disease to be fearSd
and avoided? If as many were dying
around US OF small pox, diphtheria, or
typhoid fever as are all the time dying
from consumption, people would be
panic stricken aud jump up and run
way.
But consumption continues to do its
dire and deadly work right through the
! twelve months of the year without so
much as exciting an inquiry into the
cause of the disease.
Consumption is only another name for
Efects-of Bad-Air.
Shut a dog up in an impure atmOs-
phere for three months, and, it is said,
| all the evidence Of a tirst-class case OF
consumption will be developed. Tuber-
cles will appear in the lungs and
the process of emaciation will go for.
ward with the same regularity as We
notice in the faces OF hundreds Of hu.
mar beings around US.
Many persons are accustomed to at
tribute the prevalence of consumption
TO the sudden rigors OF our climate, and
they rush of to Florida and other south
ern resorts to escape them They come
back improved, very often, but not
so much by the difference in
the climate as the difference in the at.
mosphere of northern house and a
southern house. The former is built
close and heated hot while the latter is
more open and admits the fresh air.
The same evidences are all around us
OF the effects of the air we breath. Those
exposed to the fresh all are almost ex-
ceptionally healthy, and those who are
indifferent to the air they breathe are
almost exceptionally unhealthy.
When will We learn hat the atmos-
phere We breathe is the most important
factor In our physical life-more i'm
rortant than food, than raiment. than
medicine, than all the sanitary meas.
ures ever invented. It is the very elixer
OF life. Without it there is no health
with it We may-"we ought to live an
hundred years" IL the air OF the sea