The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-10-29
Pure Air and Health.

AE is not the degree OF heat or cold, o
dryuess or moisture, which gives to tn
air depressing or bracing influence
neither can it be any change in tn
proportion of nitrogen or oxygen
for this is invariable. Some have at
tributed it to the amount of ozone tina
happens to be present, a word that il
used to indicate modification of Oxy
geR, developed by electrical action il
thunder storms, and the existence o
which is detected by a peculiar smell il
the atmosphere. There are persons
who are kind of living barometer. -ant
they tell you they can ''feel it in theil
bones" when the wind is about tC
change or a thunder storm is impend
ing. Rheumatic people are particular
Ey gifted in this respect.
The indispensableness of pure air in
order to the enjoyment of high health
was not much appreciated in days gone
dy, and this branch of knowledge has
Become much more important in its sci.
entific aspect since the introduction OF
plumbing and elaborate sewerage and
cellar furnaces and double windows and
anthracite coal burning and gaslighting
and numberless other Improvements
which have come in with the advance of
civilization. But yet, just for the want
Of that knowledge, we read of ''great
plaques" that depopulated whole dis
tricts almost in day, and the system
attic exclusion of fresh air from the sick
chamber sent myriads of people to their
graves who would have escaped if they
had only been left to the curative re-
sources of nature. 1t is noticeable
fact that the most efficient remedies
adoptedin our day for the cure Of fevers,
such as fresh air and sunlight, ice and
cold water. stimulants and nourishing
food. we're not very long ago resolutely
denied the suffering patient, no matter
bow strongly his instincts might crave
them. / well remember how, in former
days, the professional bteeder in Phila-
delphia was habitually called in to sap
the fountain of life whenever the stream
began to move slowly.
There are certain classes of persons
who are peculiarly exposed to deleterious
atmospheric influences, and it is not
easy TO see how this evil can be avoided.
When the work to be done is of such a
nature as to require that the room
should always be kept closed and the
atmosphere is likely to become charged
with noxious gases and poisonous dust
and Irritating tilaments, the workman
can hardly expect to fill out the full
measure of his days. The atmosphere
of an ordinary factory is bad enough,
and do not wonder that prominent
English manufacturer once said that he
could not bear to punish or even awak-
en- the little children in his employ
when they fell asleep in the mill. How
they manage to keep awake at all in
such a mephitic atmosphere is mystery,
for the incessant clatter of the machin-
cry, when one is used to it, operates as
a soporific. 1t is true that the human
system has strange facility in adapt
EHg itself to untoward surroundings, and
Gae heSrt will keep on beating when one
might suppose that it must soon col
lapse and stop forever
Those who labor habitually in the
open air have much stronger assur-
auee of health and longevity, although
they may be exposed to great mutations
of heat and cold, and the body will ac-
custom itself to these changes more
readily than it can to any unwholesome
elements in the air. Even an extreme
artificial heat is not always rrejudcial
60 the health, as may be seen in the
6rawny frames of the men who toll and
sweat over the pudding furnaces of a
foundry. The heat seems to pass
Through them and ooze out at their
Gaces, without doing any special harm,
aud they are quite sure to be in no dan
ger from the presence of any malarious
germs in the atmosphere.
Students and writer's, who pass their
days in close and confined apartments,
bending all the while over their desks,
uegiectful of outdoor exercise, must
expect, sooner or later, to pay the bitter
penalty. In order to do healthy intel
Sectual work one must keep himself in
q healthy condition. If this law were
mcre generally regarded the world
would be spared many lugubrious
poem, and Wholesome tale, and weari-
some treatise and stupid sermon.
The depressing and baleful effects Of
aaventiiated halls and churches and
school rooms are better understood
than they were in days past There is
still great room for improvement, as
may be seen in the soporifc attitude OF
many of our crowded congregations,
and the heavy talk that falls from the
lips of many public speaker, and the
wandering eye of many a poor child,
who strives in vain to fix his thoughts
upon the swimming page. How often
IN the midst of sermon, have I longed
to stop and cry out, "Open the win
dOws! let in little fresh ARP Nc
preacher can reach the hearts or the
heads Of his congregation when he is
obliged to address them through 8
medium of carbonic acid gas. Let the
army of sections throughout the land
lake Dote of this.
We all know what mischief the al,
can do when it goes off on one of it,
swift and awful journeys and rides OF
the wings of the tornado and the hurri
cane; but this is o work of destruction
over which man has no control, and TO
which of course he is not responsible
It is, however, when the atmosphere /
most peaceful and quiet that it does it
deadiiest work. 1t takes up out of tn
damp earth, and the soggy pool, an,
the decaying pile Of vegetable and ami
mai life, and from all forms of filth an
rOttenness, seeds of death, which n