The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1882-06-22
Ventilating Chambers.

Warming, lighting and ventilating
dwellings and public edifices are worthy
of careful study. How can these things
be cheaply and effectually done? They
are closely connected with each other.
Ventilation is really the most impor-
tant, and yet it is more often neglected
than either of the others. The air of
any room or dwelling may be ventilated
ventilation. cannot be too well under
stood by mothers. They are the house.
physicians, and should do all they can
to bestow health and comfort on those
who are committed to their charge
They should realize the fact that Vi
tiated air is constantly, by day and
night, exuded from the skin, passing
from the lungs in so large quantities
that proper ventilation is the cheapest
way of obtaining sufficient supply of
vital air.
The amount of eff1uvia exuding from
the skin is much greater than most
persons may suppose; and the quantity
Of carbonic gas that every human be
ing daily expires is enormous. And
what is of some importance to know
and consider is that it chiefly consists
of waste that should not remain with
in the limits Of The skin, nor should it
be again absorbed, to vitiate the blood
and tissues. 1t is imperative that all
foul effluvia from the lungs or skin
should be constantly passing from the
system, and be as constantly replaced by
pure air, that may improve instead of
impair the health.
The difficulty. in ventilating dwellings,
to exchange foul air for fresh in such a
way as to do no harm. is that which
may arise from chilling draughts and
sudden changes of temperature. How
much fresh air must be admitted into a
living room, for any given number of
human beings, is question that de-
ponds for answer on the number of in
mates, their occupation and state of
health. 1t is plain enough that the
amount of vitiated air depends upon the
amount of respiration and perspiration
upon the quantity of waste that exer-
else may expel. s. 4 i > ~.
Some scientists, whose experiments
and observations are worthy Of all trust,
have reported that each person in a
room should have ], 200 cubic feet of air;
or, room ten feet square and ten feet
high. A school-room forty feet in
length, ten in height and forty in width,
must hold 10000 cubic feet of air, or air
enough for sixteen persons. Now, many
school-rooms have these dimensions,
and still contain forty scholars. The
amount of fresh air really needed to pre-
vent an undue accumulation of waste
from the skin and lungs should be 49,
600 cubic feet per hour. This amount
of fresh air ought to be so admitted into
the school-room as to prevent harmful
and unpleasant draughts. Are any of
our school-roOms so constructed as to
secure this needed amount of fresh air?
We have measured several school-rooms
in Chicago, and have never found that
they were so arranged as to yield these
results. Many school-roo1ns do not APP
proximate it. The results generally are
that the schools have been in session in
winter hardly an hour before the win
dows must be raised, and draughts of
chilling air be admitted to strike the
heads and shoulders of the inmates.
Similar remarks may be truly made
regarding bedrooms. Physicians often
have occasion to observe that the venti-
lation of sleeping rooms is still too much
neglected, even by the respectable and
clearly; and when called to visit SER
wants in the night, the need of ventila-
ton is strongly and strikingly illustra-
at least, not always. Their beds are
usually placed in low attics that have
no means of ventilation, so that by the
early morning hours, if not before the
Growing of chanticleer, the air they are
inhaling is outrageously offensive. Ply
scians too often observe, also, that in
the sleeping rooms of the poor and 10
norant hardly POO cubic feet are allowed
for the inmates. No doubt ignorance of
the i'll results of breathing vitiated air
is one cause of what we often smell.
Every housekeeper should allow the
standard space OF 1000 cubic feet for
each person sleeping within his dwell
ing In two or more previous essays we
have referred to this subject of ventia-
ton of bedrooms. We, ourselves, new
err retire to rest without first opening
window ten to thirty inches, and then
keep it open until we rise to prepare for
the duties of the day.
A cheap and effective way of venti-
lating sleeping room is to place half
inch board, six inches wide, below the
lower sash. Fit it to each shoulder of
the. window frame. In this way the
outer air will pass freely between the
upper part of the lower sash and the
lower part Of the upper sash. If this
arrangement does not admit fresh air
enough, pull down the upper sash an
inch or two, but this is rarely necessary.