Smyrna times., 1886-09-29
For the Smyrna Times.
Hygiene,
FRESH AIR FOR BREATHING-NIGH
AND DISEASES.

ayglen6'
FRESH AIR FOR BREATHING-NIGHT
AND DISEASES.
When persons speak of the necessity
of fresh air for health, they are not al
ways aware of its composition and of
the various purposes which it serves
in the animal economy. 1t is a
thing" substance to be weighed and
measured, as one would water, and
has much to do with night and disease.
1t is estimated that every grown-up
human being in ordinary health makes
20 respirations (which consists in
drawing into the lungs and giving out
from them air) per minute, or 1900
per hour, or 2S,S00 in a single day
and night. During this period of "a
hours there is an abstraction by each
person from the atmospheric magazine
of his or her portion of air, amounting
to 81 hogsheads, of which each retains
vital oxygen to the amount of 20
pounds. This last mentioned gas,
which constitutes about 81 per cent.
(by measure) of the whole atmosphere,
enters into the blood and there serves
to maintain the activity of all the func-
tions of life, corpOreal as we'll as men
tai. 1t is estimated that about one
fourth of all the air drawn into the
lungs by inspiration is altered in these
organs and is no longer fitted for
breathing; hence it is that we see
night and disease go together.
Fresh air is a food, the introduction
of which into the lungs is more imme-
diately and constantly necessary than
that commonly reckOned as food,
which is taken into the stomach. The
call of the aerial food is incessant and
allows of no pause; that for solid and
liquid food is periodical, and allows
postpOnement for many hours. dir
food furnishes dynamical force to the
heart, lungs and intellectual force. 1t
is a heat modifying medium, it swal-
lows all exposed to it, it supplies a
food to man, out Of which he is i'll part
built up, it feeds him with the active
principle (Oxygen) by which the
warmth Of the body is sustained.
There is no tampering with the res
piratory wants. The lungs must have
their due supply of pure air or the en-
tire animal machine suffer, the heart
suffers and the mind works slowly {;
the stomach and digestion weakened.
1t is no wonder that sickness and
death generally come in the night; we
see it is then when the body is in a
state of weariness from the labors of
| the day; when, in addition, the heavy
night-damp has its depressing infiu-
ences, and is less capable of resisting
and warding off the approaches of dis
ease, decay and death. 1t is the
outdoors and the sunshine which so
OXgenate the blood and lmpart to it a
sparkle and a life as it courses
through artery and vein every step
| becomes a pleasure, every thought a
| happiness and it is delicious even to
breathe. Now what is it that gives to
/ the outdoor air of clear, sunshiny dav
all these sOul-touching qualities? 1t is
the greater amount Of oxygen with
which the air loads every breath we
i take, which makes the difference be-
tween the JOY of the outdoor sunshine
and the chamber of midnight; and if
we could but breathe this highly Oxy-
4 genated air all the time, men would,
other things being equal, double the
time of life and still be young in life
and feeling at the age Of a hundred
/ years. But, most unfortunately, and
not necessarily either, one clear third
of our entire existence 40 in 60 years.
is spent in sleeping and breathing a
vitiated air, an atmosphere so full OF
heaviuess and dust and odors of a
close-confined bedroom, as to exclude
the more aerial oxygen, hence so many
of us, and so often, wake up in the
morning with feeling of tiredness and
unrest, that is absolutely distressing in.
stead of waking up to mirth and laugh.
ter and song a very large part of do.
mestic chickering's which poison the
peace Of families arise from the fact
that the parents, having slept in an i'll
ventilated apartment, have not beer
refreshed, their sleep has not rested
them; every breath taken into the
lungs was so impregnated with grossel
impurities that it could not take in the
more ethereal oxygen, whose Office it
IS to absorb the impurities from the
blood and carry them out of the sys
tenn; hence both brain and body are
depressed, the moral nature imbibe.
the evil influence, and both husband
and wife wake up to carp, and com.
plain and scOld, dampening the spirits
of the children, irritating the servants
making a veritable hell in a household
which ought to have been a heaven
The importance then of sleeping in an
air as pure as possible, socially, physi
cally and morally, can scarcely bC
Overrated; hence sleep in the highest
largest, best-lighted rooms in the house
with open fire places and little fire
burning during Spring, Fall and Win.
ter nights, no standing liquids, anC
with as little carpeting and furniture 2!
possible, in short, an almost empty
room, unpapered walls (whitewashedJ J
hung with beautiful pictures, painting.
and engravings calculated to elevate
the mind, to purify the moral affec.
tiOns and to give a direction t
thoughts in the beginning of the day
which shall pervade the whole charac
ter and conduct for good, until the pill
low is reached again, which should b.
in the early evening.
Pro Bono PUBLICO.
KirkCoOd, Sept 9th, 1886.