Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1888-08-24
TILE MODERN REDSTEAp.
A Reason Given why Beds should u
Placed wen Above the fioori

A Reason Given why Beds should IL
Placed Wen Above the Floor
- fif'tfn tho Gcutleinan's Maessiis-i
Primitive and Oriental people lie ~
the ground or ON a carpet, bed, or mat
tres5 which il laid on the or ind.
Modern Western civilization is not sat.
islicd with this. il demands bcdsteads,
with legs that shall raise the sleeper
well above the floor level. Is any
sound scientific justification for this
latter practice deliverable? | think
there i. and that my explanation will
prove that the question is not so friyO.
lous as it may at first sight appear. A
very interesting paper was rend before
the Society of Arts by DIR. Percy i.
FARMLAND, in which, among other mat
tors, he described experiments made
by himself and others, proving that
microbia, pathogenic and otherwise, do
not remain suspended in still air; they
fall much more freely than might be
supposed from what il known concern
ing infection hv poison germs floating
III the air. Hcsse's experiments show
this clearly. Koch's method of testing
for the existence of microbia in the all
was to expose dishes or strips OF glass
containing gclatinous solid films. On
these the microbia fall and find abund-
ant nutrimert. and multiply according
~, forming colonies that may he count
ed and may BE- examined with the
microscopes; but this only indicates the
numbers Telling on given area, not
the numbers contained i'll a given meas
ure of air. 70 determine the Sc, Hesse
used tubes three feet long and one and
one-half inches in diameter, internally
coated with the sterile nutritious gela-
tine peptone A measured quantity OF
air was drawn through the tubes, when
it was discovered that the colonies were
all at the bottom of the tube, and not
evenly distributed even over the bot
tom, but were more or less crowded to-
gether at the end where the air entered,
and more and more sparsely distributed
farther inward until the latter half OF
the tube was almost entirely free. The
microbia had also fallen down in the
course Of the short journey of the air.
The mold colonies spread all along the
tube, showing that fungus germs float
in the air, while bacteria fall. Other
experiments show that in an ordinary
apartment the questionable organisms
are more and more abumdant, descend
ing from ceiling to floor Therefore
the raising of our beds above the level
of the floor places us in better at
mosphere, SO far as these micr0bia are
cone rned, than if we slept in the East
This is especially the case if tn air Of
the room is still, as is usually the case
in bedrooms of these ATTITUDES. In
rooms of the old Oriental pattern
without window glass, the case is
somewhat different. 1t may b. sup
posed that crbouic acid, Icing heavier
than air, th,re is much more near the
floor than a little higher Owing t.
the dilfusibility of the gas, this, how
ever, is not the case in any measure
able desre, The carbonic acid We
expire gets an upward start on leaving
our lungs; the mixture expired is, eX
cept in hot weather, specifically lighte
than that which We inspire on accoun
of its higher temperature.