The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-09-26
Written for THE NATIONAL TRIBuEE.1
WEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
by FELIX L. OSWALD, NJ. D.,
Author of Physical Education; " Household
Remedies: The Bible of Nature" etc.
CHAPTER XXXY.

It is a curious fact, illustrated by the expert
| ence of every rainy year, that the period of
contagious diseases does not begin till after the
| end of the warmest days; often, indeed, not
before the middle of September, when cooler
| nights and shorter days should be expected to
| lessen the risk of infection.
The secret of that phenomenon is the night.
! air superstition, which almost infallibly re-
asserts itself as the necessity of open
windows ceases TO be enforced by the most un-
endurable heat. In July when the thermome-
| ter, in the slums of our swetering lowland
! towns. often remains above 80 till long after
midnight, the influence of the bcseiting delu-
sion is modified by the limits of physical
| endurance and the very prisoners of n village
| Jail would revolt against the insanity OF q
| keeper who should attempt TO prevent draft
of cool air currents from entering their dungeon
! through the interspaces of the iron bars. All
along the rows of our metropolitan tone
| ments, bedroom windows can be seen wide
| open, tempting the visits of burglars and mus
kctos. but incidentally atiording an exit-gate
| TO the germs of numerous contagious disorders
After the middle of September those gates arc
! apt TO tie closed in nine out Of ten American
households. The floating seeds of contagion still
| fill the atmosphere, but more than usually cool
evening affords Granny Goose pretext for re-
| pcating her hearsay Cackle about the perils OF
cool drafts. "night.chills" and malarious
fogs," and down goes the sash of the contrivance
! known to our ancestors as a wind-door, but
| whose functions in modern homes are too often
limited to those of light-door. So many
lights" in window is, in fact, a frequent
country synonym for the number of its panes
| After the end of August our perverted wind
| gates admit little but moon beams at night and
! from 10 p. m TO dawn the atmosphere of Il
| crowded bed room becomes moro and more de-
| peted of its life-giving oxygen, and more and
more surcharged with the exhalations of con
md nF oiI
Then comes a more than usually sultry night
| following perhaps light shower, that furnished
an additional pretext for closing every window
at sundown-and before morning the germs of
all possible diseases have got chance to fasten
on their victims.
Hence the frequency of so.called Climatic
fevers," of typhoid disorders congestvc chills,
but also of catarrhs and pneumonia, about the
end of September, aud in warm years during
the first half of October. Tencmcnthouses
spread their air poison from fiat TO fiat, ilven-
tilated hotels from room to room: the children
OF hygenic homes inhale contagious disorders
in the fetid air of crowded school-room
Our crowded railroad cars, too become vcri-
table disease-traps rs soon as the first modera-
ton of the Midsummer heat affords an excuse
for keeping the windows closed. " 1t would be
difficult" says Dr. Whitaker. to conceive
conjunction of circumstances more directly
contributiye To the dissemination of pulmonary
disorders than is offered in the palace-car. II
is always badly ventilated the vcstibule.oar
| especially, Is close aud hot 10 to 80 people be-
| ing crowded into space that might make
small ball In house. but never bedroom for
pair of human beings Somebody is always
afraid OF draft. that windows are kept
closed TO prevent free ventilation, as well as
the election of sputum, which is mostly dc.
posted on the floors. Cuspdors never contain
water and are often used AS waste baskets or
al -fgVg sa a
gree sufficient To rapidly disseminate infectious
matter.
With the gathering shades Of evening. the
compartments containing the bedding are
opened into the car 10 diffusc through IL dis
agreeable, musty odor. The traveller is treated
to the luxury visible OF clean sheets and pillow.
cases. but the blankets. mattresses, carpets. aud
worst OF all, the curtains, remain the same
until worn out
Consider now that every car contains or has
recently been occupied. by conBumptiys trav-
eler, If only en- route for change of .cliHisslo,
and that through ignorance. carglcssnsss FOR
weakness there comes To be deposited upon bod
ding. curtains etc, tuberculous matter. What
becomes OF IL, if IL be not dried and dissent
mated throughout the car. or gradually ncor-
porAted into the lungs of the traveller
IL IL "a curious fact that the first note Of alarm
of this kind should have been sounded by q
laymau, viz, barrister Ia Australia. who pub
iishcd IN TIE ABhtThfian mrfticuf Jalffff last
yembcr. Il protest against the custom Of admit.
ting consumptive travellers into the same cabins
with healthy people. The danger Is. in ono
sense, far greater on ship. in that the people
are so closely confined In the cabins, and as tho
author remarks, considerations Of humanity
prompt the well to close the port veuti-
lators 10 protection Of the sick. Then. also. the
trip is much longer.
These advantages are offset on the ear by tho
fact that there Is from IL no escape 10 the outer
air, not even on express trains. except for meals
or other necessities Of life. A man may mount
for breath Of fresh air 10 the deck Of a sb 10.
where, indeed, he Is allowed 10 pass most of the
day a prisoner Is permitted 10 walk now aud
then In the free" as the Germans say but
the traveller on express train Is for all the
world in the condition of the dogs made 70
breathe atomiZed tubefculOus matter inclOsed
in boxes, until even these animals, naturally
| immune. become infected with the disease.
| But IL is one thing To find fault aud another
to suggest the remedy. The plush velvet aud
/ silk hangings must 20. Seats should be COW
cred with smooth leather, that may be- washed
/ of; carpets substituted for rugs, 10 be shaken
in the open air at the end Of every trip, or bet
! ter still, abolished for hard -woOd floors The
curtain ab0mination must give place 10 screens
OF wood OF leather; blankets Of invalid beds
subjected % steam at a high temperature; mat
tresses covered with olod silk or rubber cloth
that may be washed OF, and above all things,
| inyalids provided with separate compartments,
| shut off from the rest OF the ear With the same
care taken 10 shut out the smoke Of tobacco.
The cuspidors, half filed with water, should
| abound Ia every car, and consumptive travel
| ers provided with sputum cups, which may be
emptied from the window. For when the pa.
| tent himself learns that he protects himself in
| this way as much as others-protects himself
| from auto inlection-fiOm the infection of
sound parts Of his own lunRs-he will not pro-
test against such measures"
1t is sadly certain, however, that the danger
Of pulmonary disease germs is not limited to
the risk Of inhaling the PARTICLES of dried sputd
! The very breath OF consumptives il contagious
and even ordinary catarrlis can thus be dissent
mated. as well illustrated by their epidemic
prevalence In ill-yentiiated schools aud fac.
tories. single night passed Ia a stuffy sleeper
may infect persons Of sensitive lungs with the
seeds Of death, and am conVinced that the late
Prof. Youmans owed his last fatal complaint TO
| 20 hours trip in lung poison cage of that
sort. Several European railways have intro
dnced ciuder-stoppug smokestacks that enable
! travellers 10 enjoy the fresh air in the immedi.
ate neighborhood Of wide-0pen caf-window-
after all, the only effective means OF yentila-
| ton.
Under existing circumstances, American rail-
| way travellers are reduced to choice of lesser
| evils, and, in warm weather. at least would
| consult their sanitary interest by renOuncing
| the sham comforts Of sleeper" aud passing
a night, with or without sleep, in an generally
| half empty ordinary car, where protest
| against "night-air" can be avoided by choosing
| n seat near tho rear end As an attenuation