New-York tribune., 1891-04-30
Tile CLIM1TE INDOORS.

4 Nortberner who spends the winter in the
West Indies or in any portion OF the tropiVn
helt will have some curious sensations II nc re-
trrns IN oyerheated houses in April. Frooaoiy
h;s first night ashore will be sleepieSs one
uohi,uatcd rs he has become to breathing fresh
air dav and night. he will find Northern houses
intolerably close and stuffy. lie has Deeh hNl"S
for months where artificial heat from stoves anu
furnaces is unknown, and his lungs cannot aU
once adapt themselves to the new atmospheric
conditions There is sense OIL coHlliiehiehO
about lie indoors. He finds it hard 70 Dreathe
in the house and longs to open every door anu
window Possibly the temperature OF MS sieep.
inq-roOm or parlor is about the same as thaI ol
tho atmosphere which he has been breathing
all winter in the tropics, but there is a marked
difference between steam heated and furnace
,.,di,ted air and what he has been taking freely
into his lungs night and day in the south. III
Is the lack of fresh air that unpleasantiy anects
tho returning invalid or wanderer during MS
first week at home.
The high mortality from pneumonia ana al
lied diseases during the spring months IS orul-
narilv attributed to climate remarkable Tor
sudden changes. 1t would be more reasonable
doors. Americans live from November to May
in overheated houses and offices which are III
Alternately ventilated. There are sharp changes
in temperature in the course OF twenty-1our or
forty-eght hours but these are not more
marked than the transitions made several tunes
y day from November to May whenever men
and women 90 into the open air from o"erheated
houses, stores and Offices The effect OF ex-
cessive heat is always to debilitate the physical
system. Residents Of tropical countries lnVafi-
ably complain OF the enervating influence OF
their climate even when it is an equaDIe one !;
hut they are not in the habit OF passing SeNerb
times a day from an atmosphere OF 20 OF gu
docrees TO one that is 80 or 40 degleeS lower
Northerners have their indOors-cmate OF more
than 20 degrees from mid October to the mlIule
of Nav and that is rendered exceedingly de-
biItatinp from the lack of fresh ar Ill thelr
bousas and they are. moreover, constantly sub
iected to sharp changes of temperature when
ever they 90 out. Is it not natural, theh' 10
infer that much OF the pneumonia and lung as
ease in the spring is directly caused py the
climate indoors?
A generation ago the temperature OF ilVlng
/ rooms in this latitude was commonly lO OF
fifteen deglees lower than it is now, and lew
| ATTEMPTED to heat sleeping apartments. Now
every room is heated up to 70 degrees, ana
often to 70 degrees for six months in the year
and offices in the business quarter OF the town
arc equally warm. The present generation not
| only is dcbilitatcd by heat in the winter, Dut
il is also deprived of an adequate supply OF lreSh
air. The ceilings are lowered every year III
| nevv suburban houses and there Is less CUBIC
air space in sleeping room and parlor. Men
building houses for their families take elaborate
tains to provide heating apparatus OF the moS'
approved pattern, but seldom pay heed TO inc
NECESSITY of yentilating the rooms and securing
a constant supply of fresh air. winter ana sum
mer. They systematically Overheat their houses
and make hothOuSe plants OF themselves aho
| their children six months Of the year; and ther
they complain of the climate in the spring WheI
they and their debilitated neighbOrs are dying
of pneumonia by the score, or shaking them
selves to pieces with the grippe.
Excessive heat under glass without fresh all
will kill even palm, and frequent changes O
temperature subject the hardest plant to shock
which will enfeeble it and retard its growth
WHY does it not follow that the health of human
beings is unfavoraby affected By the moderl
system of overheatng houses in winter and b.
the strain produced by life intermittcnty pasSe'
in two zones-the torrid indoors and the sub
Arctic outside? it is not the climate OF th'
Temperate Zone that is 50 much at fault as th'
artificial climate which furnace-makerS nav
produced indoors.