The record-union., 1897-11-14
A CASE OF BAD AIR.

A CASE OF BAD AIR
Since our bodies are charges for the
use and misuse of which nature holds
us to strict account whatever eniarges
knowledge concerning their care and
the conservation of their health, be-
comes of first interest. Sanitary science
in the earlier years of its evolution had
a hard struggle against indifference,
prejudice ignorance and superstition
But in latter years no science has made
such prodigious strides forward.
Who would have believed fifty, nay
twenty five years ago, that 1t would
have been possible to so educate the
people out of old time notions regard
ing what we know as diptheria, as TO
place that dread disease upon the cata-
logue with pests that must be quar-
antined, the victims of it sequestered
and the funerals of those who die OF II
forbidden to be held publicly.
Yet the advance that medical science
has made in that direction of sanitary
precaution and prevention, is perhaps
the least important of its progressive
march. The chiefest of it's gains has
been the esta blishment of the princ1-
pies of sanitary drainage and ventlla-
ton in the statutes of the States and
the ordinances of municipalities, until
now people are not permitted to i'm
peril their own and the lives of others,
by neglect of the well settled laws OF
sanitary science in these respects. And
the people as rule have become con-
vinced that the sanitarians are right
and that what they insist upon is IN
the interest of health and human hap
piness.
| Illustrative of the exactitude of the
| determination of cause for unsanltary
! conditions in these days and of the
readiness of the people to be instructed
York Evening Express" that is full of
suggestion. Here was the simplest
possible form of proof that ill-health
was the result of ignorance and neg
into the dwelling houses, of bad air.
The Express says:
In the practical talk by Charles Win
| gate before the Household Economic
Association We're many points of great
value to housekeepers. 1t was almost
pathetic to watch how eagerly they Is
] tened, some at the back of the room
standing up in order not to lose a word.
| The lecture was given in the kinder
garten- room, and, taking his cue from
| his surroundings, Mr.. Wingate took s..
! A. w. for his text These initials rep
hesent soil, air, and water-the three
! significant elements of the healtheul-
| ness of a dwelling, or the reverse. He
urged women to go into their cellars
| and look for evidences of dampness.
Rotting wood, crumbling plaster moist
soil, were all 6anger-signals that mean
more or less illness up stairs. A house,
he said. should not have wet feet. He
gave an interesting illustration Of the
insidious way in which moisture works
its evil destiny In one of the fine
twelve or fifteen-story apartment
ROOM twelve feet square, occupancy OF
which by any one inevitably produced
malaria in that person. He was final
ly called in to discover the cause. He
| found pipe passing up from the cell
lar, with an opening in the room for
plumbing purposes. After thoroughly
examining the room, he went down
| stairs to the cemented sub basement,
plant, and near one pipe he found some
water standing. He was told that a
| little surface water occasionally settled
| there, and that once week enough
had accumulated to be removed The
mystery was solved. There was the
surface-water of New York soil, i'm
pregnated with gas and other deleter-
,ous matter There was the heat to
generate its latent elements of harm.
There was the strong upward draueht
of heated air to carry them from the
cellar. There was finally in the con-
demned room an open fireplace to ere
ate the suction which drew them into
its atmosphere. Ten cents worth Of
cement to close the pipe-opening rid
that room forever of it's bad reputa-
ton Mr. Wingate frowned on unven-
tilated clothes-closets He said that,
being a mere man, it did not seem to
him neat to pack house and personal
linen in stuffy closets and close an air
tight door upon them. Every close.
in the house should have a wire panel
In the upper part of the door. The ash
closet under the city stoops was an
other place that needed ventilation in
the same way.
doctrines twenty-five years ago, he
would have talked to no such eager
audience nor to one so ready TO receive
the truth. Had he then told a congresa
ton that simple pipe from cement
ed. warmed basement leading from
over pool of clear water to upper
rooms was dangerous to the peoDls
twelve stories aloft, he would have
been laughed at by most hearers.
In England the statistics of the courts
show that more suits for divorce are
, brought against wives than against
husbands by almost a third. The sta
tistics on that point have not been ac-
| curately gathered in this country
What do the English figures prove
That there are more unchaste wives
than Infaithful husbands, or more for
, | bearing and miserably content wives