The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-28
HYGIENE AND HAUNTED HOUSES

HYGIENE AND HAUNTED HOT SEES
From the Journal of the American Medi-
cal Association.
1t is by no means a new experience to
find the miracles Of ancient days and ne
mysteries of occult arts fading away In
the light of modern science. The bloody
bread of the middle ages, for example,
with its sinister fofebodings and religious
implications, has today become simple
demonstration in bacteriology Unex-
pected luminous surfaces appearing in the
absence of any visible source of light are
easily explained by any student of the
biology of phospherescence. Even the al
most impenetrable marvels of the active
mind as well as those curious manifesto
tions, like hypnotlsm, which pass under
the name of psychic phenomena, are yield
ing to the attempts a d rational interpre-
tation. Weird visions and strange ghosts
have at length become the expressions Of
disordered mind rather than the vista
tions of an Offended deity. And now the
haunted" house-chronicled in fiction and
actually Stunned in real life-has been Ge-
prived of its mystifying wonders and
tieth century hygiene.
DIR. Franz Schneider, Jr., of the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, has i'll
vestgated a house in the Back Bay dis
trict of Boston which had acquired the
annoying reputation of being haunted
The experiences which led to the investi-
cation were too serious, the symptoms too
real, the reports too often repeated and
reliable to pe overlooked or regarded lis
mere Authorizations. The slumbers of the
inmates in the upper stories were dis
turbed by strange sensations, such as
those of oppression or paralysis they fire.
quently continued after the sleeper was
thoroughly awake and even after the
lights had been turned on. The involved
children appeared pale and sluggish in
the morning, even cold water losing its
power to enliven them.
careful inspection of the building gave
the key to the situation. The theory OF
undetected leaks of Illuminating gas as
a source of intoxication could not be ver-
ified in this case: but it developed that the
gases escaping from a "viciously defec-
tive hot air furnace were sufficient TO
cause the lfOuDle ne separation DetWeei
the fire box and the hot air ducts (on
which the hygienic integrity of the outfit
depends) was badly broken, and as re-
suit the inhabitants of. the house Were
bathed in an atmosphere of diluted flue
gases The Journal of the American Med
ical Associat ton is confident that this con-
dition might be discovered in many other
American homes. Flue gases contain, es-
pecially when the combustion is incom-
plete, considers. BILE amounts of distinctly
poisonous gases.
The symptoms i'll Schneider's cases
BILE chief Offender Sensations of oppres-
sion and other mental disturbances are
typical of acute carbon monoxid poison
ing, as are also loss of psychic powers.
the confused sensations and other fea-
lures which oXplain the sense of oppres-
sion that persistently entered into the de-
lusions of the inmates of the haunted"
house. The belief in walking spirits is
easily nourished by persons in whose
minds real noises would lie likely to be-
come exaggerated during the intoxication.
The sensations of apparitions induced by
the breathing during sleep, of tainted
atmosphere are of interest to the students
furnace, often praised for its ventila.lng
effect-and with justice when properly op-
Grated and in perfect condition-may evil
dently become :. distinct menace to health,
as well as a cause Of GHOSTS.