The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-02-10
FearsOmeLegend Regarding
Night Air is Ridiculed
by Surgeon Banks
INSANITARY REQUEST
FROM OUR ANCESTORS
Earth's Envelope at Night No Differ
ent than on Sunless Day-Success of
Open Air Treatment for tuberculosis
Dispels Crude Notion.

Breathe all the fresh air you can get,
night and day That's what fresh air
is for. The fearsomc legend about the
balcful Influences of might air. is
only another of the carefully nursed
iHSanitarv requests from our ancestors,
according to Senior Surgeon Banks, OF
the United States public health ser
vice.
Whence this superstition arose may
only be surmsed. Perhaps it is sur
vival Of the primeval cult of sun wor-
| ship. which led the ancieuts to classify
anything outside the sphere of solar
| influence. Our fOrbcaTS were wont to
caution their offspring to be careful
about the night air, - or children were
ordered TO ''cOme in out OF the night
air. - 1t is perhaps fortunate for the
children living in the Arctic circle,
where the nights are six months long,
( that the Esquimo mothers do not en-
terrain this crude notion about night
air, else their progeny would spend
half the year indoors.
This idea is generally prevalent aud
even ono of our welI-known flowers is
floaded down with the horrible name o1
H. Deadly Nightshadc - as q sort of yer
bal relic of this old notion. The low.
lying mist or fog that sometimes gath.
crs about the surface of the earth un
der certain atmospheric conditions, ri
ter sunset. was held, is held, to bC
miasmatic' and pregnant with letha
possibilities. This is worthy OF all the
respect that should he nut to any
hoary superstition. but its place is il
the specimen jars of an archaeological
museum, not in the show room Of mod
cin Intelligent life.
The night air, minus the sun, is II,
different from the atmosphere of sun
less day. The atmospheric envelope Of
the earth does not change from benign
to maligu in the tWinkliug Of an ey,
after SHUTDOWN. 1t is still composed o.
. oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon di
oxide in the normal proportions for til,
. given locality. The open air treat
ment of tuberculosis and its kindrGt
, allies had first 70 combat this vcncfa
BILE jargon about the deadliness O
night air, and only the remarkable re
4, suits Of this hygicuic aid 10 It's cur,
brought the superstition to a reaIiza
tion of the Stiffness Of their in4IaincC
! noctophobia.
This generation has witnessed th
emancipation Of human beings in IL
! spect to the value OF fresh air, whethe
i in bulk or in smaller "drafts. " From
8 being people immersed in hermetical
:. ~ sealed rooms a. night breathing OH
: own bodily calculations over and owe
- again, n constantly increasing numhe
: of persons are sleeping in rhc open. O
! ut least with open windows, summc
=, and winter, to their great benefit. Il
the morning they are refreshed wit
= the pure oxygen of the air breathe
Ssfn
= seedy' after eight hours spent il
'. respiring and rerespiring second, han,
= and shopworn air in closed bedroom.
I. y story from the trenches in Franc
!. is that soldier wrote home to his Wit
to open her windows IT night as h
4 had found that the night air didn
r, hurt one bit That is the cxpericnc
OF all the advocates of this seusibl
j custom-once tried the old custom q
n sealing one s self in an alright bet
6 room is never removed. Disease