Evening star., 1915-01-29
AIR IS URGED
|NLARGE QUANTITIES
Senior Surgeon Banks Of Public
Health Service Says Even Night
Air Does Good.

Fresh air. is good for breathing into
the lungs, whether the suspected night
fresh air or the respectable day fresh
air So declares Senior Surgeon Banks
of the public health service, who urges
that mankind take in all they can get
Of both kinds. with prospect OF reward
in health and longevity.
A public health bulletin is directed to
the dissipation of the specter of super
stition that attaches i'll to night air
and to a propaganda for right living
according to present hygientc stand
ards. The fearsome legend about the
baneful influences Of night air is only
another of the carefully nursed insani-
tary bequests from our ancestors, as
serts Surgeon Banks.
where this superstition arose can
not be surmised," he continues. Per
haps 1t is a survival of the primeval
cult of sun worship, which led the an
clients to classify anything OUTSIDE tne
sphere of solar influence. 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 entertain this crude no
tion about night air, else their progeny
would spend half the year indoors.
The low w-lying mist or fog that some
times gathers about the surface of the
earth nnder. certain atmospheric con-
ditions after sunset was held, Is held,
to be -miasmatic and pregnant with
lethal possibilities. This IS Wortny
to any hoary superstition. but it's
place is in the specimen jars Of an
archaeological museum. not In the
showroom of modern intelligent LIE.
No Different From Day Air.
The night air, minus the sun, is no
different from the atmosphere OF
sunless day. The atmospheric enveiop
of the earth does not change from be-
nign to malign In the twinkling OF an
eve after sundown. 1t is still COM
posed Of oxygen. nitrogen, argon and
carbon dioxide in the normal proper
tions for the given locality. The open
air treatment of tuberculosis and its
kindred allies had first to combat this
venerable jargon about the deadliness
of night air. and only the remarkable
results of this hygienic aid to its cure
brought the superstitious to Il realiza-
ton of the Stiffness OF their lnsralneo
noctophobia.
"A story from the trenches in France
is that a soldier wrote home TO MS
wife to open her windows at night, as
he had found that the night air didn't
hurt one Bit That is the experience
of all the advocates of this sensible
custom--once tried the old custom OF
sealing ones self in an airtight bed
room is never renewed. Diseases which
involve the lungs can usually be traced
to their beginning in poorly ventilated
sleeping apartments, inside rooms that
do not have a share Of the atmosphere.
Nothing can live well or long without
oxygen in the air. and it was given to
us for breathing. night and day. not to
be taken in sparingly. as if 1t were u
dangerous potion. Some people are ac-
tuaIly afraid of ordinary, common air.
Those emancipated persons who open
their windows at night Will tell you
unanimously that they cannot breathe
In a chamber unless the window Is
raised. their sense of comfort and vigor
demands the life-giving qualities of
fresh air. No greater phophylactic ad
vice can be promulgated than to
breathe all the fresh atmospheric air
you can get, night and day."
1t pays to read the want columns of
The Star Hundreds of situations are