New Britain herald., 1915-02-06
BREATHE FRESH AIR
 BOTH NIGHT AND DAY
NIghl Ar is No Different From
 That Of Sunless Day.

Breathe all the fresh air you can get, night and day. That's what fresh air is for The fcarsome legend aLout the tnleful influences Of "nigM air is only another of the carefully nursed nsanitary beauests from our ancestors. according to Senior Sur geon Banks. of the United States Public Health service.
 Whence this superstition arose may oIlE be surmised. Perhaps it Is a sur v!Nal of the prmeval cult of sun worship. which led the ancients to classify anything outside the sphere of solar influence our forebears were wont to caution their offspring to "ho careful about the night air" or chil- dIen were ordered to come in out of tho night air" IL is perhaps forum ate for the children living in the arctic circle. where the nights are six months long. that the Esquimaux mothers do not entertain this crude notion about night air. else their progeny would spend half the year- indoors
 This idea is generally prevalent and even enc of our well-known flowers ts loaded down with the horrible name of Deadly Nightshade." as a sort of verbal relic of this old notion. The low-lying mist or fog that sometimes gathers about the surface of the earth under certain atmospheric con- ditions. after sunset. was held, 10 be "miasmatic" and pregnant with lethal possibilities. This is worthy of all the respect that should be put to any hoary superstition, but It's place is in the specimen jars of an archaeo- logical museum. not in the show room of modern intelligent life.
 The night air, minus the sun is no different from the atmosphere of sunless day. The atmospheric en- velope Of the earth does not change from benign to malign in the twink ling of an eye after sundown. It Is still composed Of oxygen. nitrogen, ar- gan and carbon dioxide in the normal proportions for the given locality The open air treatment of tuberculosis and its kindred allies had first 10 com bat this venerable jargon about tho deadliness of night air. and only tho remarkable results Of this hygienic aid to its cure brought tho supersli- tious to realization of the stiffness Of their ingrained noctophoba.
 This generation has witnessed tho emancipation of human beings in TO- spect to the value of fresh air wheth- CT in bulk or in smaller drafts" From being a people immersed in her medically sealed rooms at night, breathing our own bodily calculations over and over again. constantly in- treasing number of persons are sleep ing i1 tho open, or at least with open WIT JoWs, summer ard wintsr. tO ttcir great bencfi*. In ths morning they are refreshed with tha pure oxygen of the air breathed during sleep. not "stewed" nor ''seedy" after oightt hours spent in respiring anI re-re- spring secondhand and shop-worn air in a closHd bedroom
 A story from the trenches in France is that a soldier wrote home to his wife to open her windows 1t night as he had found that tho night air didn't hurt ono bit" That is the exncr.erce of all the advocates Of this sensiblo custom-once tried the old custom Of sealing ones self in an air-tight bed- rt oEt Is never re r}Ncd. Di 'enSes wnlch involve the lungs can usually be traced to their beginning in poorly ventilated sleeping apartments inside rooms that do not have a share Of tho atmosphere. Nothing can live well or long without oxygen in the air, and V was given to us for breathing. night and day, not to be taken in sparingly IS if if were a dangerous potion. Some people are actually afraid Of ordinary common air.
 Those emancipatcd persons who open their windows at night will tell you, unanimously. that they cannot breathe in a chamber unless tho win dow Is raised, their sense Of comfort and vigor demands tho life giving qualities Of fresh air. No greatcr prophylactic advice can be promul- gated than to breathe all the fresh at mospheric air you can get, night and day.