South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-12-20
Open Windows an
Ancient Bogey
Tradition and FreSh-Air Ex-
tremiStS Are Most FOrmid-
able Enemies of the Gospel
of Oxygen.
By Woods Hutchinson. VI. ID.

BN WOODS Hutchinson, vi. ID.
The Worlds Foremost Writer on
Medical Subjects.
There must be some reason why
the average citizen, while knowing
and conceding the manifold
hygienic advantage of fresh air. still
shows such a bloodthirsty determin-
alton 10 keep all windows in his
immediate vicinity shut tight.
1t may be good for other people.
but no drafts for him.
1t is no matter of use telling him
that drafts are not dangerous
Everybody with sense knows that
drafts cause colds and pneumonia
and rheumatism His grandmother
taught him that so years ago; be-
sides he once sat in draft for 35
seconds himself when he was chuck
full and running over with infiu-
enza bugs and just ready to break
out with them and that draft gave
him nearly his death of cold" with
in six hours.
That settles the matter for him
TO all time and eternity. Doctors and
other "scientifcal" theorists may
tell him that drafts have nothing
W hatever TO do with pneumonia or
rheumatism and very little with
colds till they are black in the face,
but it won't faze him-he knows,
The Other Extreme.
Also. perhaps. it may be ruefully
confessed. one reason for the slow
progress of the open window gospel
has been the extreme and enthusiast
tic attitude of some of us fresh air
fiends. Ii is not absolutely necessary
To sit continually in a draft in or
der 20 get reasonably fresh air This
standard. like the cold morning
bath. is ideal for those who can
learn 10 like it, but il is not one Of
the Indispensable conditions of the
hyGienic plan OF salvation. When
il comes 10 curing consumptive or
saving the life of "a patient with
lobar pneumonia there is nothing
else which will take its place. but il
is perhaps "a little.
Too bright and good
For human natures daily food"
and too high "a counsel of perfec-
ton for poor. weak. comfort loving.
average humans
a room is kept comfortably cool
and free from smell. i'm other words.
free from "stuffiness. the air in
il is fresh enough for most practical
purposes. IL is not necessary for
either life or health that we should
have so many hundred quarts of
new air per hour for the consump-
ton of every individual in a room.
as we al one time thought Nay
even second hand air can he con-
sumed several times over without
immediate and noticeable injurious
effects. unappetizing as it sounds
and far from hygienically ideal as
il is This. undoubtedly. is one rea-
son why the average man or wom-
an offers such "a doSged and OBJ
stinate passive resistance 10 the
open window and constant currents
Of air idea SO far as his rather
limited powers of observation have
gone. warm close air has never
done him any obvious or noticeable
harm while he is absolutely con-
WINGED that cold air in the form OF a
draft or exposure" has.
II we can't get ideal conditions we
must get the best we can. II the
average man will not stand for"
the best quality OF air. a constant
current. on account or his hatred OF
the drafts involved. we must try TO
arrange or wholesome and
breathable a supply Of second best
air as possible.
The Air i'm Street Cars.
In street cars and railroad cars. |