509. The influence of habit is strikingly expressed by Birnan, in the “Art of Warming and Ventilating Rooms:” “Not the least remarkable example of the power of habit is 235 its reconciling us to practices which, but for its influence, would be considered noxious and disgusting. We instinctively shun approach to the dirty, the squalid, and the diseased, and use no garment that may have been worn by another. We open sewers for matters that offend the sight or the smell, and contaminate the air. We carefully remove impurities from what we eat and drink, filter turbid water, and fastidiously avoid drinking from a cup that may have been pressed to the lips of a friend. On the other hand, we resort to places of assembly, and draw into our mouths air loaded with effluvia from the lungs, skin, and clothing of every individual in the promiscuous crowd—exhalations offensive, to a certain extent, from the most healthy individuals; but when arising from a living mass of skin and lungs, in all stages of evaporation, disease, and putridity,—prevented by the walls and ceiling from escaping—they are, when thus concentrated, in the highest degree deleterious and loathsome.”
What suggestion when a school-room is not ventilated? 507. What is said in regard to ventilating churches, concert halls, &c.? State the illustration. 508. What remarks relative to public conveyances? 509. State the influence of habit by Birnan.
510. The sleeping-room should be so ventilated that the air in the morning will be as pure as when retiring to rest in the evening. Ventilation of the room would prevent morning headaches, the want of appetite, and languor—so common among the feeble. The impure air of sleeping-rooms probably causes more deaths than intemperance. Look around the country, and those who are most exposed, who live in huts but little superior to the sheds that shelter the farmer’s flocks, are found to be the most healthy and robust. Headaches, liver complaints, coughs, and a multitude of nervous affections, are almost unknown to them; not so with those who spend their days and nights in rooms in which the sashes of the windows are calked, or perchance doubled, to prevent the keen but healthy air of winter from entering their apartments. Disease and suffering are their constant companions.
510. What is said of the ventilation of sleeping-rooms? What would adequate ventilation prevent? Give a common observation.
Illustration. By many, sleeping apartments twelve feet square and seven feet high, are considered spacious for two persons, and good accommodations for four to lodge in. An apartment of this size contains 1008 cubic feet of air. Allowing ten cubic feet to each person per minute, two occupants would vitiate the air of the room in fifty minutes, and four in twenty-five minutes. When lodging-rooms are not ventilated, we would strongly recommend early rising.
511. The sick-room, particularly, should be so arranged that the impure air may escape, and pure air be constantly admitted into the room. It is no unusual practice in some communities, when a child or an adult is sick of an acute disease, to prevent the ingress of pure air, simply from the apprehension of the attendants, that the patient will contract a cold. Again, the prevalent custom of several individuals sitting in the sick-room, particularly when they remain there for several hours, tends to vitiate the air, and, consequently, to increase the suffering and danger of the sick person. In fevers or inflammatory diseases of any kind, let the patient breathe pure air; for the purer the blood, the greater the power of the system to remove disease, and the less the liability to contract colds.
Observation. Among children, convulsions, or “fits,” usually occur when they are sleeping. In many instances, these are produced by the impure air which is breathed. To prevent these alarming and distressing convulsions, the sleeping-room should be ventilated, and there should be no curtains around the bed, or coverings over the face, as they produce an effect similar to that experienced when sleeping in a small, unventilated room. To relieve a child when convulsed, carry it into the open air.
What is said of the size of sleeping-rooms? 511. What is said of the sick-room? Mention some prevailing customs in reference to these rooms. What is said of convulsions among children?
512. While occupying a room, we are insensible of the 237 gradual vitiation of the air. This is the result of the diminished sensibility of the nervous system, and gradual adaptation of the organs to blood of a less stimulating character. This condition is well illustrated in the hibernating animals. We are insensible of the impure air of unventilated sleeping-rooms, until we leave them for a walk or ride. If they have been closed, we are made sensible of the character of the air as soon as we reënter them, for the system has regained its usual sensibility while inhaling a purer atmosphere.