Another tradition is that a house ought not to be located in a valley, but that a hilltop, or at least a sidehill elevation, is preferable, the possible dampness of the valley being alleged again as the reason.
To-day, so far as is known, there is no direct evidence of dampness being primarily responsible for any disease, although, heretofore, such diseases as typhoid fever, yellow fever, bilious fever, malarial fever, cholera, and dysentery have all been attributed to miasms springing from damp soil. To-day we are assured by experts that none of these diseases are induced by dampness alone. One could spend his days immersed in water up to his chin and never contract any sickness of the types mentioned merely through that act. Later on, we shall show how the presence of swamps in the vicinity of a house is objectionable because of their providing breeding places for insects, but the dampness itself never has and never will cause disease. As a concrete example, it may be noted that the country of Holland, in large part lying below the level of the sea, with drainage canals and ditches everywhere in evidence, is, in spite of such manifest possibilities of dampness, one of the most healthy countries in the world, as already pointed out in Chapter I. This fact not only emphasizes the small effect of surface waters and damp soils in promoting disease, but also magnifies the value of cleanliness for which the Dutch people are so famous.
Damp soils.
Why is it, then, that damp soils and damp cellars are objected to? Chiefly, because of the inconvenience and discomfort they occasion. A damp cellar means conditions favorable to the development of mildew and rot; prevents vegetables from keeping a normal length of time; accounts for moldy, decaying odors throughout the house, and is generally disagreeable. One is tempted to say that such a condition is also unhealthy, and it is quite possible that a person living over a damp cellar which contains accumulations of decaying vegetables, and breathing air loaded with organic compounds, may gradually lose his normal vitality, and become thereby more readily susceptible to specific diseases, but the diseases themselves will not come from the dampness alone.
Fig. 2—Bad conditions about a dwelling.
The discomfort and inconvenience, however, are quite sufficient reasons to make it eminently desirable to have the house and the cellar dry. With this in mind, the selection of the house site should be carefully made. Instinctively, and with reason, the immediate neighborhood of low, swampy, marshy ground, of stagnant ponds, or of sluggish streams should be avoided. It should not be necessary to warn prospective builders that low land, subject to inundation, even though this may happen only occasionally, is not a wise choice of a building site. Figure 2 shows an inundation in a small village of New York State in 1889. Floods are expected each spring and counted on as a part of the year's experience. The resulting exposure and the inevitable effluvia following the receding waters are both objectionable factors in hygienic living. Similarly, the vicinity of a stream carrying organic matter, such as sewage from a town above, should undoubtedly be avoided on account of possible odors in summer. Not long ago, the writer was told by the owner of a productive farm, situated below a small city in New York State, that in the summer time the windows of his house had all to be kept tightly shut at night, because of the effluvia from a stream a thousand feet distant, which carried the sewage from the city above.
Location of house.
A deep and narrow valley should be avoided, not so much because of the possible dampness in the valley, but because of the noticeably lessened amount of sunlight which such a location involves. For such a house, the morning sun comes up much later, and the afternoon sun disappears much earlier, and, since sunlight is the best foe to disease, the more sunlight enters a house, the healthier are those who live in it. On the other hand, the top of a hill exposes a house to strong and cold winds, not desirable on any account, and involving a large expense for heating in winter. Sloping ground, therefore, facing the south if possible, or better, some knoll which rises above the general surface of a southern slope, affords an ideal location. If the slope is toward the south, north winds are kept off, and every ray of the life-giving winter's sun is captured. If the house itself faces due south, the windows on the north have no sunlight. If, on the other hand, the house faces southeast or southwest, then all sides of the house will receive direct sunlight at some time of the day.
Objections to trees.