An inquiry into the propagation of contagious poisons, by the atmosphere

by Somerville Scott Alison

The means for the prevention of this form of vitiated air are obvious. Large, airy, well ventilated and lofty apartments are essential, if many persons must be put together; and, where that is not necessary, it is advisable to have them separated in several different chambers, where due ventilation is strictly maintained, by retaining the windows more or less open through the day, or by other equally effective means.

By the sleeping of many persons in one apartment, the atmosphere is deprived to a great extent of its more vital fluid, and becomes unfit to support respiration in its integrity; and the health of the inmates is not unfrequently injured in consequence. The sleeping of many persons in one bed-room, therefore, should be avoided, where it is possible; but, where that is not practicable, it becomes necessary to lessen the evil consequences, and this may be done by keeping a door or window partially open during the night, when the weather is not too inclement to forbid that procedure.

At all times, exhalations to a great extent are proceeding from the bodies of men; and, where individuals are much confined to one apartment, and where that is small, close, and ill ventilated, they fasten or adhere to the furniture, curtains, carpets, and the very walls. During sleep, the amount of these exhalations, it would appear, is increased. It is then that the pores of the entire system, as well upon the internal as the external surfaces, are most freely laid open, and that they pour forth their respective fluids most abundantly. The quantity of watery vapour which issues during sleep from the lungs is prodigious; and the large quantity of water which is sometimes seen collected on the panes of windows in the morning, and which is condensed vapour, affords some idea of the vast quantity of fluid which is exhaled during sleep. With this watery vapour, other ingredients of a hurtful nature are conjoined, and, like it, adhere to the furniture and clothes. When these exhalations are permitted to remain, they impart to the room a disagreeable odour, cause the bed-clothes to be damp and unwholesome, which, with the progress of fermentation, at length emit offensive effluvia. In order to avoid these hurtful consequences, the following measures should be adopted. When the bed-room is left in the morning, the window or windows should be opened, and the bed-clothes freely exposed to the air for some time: the constant passing of fresh air over the clothes and through the apartment, will shortly carry off the greater part of the exhalations which may have adhered.

The window should be left open during a part of the day, if the atmosphere without is not particularly damp, as the removal of impurities, when they have adhered to solid bodies, is not effected at once, or so immediately as is generally believed.

Exhalations of a very hurtful nature proceed also from excretions, which should be removed immediately, certainly before fermentation can have proceeded to any considerable length.

The furniture of bed-rooms requires special care. The various processes of rubbing, washing, and scouring, should be frequently repeated; and articles, such as bed and window curtains, should be oftener in the washing-tub than is dreamt of by many very careful housekeepers, and when they are composed of fabrics of a nature to forbid contact with soap and water, the necessary purification may be effected, at least in a partial manner, by occasional exposure to the wind in the open air.

In those apartments in which the sick are contained, the atmosphere is particularly liable to become vitiated from the exhalations of the body, and from the excretions being in general more disposed to be virulent than those of persons in health.

The necessity for a constant supply of pure air is, if possible, increased, and the utmost care and attention is demanded, in order that this may be duly provided. In large hospitals for the reception of sick, ventilation becomes a point of the most important nature; and, when efficiently established, is entitled to be considered one of the most powerful remedies which can be obtained to check the progress of disease, and to promote recovery, when that is once established.

Various methods have been devised to promote ventilation in hospitals, which it is unnecessary to describe here; for this reason, as well as others, that the importance of ventilation is too well understood by medical men, for them not to enforce it in establishments of which they have the management.

During sickness in private houses, ventilation cannot be too much enforced. When the weather will permit, one window at least should be partially opened, pulled down, if possible, during the summer. In winter, the door of the apartment should be left open for a short time occasionally; and, if the chamber is not very small, a fire may be used, which will not only remove the cutting dullness of the air, but will also ensure a constant change of the atmosphere, from the ventilation which it causes.