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posed alongside of the railroad. Five or six benevolent citizens, who could not endure the sight of human beings in this miserable condition, provided a shelter for them, and assisted in bearing them to it. Within 24 hours, five if not six of those gentlemen were seized and perished of the fatal malady. The disease spread like wild-fire, whole families were cut down, the physicians of the place sickened and several of them died, and urgent solicitations were sent to Philadelphia and Baltimore, for medical aid. In the height of the pestilence a thunder storm arose in the northwest, and swept over the town, a clear pure atmosphere and brisk gale from the N.W. followed and continued for two or three days, during which not a new case occurred.
The the wind changed and came again from the southwest: the cholera renewed its ravages, and how deplorable these were, all have heard and remember. He was once called upon to attend a family lying sick in a confined room on the first floor. The first thing he did was to throw open the windows for the admission of pure air. The offensive odour in the apartment indicated extraordinary corruption in the atmosphere of the sick room. Upon examination he found that a quantity of potatoes had been suffered to lie and rot in the cellar beneath from which was a passage and door communicating with the room above. The putrid juice from the decayed vegetables had passed from the rotting mass and collected in a puddle on the earthen floor; from which the poisonous and noisome exhalation ascended into the family room, prostrating every individual upon a bed of sickness. This disposition to make chambers air tight is one of the allies of disease which physicians must often encounter. Nice housekeepers disliked to see the holes made in flues for stovepipes; thew would have them filled up in summer, either plastered over, or covered with paper. When he entered a chamber with this capital ventilator, an open flue, thus obstructed, his first movement was to thrust his fist through this improvement. The physician and the surgeon knows, that pure air is essential to their patient's recovery. The are of a certain hospital in Paris became so corrupt, that operations, however skillfully conducted, were in almost every instance attended with fatal results. One of the most eminent surgeons of the day having charge of the establishment, refused to operate any longer there, and when applied to as he often was by distant patients, he would say—No—employ the surgeons of your province. Your chance is much better in the untainted atmosphere of your native village, no matter how the operation is performed, than it would be in the bad air of the metropolis.
He added, that such was the importance to all whether in health or sickness of perfect ventilation, and especially to females and children who spend most of their time within the walls of their houses, that he could not too emphatically impress the topic upon the ladies present. Let them remember that of all things conducive to health, fresh air was most indispensable. The bed chamber peculiarly demands it, and when it has not a chimney with an open flue and a fire place, not closed with a chimney board, the upper sash of the windows should be let down. Children should always have fresh air, not in a thorough draft, but such as, diffused through the mass of air in the apartment, would keep it pure and healthy.
Mr. Black spoke next. He said that any one who had been present in this court room during the afternoon, and observed the flushed countenances of many of the 800 people who were gathered here, inhaling the impure air which imperfect ventilation made noxious and unwholesome, could appreciate the importance of the subject so ably treated by the lecturer, and so handsomely discussed by the gentleman who had just spoken. It is a wise dispensation that of a means of life so essential, the supply has been afforded in exhaustless abundance—for it is constantly required and in quantities difficult to estimate; but it is known that when we breathe without exertion, we inhale at each breath half a pint* of air; that we respire 18 times in a minute or 1080 time in an hour; and that we thus consume in the course of a day some 75 hogsheads of atmosphere! The refuse of this air exhaled from the lungs is rendered unfit to be re-inspired; and hence a large assembly in a room unventilated, very rapidly contaminate the atmosphere they breathe. It is a matter of ordinary observation, that in crowded churches, flushed faces, distressed expression of the countenance, indicating fever and headache, or a drowsy look, mark the general aspect of such assemblies. No wonder that such bad air breathed over and over again into the delicate tissues of the lungs should produce bronchial and pulmonary disease, and end in numerous cases of consumption. Referring again to the court room, he said, he did not know whether those ornamental registers above the windows were a sham, or ventilators in face: but if they did not allow the passage of air out and into the apartment, the sashes of the window should be used for the purpose. "I am glad the Janitor (who began now to let down the upper sashes) has taken the hiat," says Mr. Black, "and thank him for his attention." Doors, windows and fire places, are all good ventilators; better may no doubt be contrived, but any however imperfect is better than none. He added many other practical remarks, and expressed a hope that the subject having been made a matter of public discussion, might dwell in the mind of the community and bring forth useful results.
The Rev. Mr. Krotel said he did not propose to enter upon the discussion of the subject, but in regard to one idea of the last speaker he begged to intimate his protest. He was afraid if it was supposed that people got the consumption by attending church, many more would absent themselves in addition to the too many who already omit that essential duty. He would there for suggest that the gentleman's argument, generally sound, was over strained in that particular.
Gen. Steinman referred to the depurating influences of the action of plants and animals in the restoring and keeping up the healthy state of the atmosphere, as well as the effects of other natural causes in producing the same end. Provisions of a similar nature were made to keep in purity the great masses of water which covered the greater portion of the globe. That wonderful insect, which builds the coral rock from the bottom of the deep to the surface by elaborating the salts of the ocean which it deposits in the solid structure and evolving pure air in the process which rises and mingles with the atmosphere, presents one instance of the circuit of waste and reconstruction of which natural history is full. In addition to the currents which sweep over the surface of the earth, so well described by the lecturer, there is also a current upwards of the air rarified by the heat of the earth and a descending current of the colder and purer air from above, or rather an intermingling of these strata, equalizing the temperature and restoring the purity of the atmosphere we breathe. He concurred in all that had been urged in relation to the practical importance of the subject.
Professor Porter, remarked that there were some considerations connected with this subject which he would suggest in order to continue the discussion. There is a grand source of supply of the vital principle of the atmosphere which is abstracted by all animals in the act of breathing, and which is also consumed in the process of combustion; it is in the production of oxygen by the growth of vegetation. Thus what is taken from the air by the animal kingdom in the support of life is returned to it from the plant world, and the quality of this medium is thereby preserved. We admire the taste which indulges in the cultivation of favorite shrubs and beautiful flowers, and regard with respect even the most humble when we see the evidences of such taste approval, for every plant administers not to the taste alone, but to the beneficent design of restoring the purity of the air we breathe.
A notion has sometimes prevailed that flowers and plants kept in an apartment where people live, are prejudicial to health. To invalids they have been supposed to be particularly injurious. This is a mistake. They are undoubtedly salubrious; and this fact has been proved by actual experiment. Apartments in London have been furnished with growing plants, for this purpose—that is—for the abode of the sick and infirm, and it has been found that they have become convalescent by reason of the highly salubrious quality of the air of such apartments. These establishments are called Sanataria, to indicate their salutary effects. All plants give out durin the light of day a quantity of oxygen, which is diffused through the air and becomes an essential constituent to the amount of eight pounds in the hundred, and by which the atmosphere is qualified to support the life of all animals: all this exhibits the beautiful and beneficent system of Creative Wisdom in establishing an interdependence of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, each in the great laboratory of the world administering to and sustaining the other.
Dr. Miller, said he was impressed with the importance of ventilation to health. He well remembered an instance to of a defect in this particular, which was nearly fatal to a whole family. He was sent for to attend them. When he arrived, he was ushered into an overheated close apartment, in which the parents and several children were lying in a state of stupor and unconsciousness. It was in the night. He perceived the moment he entered that the air was foul and very offensive. The children were speechless. The first thing he did was to throw open the windows and let in the fresh air. After a little time the patients began to revive; and when they had sufficiently recovered to give an account of themselves, they informed him, that in the evening they had brought in a number of flowers which had been wet with rain, and set them about in the room. It was the exhalation from these wet plants, more abundantly evolved in consequence of the overheated condition of the room, that had poisoned the air and rendered it, shut up as the room was, and the air breathed by so many persons unfit to support life. He had no doubt, that a few hours more without relief, would have destroyed the lives of this family. He would therefore caution all persons, never to take wet plants or flowers into their sleeping apartments.
Mr. Stauffer followed with some ingenious remarks, showing the wonderful contrivance of the natural world, which by the decomposition and reorganization of matter, preserved the normal condition of created things in accordance with the manifest designs of Providence.
Mayor Sanderson said, that as it was not yet time to adjourn, he would add a few words to the observations of other speakers. He had long been convinced of the essential utility of due ventilation, especially in sleeping apartments, and in rooms where large crowds were assembled and remained for a considerable time together. Fresh air is indispensable to health. Our feelings often bear painful witness to this truth. Let any one recollect his sitting in a crowded place, no matter how large, for hours together, with the doors and windows closed, and he will remember that he either became drowsy, so as find it difficult to keep his eyes open, or his head ached as if ready to split asunder. This is the immediate effect of impure air, the consequences of imperfect ventilation. He related an instance in which one of his sons was severely affected by sleeping in his office which had been much thronged during the preceding day and was shut up very close at night. There was occasion to call him in the middle of the night. The person charged with that duty, knocked strongly at the door and reepeatedly called him with a loud voice, but to no purpose. The speaker was in the room above, and roused by the noise and fearing some disaster, he rushed down, opened the office and found his son lying perfectly unconscious of the disturbance. He lifted him up and wakened him, and was of the opinion that had he remained many hours longer in that close and unwholesome air, he would have been seriously ill even if he had escaped with life. Ever since he had been careful to recommend above all things that admission should be given to fresh air in chambers and sleeping rooms, and in his own sleeping apartment he took care to effect this by opening the sashes of the windows. He agreed with several of the gentlemen who had spoken on the subject that to open fire places and chimneys were excellent ventilators.
Dr. Cassidy said, that the evening, he supposed, was too far advanced for him to enter largely into the discussion of this interesting subject; but he would remark, lest some persons present might draw erroneous inferences from what they had heard, that although flowers and all plants, yield whilst under the excitement of light and heat of the day, the life giving principle of oxygen, which has all the efficacy ascribed to it of purifying the air and making it salubrious, yet, it is also well known that during night, these same planets evolve carbonic acid gas, which is absolutely destructive of animal life. At night plants withhold the oxygen and give out carbon. The consequence is that plants are wholesome in a room in the day time but unwholesome at night. The time for explanation is necessarily brief in these Howard Evenings. No doubt, if the learned gentleman who presented his interesting views of the plant world, were allowed time, he would have fully explained this important distinction.
Professor Porter begged leave to say, that whilst he readily admitted that many plants and flowers, exhaling too strong or offensive odors, might be unwholesome in close apartments, especially at night, and that wet plants subjected to an amount of heat, which would affect their organism and exhale, as it were, their vegetable life, would be injurious to the health of the inmates in close apartments, night or day, yet he could not admit that healthy and salutary plants and flowers, are injurious in living apartments, either by day or by night. In fact they are found, by the great quantity of oxygen which they elaborate, to supply in a great measure the necessity of ventilation; and those sanataria which he had mentioned were sleeping as well as sitting apartments. The explanation is that the quantity of carbon given out by plants, at night, is exceedingly small, and vegetable physiologists have come to the conclusion, that this results merely from the arrestation of the process of exhalation of oxygen during night.