The great practical inference is that the only means of preventing persons from poisoning themselves and others is to ensure their being constantly surrounded by fresh air. The air of an apartment containing several human beings, if unchanged, not only becomes charged with carbonic acid gas, but also encourages the growth and multiplication and concentration in a small space of any germs of disease which may be present, whereby the risk of infection is notably increased. There are no disinfectants to compare with fresh air and sunlight.
Ventilation of Schools.-The sanitary arrangements of many schools are notoriously bad. The buildings used for such purposes are often unsuitable, and the cubic and the window space totally inadequate. This applies often both to the school rooms and the sleeping-rooms which are overcrowded and badly ventilated, causing loss of appetite, headache and general delicacy- effects often attributed to overwork, but in reality due to want of fresh air. Parents should always inspect the rooms, and ascertain their size, the position of the windows and fireplaces, and other facilities for ventilation, with the average number of occupants. A rough test of the efficiency of the ventilation of a school room may be arrived at by entering it after it has been occupied some two hours, and comparing the difference existing between the air of the room, and that out of doors.
Badly Ventilated Churches, etc.-It is most important to bear in mind that the assembly in an ill-ventilated church, (The wakefulness of congregations would be much promoted if the truth were more freely mixed with oxygen. Nothing, except dull sermons, make men more sleepy than carbonic acid.-W. White.) court of law, schoolroom, theatre, ball-room, or evening party, may include in its number some as yet unsafe convalescents from the diseases previously mentioned. The only security we can suggest is, as far as possible to avoid all places of public resort or private gatherings in which the most ample provision is not made for the admission of fresh air, and for the uninterrupted escape of air spoiled by carbonic acid gas or animal exhalations. In the section on Small-pox it will be seen that in recent epidemic the greatest success attended the treatment of patients absolutely in the open air in mind weather, and with the windows and doors constantly open, day and night, in the coldest months of the year. In the cure of general diseases, too, pure air exercises a very potent influence, and the open-air treatment of tubercular diseases (especially of the lungs) has now become a well established method of great value. Jackson, writing on the Peninsular war, states that more lives were destroyed by accumulating sick men in ill-ventilated apartments than in leaving them exposed to severe weather by the side of a hedge or common dyke; showing the priceless value of fresh air.
7. Sunlight.
The importance of sunlight for the physical development and preservation is not duly appreciated. Women and children, as well as men, in order to be healthy and well-developed, should spend a portion of each day where the solar rays can reach them directly; this being particularly necessary when there is a tendency to tubercle. Just as sprouts of potatoes in dark cellars seek the light and are colourless till they come under its influence and as vegetation goes on but imperfectly in places where sunlight does not freely enter, so children and adults who live almost entirely in dark kitchens, dingy alleys, and badly- lighted workshops, are pale-cheeked and feeble. Houses are only fit to be occupied at night that have been purified by the solar rays during the day.
The value of sunlight for animal development may be illustrated by such a fact as the following-The tadpole, kept in the dark, does not pass on to development as a frog, but lives and dies a tadpole.
It has been maintained that during the prevalence of certain epidemic diseases the inhabitants who occupy houses on the side of the street upon which the sun shines directly are less subject to the prevailing disease than those who live on the shaded side. In all cities visited by the Cholera the greatest number of deaths took place in narrow streets, and on the side of those having a northern exposure, where the salutary beams of the sun were excluded. it is stated that the number of patients cured in the hospitals of St. Petersburg was four times greater in apartments well lighted than among those confined in dark rooms. This discovery led to a complete reform in lighting the hospitals of Russia, and with the best results.
Except in severe inflammatory disease of the eyes or brain, the very common practice of darkening the sick room is a highly prejudicial one. The restorative influence of day light is thus excluded, and also the grateful and natural succession of light and darkness; the two always making up the same period of twenty- four hours, which favours sleep at the appropriate time, and divests the period of sickness of the monotony and weariness of perpetual night.
8. Healthy Dwellings. (See Dr. Hayward’s work on Healthy Homes, 1905. )
To those who are able to choose their habitations we offer a few suggestions. The subject is especially important to delicate families, and to persons predisposed to tubercle; it also deserves the attention of those who are healthy, and desire to maintain that condition unimpaired in themselves and their children. We advise, if possible, a country residence, and the selection of a house so constructed as to secure dryness of the foundation, walls, and roof. The site should be dry -gentle slope, a gravel soil-and the aspect southerly or westerly; the bedrooms, especially those appropriated to cases of sickness, should have this aspect. If the soil cannot be a chosen, a house may be made perfectly dry by covering the ground floor with asphalt, and running a damp course along all the walls just above the level of the ground. It should also be a site from which there is thorough drainage, but towards which there is none. if the house is not upon a slope, the artificial drainage must be perfect. ( Plus See Causes of Enteric Fever, part ii., section 40.) For the country the system of earth closets is the only the sanitary method of dealing with the drainage question. Cesspools are an abomination. In towns and crowded places in which the accumulation of decomposing and decomposed animal and vegetable matter is great, artificial or drains must be so constructed that all noxious matters and vapours may be rapidly removed and carried to a distance, before they can impregnate the atmosphere and water. Every dwelling in a town should have its drains inspected and if necessary repaired at least once a year. Otherwise faults may occur and remain unrecognized until an outbreak disease brings them to light. Every dwelling, to be wholesome, should be accessible to the free passage of currents of air, and provided with an unlimited supply of good water. In the choice of a site for a house, a locality should be avoided in which the water is impregnated with lead, iron, or other mineral substances, or in proximity to stagnant waters; the ground should be above the level of the mist or vapour which rises after sunset in marshy and other districts. This subject is of special importance to the Colonist who may have to select a site for his habitation. In short, the fundamental condition of healthy dwelling-places is -perfect purity of air and water; this must take precedence of all other considerations. The cause of the spread and fatality of the medieval plagues was neglect of the conditions necessary to secure pure air and cleanliness.
Other points of subordinate importance may be glanced at. The house should not be too closely surrounded by trees, or in immediate proximity to thick woods, as they both attract and retain moisture, while they exclude much sunlight, and prevent the free circulation of air, and thus render the climate cold and damp. A cheerful situation, at the same time commanding the view of green trees, hedges, shrubs, etc., has a beneficial tendency. If compelled to live in a town, the house should face a park, square, or other open place, or at least be suitable in a wide airy street, with a favourable aspect. Lastly, a house should contain adequate bath arrangements, or at least provision for free personal ablutions.
Some who read these pages may not have it in their power to carry out these hints fully, but may be compelled to live where their occupations, families, or means determine; nevertheless, even such may be benefited by these suggestions; for, although they cannot secure perfection in a house or situation, they may aim at an approximation to it.
9. Exercise.
Exercise strengthens and invigorates every function of the body, and is essential to health and long life. No one in health should neglect to walk a moderate distance every day, and if possible in the country, where the pure and invigorating air can be freely inhaled. Walking is the healthiest as well as the most natural mode of exercise. Other things being equal, this will ensure the proper action of every organ of the body. The walk for health should be diversified, and if possible include ascents and descents, and varying scenery, and be alternated, when circumstances admit of it, with crying, riding on horseback, active gardening, or similar pursuits; and with gymnastics and games of various kinds. The modern perfections of the cycle have made this exercise one which may be indulged in by a almost all. The greatest danger (apart from accidents) is the temptation to do too much. Those who are in any way delicate should be careful where there are hills or wind, to start their ride against the wind or up the hill. They are not then likely to get farther than their powers will bring them back. Calisthenics prevent deformities as well as cure them. Much attention of late years has been paid to the subject of systematized exercises. The system of Lieutenant Muller is one of the best, and it demands only perseverance to follow the instructions laid down in his handbook and reap the benefit of them. They should be begun in youth and steadily persevered with through middle age, and it will be found that such a course of action will long defer that stiffness which used to be regarded as inevitable in later life. Those who are already in middle age can use these exercises also with great advantage, but must accustom themselves to them gradually and cautiously. They form an admirable discipline apart from the bodily gain they ensure. A gymnasium should be attached to every school, whether for boys or girls. Athletic sports and mainly exercise should form a part of the education of youth, nor should they be neglected in after life, especially by persons of sedentary pursuits. Many aches and pains would rapidly vanish if the circulation were quickened by a judicious and regular use of the muscles. These modes of exercise, practised moderately and regularly, and varied from day to day, are much more advantageous than the exciting, immoderate, and irregular exertions which characterize the ball-room, the hunting-field, and even the cricket ground or the rowing match, which are sometimes pursued so violently as to be followed by severe and permanent injury to the constitution. Nevertheless it is quite possible to practise these forms of exercise without such excesses, and they have great attractiveness and value for many. The game of golf is ideal for the more middle-aged and old. In the case of very feeble and infirm persons, carriage exercise, if such it may be called, and frictions, by means of bath sheets and gloves, over the surface of the body and extremities, are the best substitutes for active exertion.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."