STRICTURES ON THE USE OF GAS IN APARTMENTS. 107

air of the room by so much less pure and more relaxing,—and that such fabrics should be dispensed with in sleeping-rooms, as far as comfort and convenience will permit.

The great degree to which gas is made use of as the means of illumination in bed-rooms, makes it necessary to animadvert upon and condemn the practice in a pointed manner. Indeed, the use of gas at all in dwelling-houses, unless in passages or lobbies, or in very large and lofty and amply ventilated apartments, can hardly be too strongly condemned. In itself a poison, coal-gas cannot be burned in any hitherto contrived way, without allowing some portion of it to escape unconsumed; and if this is permitted to diffuse itself through the apartment, however much it may become diluted, it must be in some greater or less degree noxious and objectionable. I have repeatedly known bad effects to be produced by this; and indeed, have repeatedly experienced them. Even in the theatre and the ball-room most persons must have felt the headache, giddiness, and sense of faintness, which this unconsumed gas occasions. The effect produced by breathing carburetted hydrogen, however much diluted, night after night, during sleep, may be more insidious and less perceptible, but cannot be eventually less important. If the unconsumed gas is carried off by special means, and not allowed to enter the apartment, or to be mixed with its air, the objections to gas as a means of illuminating the dwelling and sleeping apartments, are of course done away with. This appears to be very efficiently

done, in the case of the exclusive gas-burners, so fully described in Dr. Reid's work.

The bed-room ought seldom to be on the groundfloor of the house; and it should generally be on the first floor of the house, rather than the second. It should be, in fact, sufficiently removed from the influence of dampness, or any exhalation from the ground, and yet as far as possible away from the varying temperature, inseparable from being near to the roof of the dwelling. This is necessarily the more important, the greater the influence of the sun's rays. For the same reason, it may be sometimes advisable that sunny side of the

the bed-room should not be house.

on the

Before leaving this particular subject, it may be right to mention the common practice of having the bed artificially heated,-by means of a warming-pan, containing burning coals, or burning charcoal, or a heated iron chain. Unless under very particular circumstances of debility, and deficient calorifient power of the system, this must be as unnecessary a custom, as it must always have a relaxing and debilitating tendency. Even when temporarily indicated by morbid conditions, the indication and necessity should be sought to be removed by such means as a regulated diet, temperance, daily exercise, if possible in the open air, friction, &c.; and the artificially heated bed may be often at once dispensed with, by the use, temporary or otherwise, of the old-fashioned expedient of a bottle filled with hot water, or a heated brick, placed next to the feet in

TEMPERATURE OF ROOMS.

109

bed; and this may be sometimes wisely assisted, by suggesting the use of calico instead of linen

sheets.

The importance of a due adjustment of the temperature of the sitting-room, is only second to that of such careful regulation as to the heat of the bedroom. A temperature of 50° of Fahrenheit's scale, is generally sufficiently high for the air of the bedroom; and that of the sitting-room may be usually 10° or even 15° higher than this. The cooler the air of the sitting-room, consistently with the maintenance of the due temperature of the surface and extremities of the body, the better; and if enough of muscular exercise is taken, if a sufficient number of the muscles is made use of, and if the individual is as much out of doors as he ought to be, it will seldom happen, that, if not especially invalided, a higher temperature than this will not be felt to be undesirable by the party himself. Any one accustomed to take sufficient exercise in the open air, will instinctively object to a close, or imperfectly ventilated, or unduly heated room. It is usage alone that can reconcile the sensations to such an atmosphere; it is usage alone that can so blunt the natural sensibilities of the system, as to render an impure atmosphere of any temperature otherwise than uncomfortable, and ungrateful to the feelings. There are few things more observable, than the stupifying effects of a hot room on the social and family circle, or than the difficulty of applying the mind to serious business in a heated atmosphere.

Perhaps enough has been said as to the temperature of rooms. It should be always borne in mind, that the question of ventilation must ever go hand in hand with that of temperature, if the sanatory condition of the air of the apartments is to be considered to be satisfactory. The higher the tem

perature, the more rapidly must the air be changed. As has been said, the risk of an insufficient degree of ventilation must be less, when there is an open fireplace in the apartment, with a sufficient and open flue, whether with or without a fire in the grate. If any required degree of artificial temperature is to be obtained by means of hot-air pipes, or hot-water pipes, or steam-pipes, or in any similar way, such assistance to the ventilation is not afforded; and the risk of a high temperature, and consequently a rarefied air, of relaxation of the system, and deficient oxygenation of the blood,-must be so much the greater. When there is an open fire-place, with or without a moderate fire in the grate, in an apartment that is of sufficient size for the number of its occupants, it must be seldom the case that any more active or unusual means of ventilation need be resorted to. Under other circumstances, special channels for the supply and egress of air may have to be provided,—particularly if the coldness of the season or the climate interferes with the keeping doors or windows often or always opened. As to the means of ventilation, Dr. Reid's work is one of the best guides, as to details as well as principles; although it may be probably added, that, as frequently happens to a man of genius

and enthusiasm, the views seem to be carried farther in some instances, and the practical detail is occasionally more minute, and perhaps more extensive, than appears to be needful for the healthiness, or than might prove conducive to the comfort, of our dwellings.

The subject of climate and its effect on the health of man, is one that branches too widely, and embraces too many inquiries, and too large a number of facts and circumstances, to be adequately noticed in this work, or probably, even in the present advanced state of vital and general statistics, to be as yet adequately and definitively discussed.

The climate of the different countries of the world, depends upon some more prominent or primary conditions, and upon a number of less prominent and secondary conditions; and some of the conditions, and of the latter class especially, are liable to be modified by many circumstances, which may influence different years, or different seasons, or may cause a progressive alteration in the character of the district, and a corresponding change in its effects on the physical condition of its inhabitants.

The more prominent conditions which affect the climate of a place, are, its distance from the equator,— its elevation above the level of the sea,-its insular or continental position,-its geological character, and the nature of its soil,—the direction of the prevailing winds, their character, and their force,-the variations as to temperature, whether between that of the night and that of the day, or those of the different