THE UNHYGIENIC SIDE OF A MODERN HOME.
By David Paulson
When a plant is taken out of the cellar in the spring, and its pale and sickly appearance is observed, we admit at once that what it needs is sunlight. On the other hand, when we see a plant withered and dry, we know that it needs water. We reason correctly upon these things; but when we see the members of our own families in precisely the same condition, we rarely consider that it is because they have been deprived of some of the God-given blessings of nature. Instead of exerting ourselves to the utmost to find out where we are out of harmony with the laws of nature, we calmly swallow a few drops of some unknown mixture, and then fold our hands as if our duty were done. There are many homes where the curtains are all closely drawn to preserve the color of the carpet and the upholstered furniture; but at the same time the color is fading from the cheeks of the children because they are being deprived of the sunshine. Perhaps later on some of this very furniture may have to be sold to obtain the necessary means to meet the funeral expenses of one of the children. What a pity it is that human lives must thus be sacrificed to ignorance and indifference! Pure air should circulate through the dwelling-house both winter and summer. When winter comes on, we are wont to compete with our neighbors in seeing how thoroughly we can stop up every crack and crevice through which one of heaven’s richest blessings could enter the house. Every time we breathe, we contaminate half a barrel of pure air, which means that a proper system of ventilation will provide an inlet and an outlet for three thousand cubic feet of air every hour for each individual in the room. As window ventilation is the only kind that can be obtained in the majority of homes, we will consider this. When a window is lowered a few inches from the top, as is ordinarily done, the cold air comes in and falls at once to the floor, chilling the lower extremities. It mingles little by little with the contaminated air of the room, and, as it becomes warmer, gradually rises. By this means the only pure air in the room is cold, and at the feet, where it can not be utilized. To obviate this difficulty it is well to lower the upper window-sash nearly an inch for every individual who is to occupy the room. Have a tinner devise a box which will fit on the top of the window-sash, and so arranged that it will project several feet into the room, slanting upward toward the ceiling. By this means the current of air will be directed upward and toward the center of the room, spreading down gradually, and causing no unpleasant drafts. In stormy weather it is not necessary to have the window open so much, because the air presses in much faster. For the foul-air outlet, an ideal plan is to have the chimney constructed in two parts, one to serve as an exit for the smoke and the other for the foul air. Unfortunately very few chimneys are constructed with this end in view, and so a very good substitute is to build a wooden box along one side of the chimney, letting it extend up through the roof of the house and placing a wooden cap over it to protect it from the rain. The heat passing through the bricks will ordinarily create a draft. Often, during the cold weather, some members of the family have to occupy a room which has never been artificially heated. The walls and ceiling of such a room are often covered with moisture, and the bed is unpleasantly damp. If it is not possible to heat the room by means of a stove or furnace, the bedding should be brought into a warm room and thoroughly dried every day, or jugs or bottles of hot water may be placed in the bed some time previous to bedtime. Unfortunately, much of the work accomplished by the general spring house-cleaning ought to have been done day by day during the winter. The longer an unhygienic and unsanitary condition is allowed to continue, the more mischief it breeds. Carpets, wall-paper, neglected corners, the unsuspected place under the kitchen refrigerator, the bottom of the wood-box, and above all the attic, often by neglect become veritable death-traps. Instead of tight carpets for the floors, it is far better to have rugs, which can be taken out every few days, shaken, and exposed to the pure air and sunlight. Many cellars become veritable hotbeds of disease during the winter, and there are many reasons for this. When the cellar is under the house, in most cases the air in it eventually finds its way into the rooms above, and is the cause of much sickness during the winter months, the source of which seems so mysterious to many people. Before articles for winter use are stored away in the cellar, its walls should be thoroughly cleansed and whitewashed, and, if possible, the floors cemented, so as to keep out the foul air from the surrounding soil. A pipe from the cellar can usually be connected with some chimney in the house, so that the foul air can pass to the outside without making any unnecessary opening in the cellar which would admit frost. In houses where there are no cellars underneath, if there are holes and cracks in the foundation wall small animals often find their way to the space beneath the floor, and die there, and others, carried in by cats and dogs, are left to decay, thus giving rise to some of the mysterious odors which are such a puzzle to many housewives. It is well to have some place in the foundation where a temporary opening can be made at certain times of the year, so that some one may examine the situation, and clear out offensive matter if necessary. During the winter, when nature kindly gives us a frozen carpet that so thoroughly imprisons and subdues, for the time being, the various germs, the condition of the premises seems of but small consequence from a sanitary standpoint; but it is well to bear in mind that the same warmth of the sun which restores luxuriant life to all vegetation, also hatches out countless millions of germs in places where the soil is allowed to remain in an unsanitary condition. The front yard usually receives artistic care; but from the back yard is carried away, to make room for more, only a part of the excess of rubbish which has been accumulating during the winter. If our eyes could only be opened so that we could see the pestilence that lurks in every neglected gutter, cesspool, and heap of garbage, we would shudder when we see the innocent children staking off imaginary cities in the midst of all this accumulation, or perhaps making mud pies from some of the contaminated earth in the same vicinity. There is perhaps no more deep-seated delusion in the popular mind than the supposition that disease comes in some spontaneous manner, like the outburst of a volcano. It is simply the result of our seed-sowing; and since this is true, how important it is that we learn to sow for health, day by day, and to avoid those things which uproot the seed and lay the foundation for innumerable ills. If people would strive half as vigorously to keep funerals from the11door as they do the proverbial wolf, there would be fewer premature deaths, and only a small percentage of the present amount of sickness. Chicago Branch Sanitarium.