Healthy Homes.

Manawatu Herald, 3 April 1894, Page 3

Healthy Homes.

(Continued.) And just as the prevention of the escape of smoke from the furnace will cause the fire of tbe furnace to go out, so the prevention of the escape of the breath of our bodies will cause the fire of our body furnaces to go out — life to cease. This smoke is indeed poison to us. While we remain here this afternoon many pints of water will escape into the air of this church in our breath ; and if the church be not properly ventilated some of that water with much of the poisonous matter in it will condense on the surfaces of the ceiling, of the walls, of the floor, of the furniture, on our own clothes and so on. As this breath is poisonous it will be understood how important it is that it be not allowed to condense and accumulate in the home on the walls, the furniture, and so on, if the home is to be healthy. For this purpose not only must freßh air be constantly entering the home, but the breath smoke must be constantly leaving it, and the movement of the air through the home must, therefore, be somewhat vigorous, How is this movement to be effected, for we know well enough that it will not do to have strong draughts in the home, if we are to be free of neuralgia, colds and like ailments ? The fact is that the movement cannot be made really perfect, and the best we can do is to make arrangements for causing the air to move into and out of the home quietly without giving rise to draught when we are ourselves within doors, and other arrangements for causing stronger currents of air to sweep through the house at times when draughts will do no harm. The quiet movement of fresh air into and out of the house is called ventilation ; if the movement be swifter and give rise to draught it is called perflation, and wo must so construct our homes as to supply both ventilation at all times and perflation whenever practicable. There are other reasons also for providing ventilation and perflation, for just as the breath smoke must be removed from the home, so too must other injurious vapors and gases given off from the surface of our bodies, from gas and candle lights, from fires and from decaying matters such as relics of food, dust and divt. But further, seeing that currents of air, no matter how strong, will not suffice for the removal of all these matters, that to a certainty some of the latter will adhere to the surfaces of the walls, ceiling, floor, furniture and so on, the necessity for the cleansing of all those surfaces, for removing the furniture and other articles out of doors, and thoroughly airing them from time to time, will be evident. Moreover, the home is scarcely perfect without some uncovered area in front or to rear ; and this area must be kept scrupulously free of decomposing matters, or if not kept free of such matters,- then it must be kept constantly under cultivation ; and the drain, the dust pan and the outhouses need particularly careful attention. If to the conditions already mentioned as demanding attention, I may add the necessity for a sufficient supply of wholesome water within a reasonable distance, it will be seen that I have too many subjects to deal with if I am to deal with them in an exhaustive manner this afternoon. (To be continued.)