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Nelson Evening Mail, Issue 25, 29 January 1870, Page 2

Where to Study. — The air of a cellar is close, damp, musty and vitiated ; that of the housetop is clear, pure, and bracing. On the surface of the earth the atmosphere is cold, raw, and impure ; on the mountains it is dry, rarefieJ, and healthgiving. The purer the air is, the more perfectly is the braiu nourished, and the "more vigorously does the braiu work and life does it impart to the blood, the more the body move. Hence, the " study "of the clergyman, the "office" of the physician and. the lawyer, and the " library " of the family, the " sitting-room " of the household, and the " chamber " of every sleeper, should always be in the upper storeys, not merely for the purity of the air, but for a reason seldom thought, of, and yet of very great sanitary value. The higher we ascend the more rarefied is the air, the greater bulk is required to impart a given amount of nourishment to the system ; this greater rarity excites the instinct of our nature to deepei', fuller breathing, without any effort on our part, and this kind of breathiDg, as the reflecting must know, is antagonistic to consumption, that fell scourge to civilised society, which destroys full one-sixth of the adult population. Hence the very suggestive remark of the distinguished naturalist, Buffon, — " All animals inhabiting high altitudes have larger lungs and more capacious chests than those that live in the valleys."