New system of ventilation, which has been thoroughly tested under the patronage of many distinguished persons : being adapted to parlors, dining and sleeping rooms, kitchens, basements, cellars, vaults ... / by Henry A. Gouge.

  • Gouge, Henry A. (Henry Albert)
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New system of ventilation, which has been thoroughly tested under the patronage of many distinguished persons : being adapted to parlors, dining and sleeping rooms, kitchens, basements, cellars, vaults ... / by Henry A. Gouge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    IMPORTANT ADDENDUM. While the fourth edition of this book is going through the press, Lite microscojjic discoveries come to hand which double the proof of our theory that the diseases of civilization result mainly from the detention or obstruction of air by the walls of civilized habitations. The Medical Record oi June 18, 1881, contains an elaborate review by Prof. James Law, of the more advanced microscopic researches and experiments on the organic germs of disease. It is settled that these poisonous germs, or bacteria, are identical in all respects, mi- croscopically, with others that are perfectly harmless; and that the simple rule for rendering either class harmless or destructive is to give them more or less oxygen. For instance, the germ of the ter- rible malignant pustule itself is rendered harmless by free oxygen- ation, while its innocent ^/vxc simile, developed in an infusion of hay, if afforded a limited supply of oxygen, becomes as deadly as the other and produces the same disease by inoculation. The explana- tion is simple : that bacteria developed with copious oxygen cannot live without it, and hence fail to propagate or survive within the bloodvessels. A beautiful harmony is here conspicuous in the purposes of Nature, which it behooves us to fall in with. It seems that that stage in the cycle of life and death which has hitherto exhaled infectious germs for the untimely destruction of the living, was not meant to do this, but has been perverted to an abnormal result by the same mistake which all house-dwellers make in checking the circulation and supply of oxygen. All that is needed to heal the very fountain of disease, is to supply its products with oxygen, for a healthy develop- ment according to the intention of Nature. We have here a new reason for the remarkable preservation of organic matter as well as human health in certain exceptionally pure atmospheres. It is nothing but copious oxygen. Pure air, if sup- plied in constant profusion, is the great antiseptic or disinfectant, and nothing can sujjply any part of its place for a moment, not even the extremest cold. The putrefaction of walrus meat at fifty degrees below zero, which so astonished Dr. Kane in the arctic regions, has been often matched in the experience of packers in this country, when meat has been suddenly frozen on the surface, sealing up the internal germs from the air. [See Dr. Kane's experience, page 2*7.] These truths are not altogether new, but the latest science has j)ut them in a new light and a new shape, so that he who runs may read. Man was not made to die of disease, but has brought it upon him- self, through igi\orance of the necessity and means of thoroughly ventilating his dwellings.