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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    morbus; croup; diarrhoea and dysentery; diphtheria or throat disease ; erysipelas; fever and ague ; influenza; measles and mumps; puerpural or child-bed fever ; quinsey or sore throat; remittent fever; rheumatism ; scarlatina, sniall-]DOX and varioloid; whooping cough. This is, by no means, a full list of the zymotic diseases. Consumption has been added to the number, and as physicians proceed with their investigations, they may ultimately find that there is scarcely a disease in which foul air, directly or indirectly, has not had something to do in its production. How then is it possible to recognize the theory of zymotic diseases as true, without recognizing the necessity for ven- tilation. We must either so construct our houses as to insure within them an adequate supj)ly of pure air, by night as well as by day, or incur the risk of being made danger- ously or perhaps fatally sick. In a Report on Zymotic Diseases made to the Massachusetts Medical Society by Dr. Benjamin Cutter, in 1858, he says: There is no effect without a cause, and adds: It is well known to every medical practitioner that many persons are, within a short time and within certain limits, affected by the same disease, and that during this time most other diseases partake to a large degree of the nature of the epidemic. The connection between events so common and influences so apparent should excite diligent inquiry, and is a subject of such mag- nitude and usefulness to mankind that it should command the most serious attention of that body of liberally-educated men who esteem themselves the conservators of the health of the community.'' Truthful words, well spoken. But let us not stop with the mere theory of disease, in relation to its exciting causes, but find out, as speedily as possible, how to prevent its development. It will require no prophet, therefore, to tell us that we must cease to breathe foul or poisonous air, as far as possible. This can be prevented by the proper ven- tilation of our houses ; but if the external air is impure, in consequence of filth in the streets, imperfect drainage, stag- nant pools or marshes, decomposing animal bodies, the con- tiguity of stables or inclosures in which horses, cows, or swine are kept, or other sources of filth, which are much too common, both in' city and country, we must remove the