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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    give much attention to the food of their lungs—ili^food^ it may be said, of tlie hlood itself—whicli should consist of pure, uncontaminated air, with its full suj)ply of vitalizing oxygen. The food of the lungs, therefore, is even more im- portant than the food of the stomach. An individual may indignantly reject his bread and butter, or his pudding, be- cause it contains a mote, and at the same time take into his lungs, from the atmosphere, the most disgusting impurities of whicli it is possible to conceive, although they may not be apparent to the senses. Indeed, the atmos]jhere is constantly loaded with impuri- ties to an almost incredible extent, and is therefore an abundant source of disease. We find in it carbonic acid, ammonia, carburetted and sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic oxide, the malarious poisons, and certain poisons which are evolved from the human body, and from all animal organisms. We may add to these the various poisons used in manufac- turing purposes, which tend to produce disease or depress the powers of life, and also the ever-present tobacco smoTie^ which is blown from the mouths of smokers, loaded with effluvia from rotten teeth, or ulcerated gums and throats. The tobacco nuisance may be obviated within doors by hav- ing ventilated smoking rooms, which are spoken of in an- other place. Where any or all of the poisons here enumerated are un- duly concentrated in our breathing atmosphere, especially during night in our sleeping apartments, the health will gradually give way, or sudden attacks of disease will be jDroduced, whicli may prove dangerous or fatal. Even horses become blind, or diseased, and that not un- frequently, in consequence of impure air in their stables; and it is now sufficiently notorious that cows, shut up in stables with inadequate ventilation, furnish milk of a poison- ous character, which no doubt adds materially to our mor- tality, especially among children. All of the evils flowing from an impure or tainted atmos- phere may be remedied by our system of ventilation, as will be seen by reference to the numerous testimonials which have been received from many distinguished individuals.