Lectures on the ordinary agents of life : as applicable to therapeutics and hygiene, or, the uses of the atmosphere, habitations, baths, clothing, climate, exercise, foods, drinks, &c. in the treatment and prevention of disease / by Alexander Kilgour, M.D.

  • Kilgour, Alexander, 1803-1874.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the ordinary agents of life : as applicable to therapeutics and hygiene, or, the uses of the atmosphere, habitations, baths, clothing, climate, exercise, foods, drinks, &c. in the treatment and prevention of disease / by Alexander Kilgour, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    86/394 (page 58)
    some savage tribes placed in the coldest countries. Such ha- bitations are warm, but, unless on high grounds, damp. Kitchens or cellars below ground are always damp, and if houses are to be still built with kitchen, pantries, &c. below ground, they should be wholly surrounded with a wide area. Second, Some stones absorb moisture, and will therefore always keep a house damp. Others again are bad conduc- tors of caloric. Brick walls are warmer than those of stone, but the bricks ought to be well burnt, and not in the least porous. Earthen or mud walls are still warmer than those of brick, but absorb moisture j as a covering to a house, thatch is warmer, being a worse conductor than slates or tiles; but it does not keep out humidity so well. It is the most proper covering where we wish to retain caloric or exclude it j and is therefore used for cold situated dwelling houses, and for ice houses. Wood partitions are warmer than lime walls, being worse conductors; but they are much more apt to ab- sorb and retain contagious effluvia. Varnished wood is more impenetrable to contagion than unvarnished; and the hard woods than the soft. Plaster is sooner penetrated by damp than wood ; but it is, upon the whole, much more durable, and by washing with quick lime can be effectually cleaned. < Papered rooms are warmer than painted; but the latter can be kept much cleaner. For hospitals, jails, and such like, where numerous individuals are congregated together, stone and lime walls are most suitable ; because they can be so easily purified. A wall of plaster and lath in a room always looks, and is, cold and cheerless; and the snug sombre well-pannelled apart- ment will by many be preferred as the best opponent to our cold and dreary climate. Third, Low roofed rooms are worse ventilated, and much more unwholesome than high roofed. Moderate sized rooms are much more equable in their temperature, than very small or very large rooms, and do not require such an expenditure