Sleep, or, The hygiene of the night / by W.W. Hall.

  • William Whitty Hall
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sleep, or, The hygiene of the night / by W.W. Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and animals recover from terrible wounds when they have to lie out in the open air, with nothing but water to drink and roots or berries to eat for days together, when in fact they would certainly have died if they had had all the comforts of home, fire- side, and friends. It is estimated that in the course of fifty years, a man, in round numbers, breathes five hundred millions of times, taking into his lungs one hundred and seventy tons weight of air, and dis- charging therefrom twenty tons of deadly carbonic acid gas. The great aim of those who have an ambi tion to live long and healthfully should be to re- breathe as little of this pernicious gas as possible, and to have as many as practicable, of the five hun- dred millions of breaths to be drawn, to be taken from the exhaustless storehouse of “all out-doors.” If the circumstances of one’s life should make it necessary to spend a large portion of existence in- doors, then it should be a constant aim and study to have a good ventilation, to facilitate the egress of the bad air, and that its place should be supplied by that which is pure, invigorating, and life-giving. Cases are given to show that a malign influence has been given to rooms, houses, and circumscribed out-door localities; influences so potent, so invisible, so persistent, and so mysterious, as to inspire an in- definable dread and awe of the place. Napoleon the First once ordered the destruction of a sentry-box in which several soldiers had successively committed suicide. A case was reported officially lately, in Paris, to the effect that a gentleman, without any known reason, destroyed himself; that the person who occupied the apartment before him, and also the latter’s predecessor, had committed suicide. A correspondent writes, April 11th, 1862 : “ Our house is situated on the bank of a large river, on rather low ground, with salt-marshes on
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