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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    one side. So much for the outside. The inside is the great bugbear. A large drain runs through the middle of the house, from front to rear, and through the lawn to the river. “ On either side of the front of the house is a cis- tern and pump of spring-water, waste-water from both running through this drain, which is directly under the flooring of the kitchen-entry, there being no sub-cellars. “ At the river-end of this lower entry are the two water-closets, contents passing to the river through said drain. “ Now the stench (for it is nothing else) through the house from this sewer is overpowering at times, and always disagreeable. When the wind blows from the river, words can give no idea of the effluvia. “ Before I investigated the subject I was afflicted for years with a constant diarrhea, for which I con- sulted several physicians, and adopted several kinds of treatment. “ My sister, who slept with me, had three long illnesses of bilious fever. She slept in the corner of our room, just over the drain. The smell in that spot is intense. The bedstead was then re- moved as far as possible from the noxious corner, plenty of sunshine let in the room, and we have found much benefit from so doing. “ A relative, who was never sick in his life before he moved into this house, has had fever and ague several times; and I am convinced that if it were not that my mother and her four daughters almost live in the open air—riding, driving, walking, and gardening — they would be confirmed invalids from the air generated through this horrid drain.” The gas which lights our dwellings, even when oure, causes great contamination, unless the products
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