Health and comfort in house building, or, Ventilation with warm air by self-acting suction power : with review of the mode of calculating the draught in hot-air flues; and with some actual experiments / by J. Drysdale and J.W. Hayward.

  • Drysdale, J. J. (John James)
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health and comfort in house building, or, Ventilation with warm air by self-acting suction power : with review of the mode of calculating the draught in hot-air flues; and with some actual experiments / by J. Drysdale and J.W. Hayward. 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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    continuously at least occasionally, from slight disturb- ances of the atmosphere, such as gusts of wind, slam- ming of doors, or even the sweep of a lady's dress in the room. Hence, even in the best houses, the smoke and dust of the fire begin to gather on the ceiling, walls, windows, and furniture, rendering continuous washing and cleaning necessary; and where these are not done, as in houses of the less opulent classes, the rooms soon acquire that dingy look and fusty smell so commonly met with in such dwellings. Of course we do not mean that defective ventilation and smoky chimneys are the only causes of the dirty, dingy ap- pearance of rooms, nor do we approve of continual washings and cleanings; indeed, we are sure that much evil would result from such a practice; and we agree with what Dr. Inman says in the following extract:— Dr. CoPELAND, he says, tells us he was consulted by a lady respecting the prevalence of scrofula in her school. She had been very successful as a teacher, and was particularly anxious to do her duty, as a mother, to those under her care. She fed her flock on the best, and lodged them in the cleanest and airiest of beds and chambers. The doctor inspected everything, and was at a loss to account for the frequency of the complaint, or suggest a remedy. Everything inside and out seemed en regie. A casual remark of his on the white- ness of the boards, where they were visible, elicited the information that all in the house were washed daily. The sagacious physician at once detected the flaw, and recom- mended an almost total abstinence from the use of the pail. His advice was followed, and the scholars became as conspicuous for their health as they had previously been for the reverse. Two or three days ago I was my- self consulted in a bad case of scrofula in a flne-looking young woman of twenty-one, who had sufl*ered frpm. it