Page:Book of health.pdf/12

Rh A. The air in which man liveth, and which he breathes, ought to be fresh, clear, and dry.

Q. Why ought it to be fresh, clear, and dry?

A. Because it tends to refresh us, and make us healthy, composed, and serene; it encourages man to work cheerfully, excites appetite, improves health, and induces balmy sleep: in short, man finds himself exceedingly happy while he breathes fresh air.

Q. Does he feel equally as comfortable when he breathes bad, foul, and damp air?

A. No; in bad corrupted air man becomes weak, unhealthy, and irritable, loathsome and stupid; it often causes fevers and many dangerous maladies very difficult to cure.

Q. Is it very necessary that man should live in fresh air, in order to enjoy a perfect state of health?

A. As necessary as eating and drinking; or as clean water is to fishes.

Q. Why is it so?

A. Because the air contains, as well as our food, vital principles, which cannot be dispensed with, or supplied by any thing except the air we breathe.

Q. By what means is air corrupted?

A. The air is corrupted in houses and rooms that are not sufficiently ventilated: besides, if in the vicinity of the habitations of man there be morasses, or stagnant waters, they are sufficient to corrupt the air.

Q. By what other means is air rendered noxious?

A. Vapours arising from damp foul things; the breath and perspiration of many persons; the smoke from lamps, tallow candles, and snuffs; the steam from ironing linen; the exhalations that arise from combing wool, and from burning charcoal, all tend, in a greater or less degree, to corrupt or deprave the air, and render it capable of impeding the action of the lungs, or inducing suffocation.

Q. What ought people to do that are much confined to rooms or chambers?