Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/94

82 of the body is made in the body itself, by virtue mainly of the oxygen supplied in the air; and, as the body absorbs external heat with great difficulty, it would be as wise to attempt to give warmth by fires, hot bottles, and hot air, to a man who is not inhaling a due amount of oxygen, as to attempt the same process on a marble statue. In a word, external heat is useful only in preventing the too rapid radiation of animal heat from the surface of the animal body. Alone, it can not supply heat; but, when a wholesome air is inspired, it can secure the retention of the heat that is developed in the animal furnace.

I spoke a moment ago of the open fire-grate. This is an essential for the room of the consumptive. Stoves of all kinds, heated pipes, and, in a word, all modes of supplying artificial warmth, except that by the radiation from an open fire, are, according to the facts which I have been able to collect, injurious. They are injurious because by their means the air is made too dry, an objection much less applicable to the open fire.

The symptom which I have most commonly seen elicited in the phthisical, by the inhalation of an unnaturally dry air, is haemoptysis, a symptom brought on frequently by the constant cough which the dry air excites. This effect, in a minor degree, will, in fact, appear in some cases without any actual deposition of tubercular matter, under the influence of the same cause.

The temperature of the air in the room of the consumptive should be carefully watched by the patient himself. My friend Mr.Glaisher, than whom no one is more competent to speak on this point, recommends two thermometers, the one with a wetted bulb. By the use of these the humidity, as well as the temperature, can be regulated. This is most advantageous, and the sensations of a consumptive patient soon inform him what degree of moisture is comfortable and proper.

I have occasionally heard phthisical patients complain of the use of gas in the rooms where they are confined. Such complaints, however, have usually come from patients confined in workshops where the number of burners is very great, and where there is almost always some accidental escape of gas.

In private houses such objections are avoidable; but as the inhalation of coal-gas is injurious even in small quantities, and as the products of the combustion of the gas are also hurtful, the necessity of a free ventilation in rooms where it is burned, and in which consumptives are lodged, is the more urgent.

The care that should be taken to secure a good air in the living-rooms of the phthisical invalid must extend with equal care to the sleeping-apartment. This rule should always obtain when possible: never permit one room to perform the two offices of bedroom, and living-room. The bedroom should be large, unencumbered by needless furniture, and thoroughly ventilated. If the temperature of the air without is not below 60° Fahr., the windows of the room should be