OUR BABIES

Grey River Argus, 5 March 1937, Page 10

OUR BABIES

By

Hygeia

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plum ket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than .bo maintain au ambulance at the bottom.” VENTILATION AT HOME-. W arc constantly stressing the need for really adequate ventilation in the home, and feel that the following remarks by Hr. C. W. Saleeby, whom we have introduced before to our readers, may bring home the points with fresh force. In previous columns we have shown how colds are directly due to infection, not to chills, and Dr. balecby s remarks on the importance of ventilation in “diluting infection’’ are interesting and illuminating in this connection. The question of proper ventilation in the home must be of great interest to parents who are in the happy position of being able to plan !a new home, and it is important to realise that, pressing as is the need of labour saving in connection with the heating arrangements, it must be considered in conjunction with, the question of ventilation, and a definite scheme of cross-ventilation provided for when rooms are built within fireplaces, particularly, of course, rooms constantly used by children. “'When I praise the open air, even in winter, and the outside of a bus, and the exposed life is general, the advice may seem simply cranky and wrong headed to many readers. But, first, observe the ‘golden mean’ of wise old Aristotle: ‘ln medio tutissimus ibis,’ which means in English that on the crown of the road you are furthest from both ditches; and, second, fear exposure to the ‘hardships’ of outdoors less than the deadly exposure to the invisible but murderous germs indoors That is the real danger of the wintei “It is not the exposed postman, but the coddled clerk that dies of con sumption. “Ponder that well, my readers. I> is not novel nor any invention, nor it any way dubious. It is the tremendou: and indisputable fact, and it means everything. PERILS THAT LURK INDOORS “Half the problem of living througl the winter is to avoid the deadly in fection met with indoors, where w< must perforce spend much of our time ' The chief means of safety in thes: circumstances, seemingly so safe, realb so insecure, is abundant ventilation i We were all taught at the end of th. brst century that ventlation is needet ! in order to get rid of the ‘carbon! i acid’ gas (as we used to call it) whicl leaves our lungs, and ,wc are fob ; about the celebrated Grotto del Cane ' where ‘carbon dioxide’ (as we nor ’ call it) accumulates at the floor leve so (hat a dog cannot breathe there Th,, greatest living master of th • subject, Dr. Leonard Hill, F.R.S.. ha shown that we need not worry abou ’ carbon dioxide. It never accumulate 1 even in a Paris theatre or a Sunda, • school to the point that would bur us. (Choke damp in a coal mine i • another matter.) MASS INFECTION. I “But the reasons for ventilatioi remain, and are terribly cogent. Eo ’ myself. I attach leading imtportanc ' to diluting of infection, as I will cal < it. No single, solitary microbe can kil 1 us; it is overwhelmed at once. 11. ha • no more chance than a solitary airma > landing in Kent, from German durin. r the war. ’ “The danger is mass infection, an t mass infection has its chance indoors r “Many people at this time of th ) year in any crowded place arc sprcac ■ ing various infections every time the; i cough, sneeze, or even speak. A tin'. > spray o f id'rips conveying numberles germs leaves the mouth even in a quie s speech. Ventilation reduces the horr.i ! density of infection in such places > dilutes the infection, and often save . us. ! i KEEP AIR MOVING “In many modern theatres etc. I special means of vetnilation are nov s installed. They are not my presen 1 concern. In our homes we havi neither ‘plenum’ nor ‘vacuum’ sys • terns. We have doors, chimneys, win dows. We must use them. “The use of doors and windows i obvious. The chimney or flue shouh be better respected. Its value 1 > great, more especially when combus , tion is in process at its base and 1 ' causing a swift current of air to pas: ; upward. ; “Never in any circumstances closi . the chmney by means of metal plate: i which are still to be found above somi I fireplaces. Beware of the rooms witl '■ no chimneys, for the problem of ven tilation of them is formidable. “At the foot of the chimney we ma; ’ burn soft coal, anthracite, coke, wood ' or gas. The nature of the fuel i ; irrelevant; its combustion and thi - upward draught caused in tho chimney • or flue are our salvation ) NEW BUILDING DANGER. 1 “A very serous defect, however, i present as soon as we begin to hea a room which has no chimney or flui I protest most seriously against tha type of ‘all electric’ house in whicl ! this fact is not recognised. Eleetricitj ’ can serve our lives incalculably, ant • not least by giving us artificial sun 1 Hght. I praise and respect and wel 1 come it. But when it is used to hea ' a room without adequate ventilatioi ' its results in vast numbers of case: ' will be slowly but certainly fatal.’’