MOTHERS AND CHILDREN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 20 May 1915, Page 3

MOTHERS AND CHILDREN.

(By Hygeia)

(Published under the auspices of the Society .for the Health ot Wompn and Children). .'•-.'.

AIR

People still continue to "air-starve" ana prison cjAeiuseivesjina their caudren iv spi*« of tne appeais and explanations whicn hava been issued over ana over again during tne past tew in tins coiamn anrt eise'wnere. " '

lieceniiy the matter whs'1 again brought forcituy home vo me on going into an oitice wnere girls were employed, as clerks and typewriters. The atmosphere felt ana smelt exceedingly stuliy and very unwholesome. Cold weather had necessitated the use of artificial heating, and gas-heaters or stoves must have been used. The windows were closed for the most part, and there is no doubt that the effect on. those at work must have been very harmful.

When I remarked on the stuffiness of the office they said that the.windows were opened wide in the morning and at lunch time, but that during the working hours the constant opening of doors caused too much draught. The draught difficulty could certainly be overcome by the use of screens, and the fumes from the gas could surely be carried off in some way.

If the air were pure and fresh and the room at the same time comfortable, the girls would be able to do more and better work, besides being: much healthier and therefore happier.The following article appeared in "Our Babies" column seven years ago, and it was repeated three years later. As the, need for information on this subject still seems to be great, I make no apology for repeating it: —

PURE AIR. Pure air is the first necessity for health and vigour. Those who have not grasped the fact that the body of every living thing, be it plant or animal, is built" almost entirely out of air and. water —not out of the solid earth, whence plants at leash seem to come — would do well to clear their minds'at once, especially if they have any babies. Plants and animals alike, we all come from the air, and w.e must all return to it. WITHOUT FOOD WE CAN LIVE! THREE WEEKS. WITHOUT WATER WE CAN LIVE THREE DAYS. WITHOUT AIR WE CAN LIVE ONLY THREE MINUTES. Air in any quantity is* free to all; .nothing can take its place; nothing is so invigorating; there is no other universal panacea for. all forms of sickness; nothing ensures firm flesh and ruddy cheeks like pure fresh air day and night; and yet air is the one thing the average mother stints, and which she allows her baby to take in a foul, used-up state. In regard to food, on the other hand, over-feeding rather than. under-feeding is the prevailing error. While the mere idea of allowing food to become vile and poisonous by mixture with excreta' would be repugnant and disgusting to anyone, yet people scarcely shrink from filthy air, though there is no essential difference between the used-up, cast-off materials excreted from th© lungs and those got r.id of from the bladder and bowels. It is true that what we brea+he out is invisible, and not quite so offensive to the sense of smell; but it is equally deadly, and the actual weight of poisonous matter given off from the lungs in the course of the day is much greater than the quantity given off from all other sources put together.

IF FOUL AIR WERE ONLY BLACK!

On© almost regrets that stagnating exhalations from the lungs <Io sot turn black and visible, so that a growing murkiness indoors would enforce the mother's attention, and compel her to ensure a constant outlet for- the escape of what should be regarded as used up and done with, as well as an i^let for fresh, pure, outside air t8 supply its place. In the absence of a vivsible conger signal, is there any practical means by which we can satisfy suirsel/^s that the air of a room has become iu;iit to breathe—that it is poisonous snJ Revitalising ? Fortunately, there is a veiy simple and reliable test univer-sa 1!; 7 applicable. If, on returning to a rccm after being in die open n>.r fo" half an hour or so, the inside air strikes us as in any way "stuffy" an 3 auplt asant, it is certain that there in insufficient ventilation. No bedroom stimid 'c 'uipUasant to return to after one has Ijeen in the open air. There should be no appreciable difference '>o' ween • the bedroom air at the end of the niel-t and the outside »i:r\. ONCc-jt thai mJooie it would feel a trifli mi'■?*"•

If anyone has the slightest »louH as to the prevailing exclusion of frijsh air from our homes, lot him walk through, the streets at dnyiighr and no'i? i»h.it proportion cf windows are wide cppn and unobstructed by bhnds or ci:rtains.

The renvit'ulor of the above article will be given next woeV.