OUR BABIES.

Mataura Ensign, 14 January 1916, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

By Hygela. Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fenco at the top of a precipice than to an ambulance at the bottom." IS FOUL AIR POISONOUS? LETTER TO HVGEIA." "1 retd yunr notes regularly with interest :t ml profit-. Souk* lew motif Itsago you wrote strongly on' the dattget and harm from breathing atr in a crowded, unvemila.ted mom. of ltt.ill and said that that was as injurious as lor a person (o eat in's own excrement. [Memo hy “Tlygeia.”—The expression really list'd wits: IVliile flic mere idea of allowing food to become vde and poisonous by mixture with excreta. would be repugnant and disgusting to anyone, yet people seaJveIv shrink from filthy air, though tiie-e' is no essential ddlerem-e between the nsed-np. ea'i-olf materials excreted from Ihe lungs and those got rid ol from other excretory organs,] ‘•The enclosed paragraph appeared in the •Otago Dally Tunes’ on Novem her 1(5. and does not seem, in the first portion tit least, to he in line with what yon said. Is that so. or is I here some explanation, or is it a ease ol 'authorities' differing - :' “J road recently in a health publication that it is now -known’ that •sewer gas’ is not poisonous. One is inclined to say, 'II here is truth IJ’1 J ’- 1 am. etc., ■READER.” PARAGRAPH’ REFERRED TO.

It is ".veil known that the researches of such specialists as Dr Leonard Hill and the stall - of the New York Stale Commission on Ventilation have discredited the old idea that, the air 01 occupied’ anil ill-ventilated rooms becomes "potsonon v ” through containing the products of respiration or through any other change in the chemical constitution of its contents. Mich illell'ects as nitty he produced hy such an atmosphere are nserdied to temperature and humidity only. However, a recent paper hy Messrs C. I*’,. -I. Winslow and G. 'l'. Palmer brings to light a hitherto nnsuspeete.i effect, of vitiated air. evidently doc to its chemical rather than its physical qualities. In a scries of experiments several persons were kept in a room in which Hie supply of fresh air. as well its -the temperature and humidity, were under control. The , effects of ampT ventilation and no ventilaton. with constant temperature and hnnuduy, were compared. After the subjects had been in ihe 100 m Irom two to three hours a luncheon made np of weighed portions of known ealorilie value was served, and the amount, of food left nneuien was weighed to determine the difference in the amount consumed. The experiments showed that the air of an nnveju dated occupied room conlain- substances which in some' way. and w’llimit producing conscious disrmuforl or detectable pliysiologU'al symptoms, diminish the appetite lor food.

COMMENT MV "H I REI A." A sensible, well-reasoned criticism, such as our correspondent submit', is always welcome; cvcrymie benefits by Hie frank discussion of points siuh as he raises. The question why living in clu'e, (invent dated rooms is so injurious has been a battleground of scientists lor the hist ID years; lint no one oiiestions tlie fact that pure. eoof. moving air is health ftd and invigorating, while living in “stnify,”' breath-laden air is unhealthy and debilitating. ’The onlv doubt, is precisely why this should he so Does the harm of bre ilhed air arise irom our breath being actually poisonous, or (hies it arise mainly from Hit' breathed air being “used up" and made "(lilt - ’ and tins t imulaling. through saturation with warm moisture and through being robbed' ol part o) its life-giving properties'' Roth sets of causes contribute towards the beneficial effects of ventilation and the injurious effects ol stagnation; but, before going lurthor into the matter, f want to make perfectly clear to my readers that, there is not the slightest, reason for any doubt as to the need for open air and ventilation if we are .to make Hie rising generation as strong and healthy as we would wish them to be—Hi we are to prevent, there being 10 per cent, ol rejects in the Inture should the need to raise men to d< loud our country arise again.

WHAT 'I’M I*! MKIiS TKACH'. .Mo,si insects lend a Tree Ide in the open :iir; hut (lie hee.s loriu highly complex .mil civilised communities coin parable. with mir own. They dwell largely iminors, muS among the ninny ■wonders of a hive nothing is more wonderful that the "punkah men ’ stationed near (.he entrance. 1 licn* workers are kept busy all the lime fanning currents of fresh a.ir through the corridors of (.he hive with their wings, and causing cnrrcnls of foul a'r to stream out in the opppsiie direct-ion. There has been no Leonard lid I to tel! these insects why they must eslah lis.li constant and elTicient ventilation of their dwelling-places, and they don't need to he told—they know how to do it. They "deliver the goods’’ a ,"d ren-do-i - the home sate to live in. ’1 hese. insects, working, as it were, under the direct, mandate of the Creator, guided by instinct, not acquired and reasoned knowledge, have better-designed homes and more healthy habits than S.KJ per cent, of 'lnimtfti beings, though wo pride. ourselves so much on our superior wisdom. Wliile we are wondering what to do. and spending our energies disputing over the pros ami cons ot ventilation. the bees set to work in a practical way and carry it out. As Maeterlinck says, “Hons are almost fauriticallv cleanly.”