OUR BABIES.

Northern Advocate, 19 January 1920, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.)

Published under the auspices of tho Koyal New Zealand Society for the Hc.-tlih of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." A PLEA FOR FREE VENTILATION THE HARMFULNESS OF BREATHED AIR.

For the past two weeks I have been discussing the harmfulness of the breathed or otherwise polluted air of badly-ventilated rooms, dwelling specially on the question as to how far such air is actually poisonous, and how far its devitalising tendencies should be regarded as due to our breath being charged with moisture and deprived of the natural stimulating properties of pure, cool fresh

The centring of attention on one aspect of a case i s very liable to prevent that breath of view which is essential to dealing in a simple, commonsense way with the. fundamental problems of life; thus there i 3 a tendency to forget that, besides the chemical and physical changes in breathed air, it may be charged with living particles (in other words, microbes) capable of causing disease and death. Comparative freedom from noxious bacteria is a very strong point in favour of a bright, sunny, airy room, as compared with a dark, close, and stuffy one—light and fresh air being the greatest foes of germ life. Pure air and sunlight are the constant allies of human health and strength just as the reverse conditions always tent to beget debility and disease, however insensible we may remain to the harm that is being done.

IS SEWER-GAS DANGEROUS I shall now consider the concluding remark in the correspondent's letter with which I have been dealing. The passage i. s as follows:— I read recently in a Health publication that it ig now "known" that "sower-gas" is not poisonous. One is inclined to say, "Where is truth?" In this case it is safe to say that Truth is rather with the old authorities, who denounced sewer-gas as poisonous, than with those whom it may pl< _sc to mak e the startling and paradoxical announcement that this unnatural atmosphere is harmless, in spite of the fact is always more or less repugnant to our senses.

The world takes particular delight nowadays in any statement mad c in a striking and arresting way, to the effect that the truth lies in the reverse direttion of existing beliefs. Froude's whitewashing of Henry VIII. owed its welcome to the same spirit that reads with amused interest the attempt to vindicate sewer-gas and the apparent discomfiture of its detractors!

At this stage my readers will be inclined to exclaim, "Then you don't agree wih the assertion that sewergas is comparatively harmless." Of course, I don't. Sewer-air in general, if it gets into our houses, is associated directly or indirectly with very dangerous and deadly possibilities; half the efforts of our expensive plumbing and other sanitary provisions aro quite rightly directed against keeping the subtle and insidious enemy out of our homes.

Where, then, is the Truth- Are the scientists and the magazines simply playing with us when they mKke the sensational announcement, "Sewer-air not Poisonous." Not at all. The scientist merely announces what he has found to b e true in regard to a limited field in which he h conducting his investigations; and the press, taking such statements out of their context, are apt to make them appear startling, revolutionary, and universal in their application.

Up to about 20 years ago it was supposed tha the air in sewers was necessarily swarming with germs of disease, but later investigation has shewn that this is not the case. The. dampness of the linings and walls of sewer s tends to prevent the escape of microbes into the atmosphere, and therefore sewer-air may actually contain fewer germs than would b e present in the air of an or dinary room. However, this doas | not mean that it is safe for a city to have faulty sewers or to allow bad

drainage or scamped plumbing m houses. Al experience goes to show that colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, consumption, scarlatina, typhus, typhoid, diphtheria, erysipelas, cerebro-spinal meningitis and other deadly pest* tend to become prevalent when we neglect proper sanitary precautions, and disappear in proportion to the extent to which we get rid of overcrowding and filth and admit pure air and sunlight.