Ventilation

There are, we are ashamed to pay, íd our eitics, ihings called houses - built and rented by pcople who walk and have the general air and marmer of eivilizec men - which are so inhuman in their building that they can only be callee snares and traps for souls. The first object of a house is shelter from the elements. ïhis object s affected by a tent or wigwam which kecps off rain and wind. The first disadvan tagH of this shelter is, that the vital air wliich you tako into yonr lungs, and ou tho purily of which de)ends the purity of blood, brain and neive, is vitiated. In the wigwam or tont you are constantly taking iu poison, with every inspiratiou. Napoleon had his ariny sleep without tents. He stated that lrotn experience he fouud it more heulthy, and wonder lul have been the nstatiees of delicate persons gainiug constantly in vigor from being obliged, in the midst of hardsbips, to sleep constantly in the open air. Now, the iirst problem in house building is to combine the advantages of shelter with the fresh elastioity of out-door air. We are not going to give here a trpatise on ventilation, but nierely to say in general terms that the first object of a house builder or contriver should be to make a healthy house, and the first requisito of a healthy house is a puro, sweet, elastio air. Iu the planning of a house, thooght should be had as to the general dispösition of the windows, and the quarters ('rom which favofiné breczes mav be peeted hould bo carefully cohsidered. Windows should be so arrauged lh:if draíís of air can be thrown quite through and aeross the house. The house built by our anccstors were better veatilated in certain respecta thau modern ones with all their iruprovements. The great central chituney, with its open lire-plaees in the different rootns, created a constant current which canied off fod and vitiated air. In these days how coitimon it is to provide rooms with only a fluo for a stove ! The flue is kept shut in sunimer, and in winter opened only to admit a close stove, which burns awav the vital portion of the air quite as fast as the occupants breathe it away. The sealiug up of uro-places aud iulroduction ot airi'ighX stoves may doubtk'ss be a Savipgof fuel; it saves, too, more thari that f in thousands aud thousaiicls of cases it bas saved people from all fuither hiiman wants, and put an end for ever to auv needs short oí six feet of uarrow earth. In oilior words, sinc.e the invention of' air-tigbt stoves, thoasands of persons have died of' slow poison. It is a terrible thipg toreHect upou, that our northern winters last f'rom November to May, six long montbs, in uhich maúy femilitís confine thcmseves to one i-oom", of which every window-craek has been carefully calked. lo niaku it air tiht, where au air-tight stove keeps the attnosphere at a ternperature beween eighty aid oinety and the inuiates sitting theie with all tbeir winter chtie on, bocoine enervated botii by the heat and by tho poisooed air, tot whioh there is do escape but by tho 'opening of a door. It is uo wonder that the ñrat result oí all thia is sucli a delieacy of skin aud lungs, that about half the iumut are obliged to givo up going iuto .the open air during the six cold months, because they invariably eateh cold if they.do so It is no wonder that the cold caught about the first of December, bas by the first of March become a fixod consuraption, aod that the opening of the spring, whioh ought to bring life and health in ruauy cases biiug death. ' We hear of the lean condition in whieh the poor bears emerge frota their six tnonths wintering, diiring which they subsist on the fat hich they have aequired the previous Biiinraer. Eveo so in our long wiuters. Multitudes of delicate people subsist on the daily wauiig fStrenirth whifih ihpv iinnnirarl in fhn seasou when doors and wiudows were open and fresh air was a constant luxury. No wonder we hear of' spring fever and billiousness, and Lave thousands of nos trumg lor clearing the blood in the spring. All these things are the panlings and palpitations of a systom run down under a slow poison, unable to get a step further. The perfect hourie is ouo in wbieh there is a constant escape of eveiy foul and vitiated partióle of air through one opening, while a constant wupply of fresb outdoor air is adinittcd by another. In winter tïiis outdoor air munt pass through some prooeas by which it is brought up to a températe wárifath. Tike a single room, and suppose on one side ia a' current of outdoor air which has beeD warmed by passiag through the air-chambur oí a moderate furnace - its temperatura ueed not be above sixty-five. it answers breathipg purposos better at that - on the olher side of the room let there be an open wood or ooal fire. One oan not coneeive the purposes of warnith and ventihition inoro perfectly combined. A housu witli a great central hall iuto which a current of fres!), temperately warmoil air is contiuually pouring, each ebamber opening opoti tnis hall having a chimüey up wBose flue the rarified air is constuntly passing, drawing up with it all the foul and poisouous gas, is well veniilated, and in a uay that need brklg no dangerous clraughïs upon the most delicate invalid. For the better securing of privacy in skeping rooms, we have seea two doors employed, ono of wliich is wade with slats, like a window blind, so thut air is freely transoiitted without exposing the iuterior. Whun we speiik of Tresh air we insisl on the full rigor of' the torm. It must hot be the air of a 'cellar heavily laden with the poisonous nitrogen of turnips and cabbage, bilt good f'resh out-door air," from a eold air-jiip,; no placed as not to gct the lowcr stratum near thogrouud, ' WÜer heavy daiap and cxhalatiou lect, bul high up iu juut the clearest anc most elastio región. Thero are too many house? wher not a cent has been expended on venti ation, but hundreds of dollars hav been freely lavisbed to keep out th 8iinshiiie. The chamber, truly, is tigh as a box; it haa no fire-placu, not eve a ventilator opening into the stove rlue but, h ! joy and gladuess, it bas out side blinris and iriside foldibg sbütters 80 that in the brigbtest of daya we ma1 oréate there u darkne.ss that may be t" - ) l ïo observe the generality of New En gland housrs, a spectator might imagine that they were plannud for the torrid zone, wbere the great object is to keep out a furnace-draught of bufnfng air. Let any person travel through the valley of the Connecticut, and observe the hou.--es. All clean, white and ueat, and vvell-to-do, with iheir tuftv yards and breczy great elins, btit all shut up froin basement to altie, as if the muatüs had all sold out and gone to China. Nol a window blind open above or bclow. Is the house iuhabitod ? No - yes; thero is a faint stroak of blue srnoka from the kitcheu chimney, and half a window blind open in soine distant back part of Ihe house. They are ving there n the dim shadows, bleaehrig like potato sproiits n the oellar. The conclusión of the whole matter is, ;hat as all of (Ben-a and women's peace aud couiforr, all their atniability, have got tocóme to them, while tlieylive in lus world, through the medium f the brain, and as black, uncleaused blood acts upon the bram as poison, aud as no other tlian black, uncleiitised blood can be got by the lnngs out of the inipure air, the 6rst object of the man who builds a house is to secure a pure anti hcalthy atmosphere thereiu. Our houses must have fresh air - evervwbere, at all times, winter and summër. Wlicther we havo st(,ne fucings or not, whelher our par!or8 liave coruices or mat ble mantels, our doors are machine-made or hand-made, all our fixtures shall be of the plaiuest and. simplest, we oui'ht to have fresh air.-