Elements of Hygiene and Sanitation: Its Physiology and Hygiene and the Sanitation of Its ... by Theodore Hough William Thompson Sedgwick

Author:Theodore Hough , William Thompson Sedgwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ginn & company
Published: 1907-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The air of an inhabited room may prove a source of discomfort to its inmates, and therefore deserve to be called bad for any or all of the following reasons: (1) the air may be overheated or underheated; (2) it may contain an excess of moisture due either to its dampness of location or to the breath of its inmates; (3) it may be both overheated and overmoist; (4) it may contain odoriferous gases which cause displeasure or discomfort.

What such rooms do not often suffer from is oxygen def/ ciency or carbonic acid excess; for experiments have proved that unless the oxygen falls below twelve per cent, or the carbonic acid rises above three per cent (conditions Avhich are very rarely met with in ordinary human habitations), no marked discomfort ensues.

7. Ventilation replaces Bad Air with Good Air and causes Atrial Movement or Circulation. — It is now easy to see precisely how ventilation aids us in securing comfortable and agreeable atmospheric conditions. It removes bad air and supplies good (tliat is fresh) air and, by causing movement, favors evaporation from the skin* and consequent cooling on muggy days. It is also easy to see why ventilation is at times ineffective. No system of ventilation can wholly overcome the " mugginess " of a " close " room in August, because the pure outer air is itself unpleasant and uncomfortable; but active ventilation, by producing a breeze, can do more than anything else to make the conditions tolerable (see Part I, p. 203).

8. Fans and Fanning. — It is an old point of dispute whether or not a person who " fans " himself grows cooler or warmer. However this may be, there can be no question that persons who use fans feel cooler, and there is no doubt that any one fanned by another or by a breeze not only feels, but actually is, cooled thereby. The great and growing use of electric fans in hotels, houses, etc., testifies to the same fact.

9. A Room may be well Ventilated but Oppressive from Overheating.— Tliis fact, though perfectly obvious, and familiar to all who have been in well-ventilated boiler rooms, or who have lived in the tropics, is too little attended to. Many public halls, Pullman and other railway cars, steamboats, and private houses, especially in the northern United States, are rendered almost intolerable and very unhygienic by simple overheating. Elderly people and infants require higher room temperatures than do active persons in youth and middle life, but in general any temperature above 70°F. must be regarded as excessive, and 65°F. to 68°F. is a better temperature (pp. 201^390). Housekeepers, at least in the northern United States, would do well to try to keep the mercury in their houses between these lower limits. When the outdoor air is moist, as in rainy weather, a somewhat higher temperature is often required than when it is dry.

10. A Room may be Comfortable in Temperature but Defective in Ventilation. — This fact is less obvious than that just considered, but nevertheless true.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.