PHILOSOPHY. Where doth soaring Fancy fly? Where Life? where Peace, the dove? In the heart? or in the eye? Tell me where they live, and why? Why doth mortal man disdain Safe and harmless rest? Sure, all rantic fancies run Till the last grand goal is won, ON THE SALUBRITY OF HOBART TOWN, AND ITS VICINITY, WITH REGARD TO RESIDENCE. Our health and comfort depend so much upon the salubrious situation of our dwellings, that a few words on this subject, with reference to this town and its environs, may not be uninteresting. It is obvious to every person, that, primâ facie, a town residence cannot, and is not, so favourable to health, as a country one; and this remark is particularly applicable to some parts of Hobart Town: we say, pointedly, some parts, because there are spots and situations here, as congenial to health, as any place in the country could be; but these are not those in the more populous parts of the town. We consider the low and crowded parts of the town extremely unwholesome, particularly those in the neighbourhood of the creek. The low portions of Liverpool street, of Collins Street, (especially near the old Market Place) and Elizabeth Street, with some others, are, from their situation, liable to great objections; and although, considerable care and circumspection seem originally to have been used in the laying out and planning of the streets, upon the rectangular Roman principle, still, from subsequent circumstances, the good intention of the founders has been, in several instances, nullified. Taking Hobart Town in a general point of view, we do not con sider it by any means a healthy place of residence; more especially for the young children of the lower orders. Other causes, however, besides those dependent upon locality, concur to produce this, amongst which we may instance the prevailing and pernicious intemperance of the parents themselves. It does not require any intimate knowledge of the structure and functions of the humair body, to learn the lamentable fact, that the intemperance of the parents inevitably entails upon the offspring a predisposition to disease, and this applies more particularly to the children of drunkards; who are, with very few exceptions, weak, squalid, wretched-looking objects. It is very clear, therefore, that such children require, above all others, the benefits of pure air, with the other advantages of the most salubrious dwelling; and they ought particularly to avoid living in a town. But, as far as our experience goes, a town residence is never very favourable to the health of children in general: we do not mean the children of the rich and the wealthy, because they possess adventitious advantages, which obviate the ill effects of their situations;-but the offspring of the middle and lower orders are exposed to numerous evils, which they have no means of avoiding. Perhaps, the most obvious and general of these evils is the deficiency of pure air, arising from the confined and crowded condition of the houses; and although the inspiration of impure air is not, at the moment, apparent to our senses, as would be the taste of a sour or bitter substance still its effect is not the less pernicious. Now, the manner in which the air that we breathe operates upon the body is very curious, and extremely interesting. It has been ascertained, that a healthy adult respires about twenty times in a minute, and takes into his lungs, during an ordinary inspiration, about forty cubic inches of air. The air, thus respired, is composed, when in a state of ordinary purity, of the following parts : Oxygen-27 parts. Azote*-23 ditto. Now, the oxygen is the vivifying and salubrious portion of the atmospheric air; and, as we shall presently show, has a decided, specific, and most beneficial influence upon the functions of the animal frame. It may, however, be asked-why, then, is a deleterious substance, like azote, interposed, and mixed with the oxygen? For this simple and obvious reason; that were oxygen distributed in its pure, unadulterated, unqualified state, its stimulus would be so great and oppressive, as to destroy,-instead of to preserve-life. Sir Humphry Davy made many most interesting experiments on this subject. By inhaling oxygen and nitrogen gas (the latter being chiefly a stimulating fluid, and known under Azote is a principle pernicious to existence, as the term itself, in Greek, signifiés à privative, and sau-to live. " the popular name of laughing gas) he ascertained many curious results; and conferred; at the expense of his Health and comfort, several important benefits upon mankind. Our present enquiry, however, has nothing to do with these abstruse, but most interesting, researches all we have now to consider, is the relative purity and impurity of the atmospheric air, which we daily-nay momentarily respire, and the causes, by which it is influenced in the several situations in, and about Hobart Town: Many of our readers have heard of--and shudderingly contemplated-the horrors of the “ Black Hole at Calcutta : a brief and explicit explanation of the manner, in which the sufferings of its occupants were effected, will, at once, explain the mode in which foul and confined air operates to the disadvantage, and as, in this instance, even to the destruction of animal life. To those who have ever experienced the close, heated, and oppressive atmosphere of a tropical climate, it is almost unnecessary to point out the dreadful horrors of a crowded incarceration in a confined compass in such a climate:-the very idea creates a feeling of gasping suffocation; and we shall briefly explain how the deleterious effects of this confinement are produced. A certain portion of oxygen, or of the healthful quality of atmospheric air; is absolutely necessary to carry on, support, and facilitate the great work of existence: in proportion as this quantity is diminished just in the same degree do the vital parts become oppressed and clogged. The celebrated and talented French chemist, Lavoisier, found, at a theatrical exhibition, that before the performance began that is while the house was comparan tively empty the air contained the following usual proportions of its component parts, namely:-oxygen 27 parts, and azote 73; but, towards the conclusion of the performance, the air became changed and deteriorated as follows:-oxygen 21 parts, azote 763, and carbonic acid 21. Hence, the oxygen or vital air, was diminished in the proportion of from 27 to 21, or nearly one fourth, and in the same proportion was less fit for respiration than it was before, besides having a considerable portion of carbonic acid, (a gas highly injurious-nay, poisonous to animals) accumulated with it, by the continual breathing of so many people. -- pro From this fact, we find, that the air, which we inhale, is deprived of, or rather, that it leaves in the body, through the cess of respiration, a large portion of its salubrious quality; and, when exhaled, it abstracts from the body a highly deleterious gas, that, namely, of carbonic acid, which becomes, of course, mixed with and distributed amidst the common air of the atmosphere, and is, by this course, so diluted or dissipated, as to become comparatively innoxious. But, where people are much crowded and congregated together, it is evident that a larger portion of carbonic acid gas must be contained in the air, which they breathe,-thus rendering it less beneficial for the purposes of existence, and con sequently, conducing very materially to the deterioration of health. This, of course, applies more especially to the inhabitants of buildings; but, cæteris paribus, the inhabitants of towns are subjected to the same inconveniences.* But the deterioration of the air, by the repeated respiration of many people, is not the only ill effect attendant upon a residence in a populous town. The filth and refuse, especially in this town, where there has hitherto existed no enactment, prohibitory of their exposure in the public streets, or, if there has, it has not been enforced,-here, we say, a very serious evil has arisen from the public exposure of dirt and rubbish: but even this is greatly increased by their admixture with the water, generally used by the majority of the inhabitants. This, although at first sight it may appear comparatively unimportant, and incapable of producing any serious consequences, as regards the health of the people, is, in our opinion, as well as in that of most medical men, a matter deserving a very important consideration. Pure water is composed of six parts of oxygen and one of hydrogen gas,-but it would be difficult, indeed, to tell of what the Hobart Town creek water is composed. The various articles, which are mixed with it, and the several substances-animal, vegetable, and mineral-which it holds in solution, constitute, altogether, a compound at once disgusting and pernicious. The constant and extensive use of a fluid, thus deteriorated, must, it is very obvious, be productive of the most serious evils to the human constitution, but, especially to that of children. Dr. Ure, the able and indefatigable modern chemist, explicitly tells us, "that a very minute portion of unwholesome water, daily taken, may constitute the principal cause of the differences in salubrity, which are observable in different places;" and when we consider the nature of our creekwater—a fluid, saturated with the impurities of so many housesa dilute solution of animal and vegetable substances, in a state of putrefaction-and when we recollect that this fluid is, as Dr. Mead terms it-the vehicle of all our nourishment-we shall be at no loss to account for the insalubrity of Hobart Town, as a residence for children, as well as for adults. We believe it to be the opinion of the Faculty here, that the febrile affection, which has been recently so prevalent amongst the children of this town,-and which still continues-has been It has been calculated, that two gallons of air will become unfit for healthful inspiration in two minutes and a half; and Dr. Langrish, who, some years ago, paid great attention to this subject, informs us, that "3,000 creatures, living within an acre of ground, would make an atmosphere of their own steams, about 71 feet high, in 34 days." The Methodists, a set of Roman physicians, esteeming the air as important as our food, accommodated its quality as nearly as possible to the cases and exigencies of their patients. For this purpose, several artificial means were adopted, as using large or small apartments, turned to the north, or to the south,-grottoes and places underground,-leaves of flowers, and branches of trees, sprinkling cold water upon the floor &c. greatly increased, if not actually caused, by the impurity of the water, generally used for domestic purposes. * It is, indeed, crammed with the seeds of all kinds of diseases, and may be justly designated, as "macies et nova cohors febrium ;" and we earnestly call upon the Government to adopt some speedy and decisive means of supplying the large and increasing population of this town with an article so essential to our health and comfort, in as pure a state as possible. In order to obviate the other disadvantages, arising from a crowded and confined population, a strict attention to cleanliness and ventilation, are especially requisite, and this, too, not only in our persons, but in our dwellings Dr. Darwin's address to the people, or rather the manufacturers of Nottingham is so plain and excellent, that we here transcribe it: it is a "golden rule," and should be sedulously observed:-" Ye men of Nottingham, listen to me! You are ingenious and industrious mechanics: by your industry life's comforts are obtained for yourselves and families. If you lose your health, the power of being industrious will forsake you:-that you know; but you do not know, that to breathe fresh and changed air constantly, is not less necessary to preserve health, than sobriety itself. Air becomes unwholesome in a few hours, if the windows are shut: open those of your sleeping rooms, whenever you quit them to go to your workshops: keep the windows of your workshops open, whenever the weather is not insupportably cold. If you would not bring infection and disease upon yourselves, your wives, and little ones, change the air you breathe, -change it by opening your windows several times a day." Having thus established the insalubrity of Hobart Town, generally, as a place of residence, it only remains for us to point out those spots in its vicinity, which possess the opposite advantages. We may say at once then, that all the open and airy situations are The general reader may, perhaps, smile incredulously at the notion, that a cough, like that which has prevailed amongst our children, could be caused by drinking bad water; but the influence of different kinds of food upon the respiratory functions is extremely powerful.-" Ample experience," observes Dr. Paris, "has taught us, that the nature of our ingesta is not a matter of indifference to the respiratory organs; diseased lungs are exasperated by a certain diet, and pacified by one of an opposite kind. The celebrated diver, Mr. Spalding, observed, that whenever he used a diet of animal food, or drank spirituous liquors, he consumed, in a much shorter period, the oxygen of the atmospheric air in his diving bell; he therefore had learnt from experience to confine himself on such occasions to vegetable diet. He, also, found the same effect to arise from the use of fermented liquors, and accordingly restricted himself to the potation of simple water." The truth of these remarks are, indeed, fully confirmed by the modes of living among the Indian pearl-divers, who carefully abstain from all stimulant diet for some time previous to their submarine operations. The experiments of Dr. Prout would ra ther lead us to the conclusion, that less carbonic acid is given off from the lungsand consequently retained in the body-during the influence of alcoholic stimulants: though that able chemist justly observes, this may arise from a specific action upon the nerves. We mention these facts by way of elucidating the extensive and certain influence of diet upon the organs of respiration. |