PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D., 1898, by A. N. BELL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. THE SANITARIAN. JULY, 1898. NUMBER 344. HOME SANITATION.* BY MRS. ESTHER A. POWNAL, of Richborough, Pa. The sanitary arrangements of our homes is a subject of such great importance that I feel honored to have been chosen to present it to you. At the same time, when the request of your committee reached me, I wondered what I knew practically about the heating, lighting and ventilating of a house. Everyone admits the necessity for heat and provides for it in some way; also, that light, either natural or artificial, must be had for us to see, and that sunlight is requisite for the health and growth of plants and animals; but that it is indispensable for the health and growth of the human animal all do not seem to know, and the value of fresh air is appreciated by but a few. For a long time I have known the importance of God's two great blessings-sunshine and fresh air-and have done what I could with the means at my command to let them into the various houses which I was obliged to spend most of my time in. But to tell an intelligent audience, like that which always gathers at a farmers' institute, the best mode of building their houses or of rendering those already built more healthful, seemed an impossibility to one who had no knowledge of architecture, building or plumbing, and I was about to decline on the plea of inability when I thought of St. Paul, who said, "If a woman would learn nything, let her ask her husband at home," and thinking mine could fill the bill in this respect, I did so, and when he was exausted he referred me to Dr. George Wilson's books on "Healthy Life and Healthy Homes," and a "Handbook of Hygiene and Sanitary Science," which I found very helpful and which I hope ou will all read. * Read at a recent meeting of New Hope Farmers' Institute, Doylestown, Pa. |