Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D. 1904, by A. N. BELL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CATALOGUER MAR 211905 E. H. B. 8591 MAR 211905 LIBRARY. THE SANITARIAN. JANUARY, 1904. NUMBER 410. OUR HOMES AND OURSELVES. By A. N. BELL, A.M., M.D. In the history of the effort to civilize the American Indians, it is recorded of an Indian agent in the Northwest, many years ago, that he built a number of farmhouses for the Indians in his jurisdiction which he persuaded some of them to occupy. Not long thereafter he had occasion to leave his post for a season, but with much self-gratification for the progress he had made in civilizing his wards. On returning to his charge, after a protracted absence of a little less than two years, he was greatly astonished at finding the dwelling houses he had built for them in use as storehouses only for their farming implements, and the Indians again in their well-aerated wigwams round about. On inquiry for the reason they informed him that all who slept in the houses were made sick, and some of them had spit blood; on removing to their wigwams they had regained their health and wanted nothing more to do with the white man's houses. The Indian agent's effort to house the Indians is a good illustration of the continued but fruitless effort of cultured people generally, in all ages, to establish a correlation of the antagonizing forces of impure air and the maintenance of health. Insomuch that, as between our homes and ourselves, it is difficult to determine which is the more esteemed. Perhaps the proposition should be our homes or ourselves-it would be easier to show how prone people are to sacrifice their health to the economy of air space and sunlight. No one can be thoroughly well and able to maintain resistance to disease without a plenary supply of fresh air and sunshine. For these agents there is no substitute. For various conditions the necessary areas of air space for occupation are variable. But evidently from common knowledge of the facility with which the airin confined places is deteriorated by breathing and of the difficulty |
