a large
class of germs, many of them disease germs. By analysis of the air in
different locations and in different parts of the country it has been
determined that on the ocean and on the mountain tops these germs
average only one to each cubic yard of air. In the streets of the
average city there are 3000 of them to the cubic yard, while in other
places where there is sickness, as in a hospital ward, there may be as
many as 80,000 to the cubic yard. These facts go to prove what has long
been well known, that the air of a city furnishes many more fruitful
sources for disease than that of the country. Some forms of bacterial
germs are not considered harmful, and they probably perform even a
useful service in the economy of nature. Within certain limits, other
things being equal, the higher one's dwelling is located above the
common level the purer will be the air. This rule, however, has its
limits, as the oxygen of the air is heavier than the nitrogen, so that
the air at very great altitudes has not the same proportion of oxygen to
nitrogen that it has at a lower level. An analysis that was made some
years ago of the air on the west shore of Lake Michigan, especially that
section where the bluffs are high, shows that it compares favorably with
that of any other portion of the United States.

In view of the foregoing, it is of the highest importance to the
sanitary condition of any city, town, or village that it be not too
compactly built. If more than a certain number of people occupy a given
area, it is absolutely impossible to preserve perfect sanitary
conditions. And there ought to be a State law, especially for all
suburban towns, which are the homes and sleeping places for large
numbers of business men who spend their days in the foul air of the
city, stipulating that the houses shall be not less than a certain
distance apart. Oxygen is the great purifier of the blood, and if one
does not get enough of it he suffers even though he breathes no
impurities. The power to resist the effects of bad air is much greater
when one is awake and active than when asleep, and this is why it is
more important to sleep in pure air than to be in it during our waking
hours. It is best, however, to be in good air all of the time. By pure
air I do not mean pure oxygen, but the right mixture of the two gases
that make air. Too much of a good thing is often worse than not enough.
Pure food to eat, pure water to drink, and pure air to br