for further
respiration? Remembering that each person spoils one foot of air every
second, it is clear that one thousand cubic feet of air will be
contaminated for every second that the room is occupied. To ascertain
the number of seconds which would elapse before the entire air
contained in the room will be contaminated, so that it is unfit for
further breathing, we have only to divide the cubic contents of the
room by one thousand. Multiplying, we have 60*40*15 equals 36,000, the
number of cubic feet. This, divided by one thousand, gives thirty-six
as the number of seconds. Thus it appears that with closed doors and
windows, breath poisoning of the audience would begin at the end of
thirty-six seconds, or less than one minute. The condition of the air
in such a room at the end of an hour cannot be adequately pictured in
words, and yet hundreds of audiences are daily subjected to just such
inhumane treatment through ignorance."

The above remarks apply not only to churches, lecture rooms, and other
public places, but also with equal force to offices and family houses.
I should like to know how many persons pay even a little attention to
this important subject of pure air breathing? You go to an office,
whether large or small, and you find all the windows closed, although
there are half-a-dozen or more persons working in the room. No wonder
that managers, clerks, and other office workers often break down and
require a holiday to recuperate their impaired health at the seaside,
or elsewhere.

When you call at a private residence you will find the same thing, all
the windows closed. It is true that there are not so many persons in
the room as in an office, but if your sense of smell is keen you will
notice that the air has close, stuffy exhalations, which surely cannot
be sanitary. If you venture to suggest that one of the windows be
opened the lady of the house will at once tell you that you will be in
a draught and catch cold.

It is a matter of daily occurrence to find a number of persons dining
in a room where there is no opening for the contaminated air to leak
out, or for the fresh air to come in. After dinner the gentlemen
adjourn to the library to enjoy the sweet perfumes of smoking for an
hour or so with closed windows. What a picture would be presented if
the bacteria in the air could be sketched, enlarged, and thrown on a
screen, or better still shown in a cinematograph, but apparently
gentlemen