Frank Gee Patchin - "The Pony Rider Boys in Montana"

John Brown, M. D. - "Rab and His Friends"

George K. Pattee - "Practical Argumentation"

Willa Cather - "O Pioneers!"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home




The only essential part not shown is an earthen-ware pan without a
bottom, similar to the pan of a water-closet, only not so deep and
with a larger opening, which is attached to the under side of the seat,
and which in a measure prevents the rising of dust, and conducts the
urine to the point at which the most earth falls. This is the least
important part of the invention, but it has a certain advantage.

The self-acting apparatus is more complicated, and persons wishing it
would do best to apply directly to the Company.


THE ORDINARY PRIVY.

In the circular published by the Earth-Closet Company, the following
directions are given:

[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Commode, 3 ft. 3 in. high, 1 ft. 11 in. wide,
2 ft. 2 in. deep.]

"An ordinary fixed closet requires the apparatus to be placed at the
back of, and in connection with, the usual seat; the reservoir for
containing the earth being placed above it. Under it there should be
a chamber or vault about four feet by three wide, and of any convenient
depth, with a paved or asphalted bottom, and the sides lined with
cement. Should there be an existing cesspool, it may be altered to the
above dimensions. Into this the deposit and earth fall, and may remain
there three, six, or twelve months, and continue perfectly inodorous
and innoxious, merely requiring to be occasionally leveled by a rake
or hoe. If, however, it should be found impossible or inconvenient to
have a vault underneath, a movable trough, of iron or tarred wood, on
wheels, may be substituted. In this case, it will be advisable to raise
the seat somewhat above the floor, to allow the trough to be of
sufficient size.

"By one form of construction, (the 'pull-up,') the pulling up of a
handle releases a sufficient quantity of the dry earth, which is thrown
into the pit or vault, covering the deposit and completely preventing
all smell. By another, (the 'self-acting,') the same effect is produced
by the action of the seat. The apparatus may be placed in, and adapted
to, almost any existing closet or privy, and so arranged that the
supply and removal of earth may be carried on inside or outside as
desired."

The following is taken from the company's circular:

"In the commode, the apparatus and earth-reservoir are self-contained,
and a movable pail takes the place of the chamber or vault above
described. This must be emptied as often as necessary, and the contents
may be applied to the garden or field, or be allowed to accumulate in
a heap under cover until wanted for use. This accumulation is inodorous,
and rapidly becomes dry. The commode can stand in any convenient place
in or out of doors. For use in bedrooms, hospital wards, infirmaries,
etc., the commode is invaluable. It is entirely free from those faint,
depressing odors common to portable water-closets and night-stools,
and through its admission one of the greatest miseries of human life,
the foul smells of the sick-room, and one of the most frequent means
of communicating infection, may be entirely prevented. It is invariably
found that, if any failure takes place, it arises from the earth _not
being properly dry_. Too much importance can not be attached to
this requirement. The earth-commode will no more act properly without
dry earth, than will a water-closet without water.

"These commodes are made in a variety of patterns, from the cottage
commode to the more expensive ones in mahogany or oak, and vary in
price accordingly. They are made to act either by a handle, as in the
ordinary water-closet, or self-acting on rising from the seat. The
earth-reservoir is calculated to hold enough for about twenty-five
times; and where earth is scarce, or the manure required of
extraordinary strength, the product may be dried as many as seven
times, and without losing any of its deodorizing properties.

"If care be taken to cast one service of earth into the pail when first
placed in the commode, and to have the commonest regard to cleanliness,
not the least offensive smell will be perceptible, though the receptacle
remain unemptied for weeks. Care must also be taken, that no liquid,
but that which they are intended to receive, be thrown into the pails."

The pail used in the commode is made of galvanized iron, and is shaped
very much like an ordinary coal-hod. It has a cover of the same
material, and it may be carried from an upper floor with no more
offensiveness than a hodful of common earth.

Fig. 70 represents a cross-section of the commode, and will enable the
reader more clearly to understand the construction and operation of
the apparatus.

_a_ is the opening in the seat; _b_, the "pan;" _c_, the pail for
receiving the deposit; _d_, the hopper for containing the earth supply;
_e_, the box by which the earth is measured, and by which it is thrown
into the pail when moved to the position _e'_ by the operation of the
"pull-up;" _f_, a door by which the pail is shut in; _g_, the cover of
the seat; _h_, the cover of the hopper; _i_ a platform which prevents
the escape of earth from _e_.

[Illustration: Fig. 70 HOW TO USE THE EARTH-CLOSET.]

Under this head, the circular issued by the original London company
contains the following:

"The first requirement for the proper working of the earth-closet is
earth perfectly dry and sifted. Earth alone is proved to be the best
deodorizer, and far superior to any disinfectants; but where it is
difficult to obtain earth abundantly, sifted ashes, as before stated,
may be mixed with, it in proportion of two of earth to one of ashes.

"As the first requirement is _dry earth sifted_, and as this is
usually thought to be a great difficulty in the way of the adoption
of the dry earth system, the following remarks will at once remove
such an impression.

"The earth-commode and closet, if used by six persons daily, will
require, on an average, about one hundred weight of earth per week.
This may be dried for family use in a drawer made to fit under the
kitchen range, and which may be filled with earth one morning and left
until the next. The drawer should reach to within two inches of the
bottom bar of the grate. A frame with a handle, covered with fine
wire-netting, forming a kind of shovel, should be placed on this drawer;
the finer ashes will fall through, mixing with the earth, whilst the
cinders will remain on the top, to be, from time to time, thrown on
the fire.

"Of course, the most economical method is to provide in the summer-time
a winter store of dry earth, which may be kept in an out-house, shed,
or other convenient place, just as we lay in a winter store of coals.

"THINGS TO BE OBSERVED

"Let one fall of earth be in the pail before using.
"The earth must be dry and sifted.
"Sand must not be used.
"No 'slops' must be thrown down.
"The handle must be pulled up with a jerk, and let fall sharply."


REPEATED USE OF EARTH

Concerning the value and use of the product of the earth-closet, the
following is copied from the London company's circular. (It will be
noticed that reference is made, to _the repeated use of the same
earth._ When the ordure is completely dried and decomposed, it has
not only lost its odor, but it has become, like all decomposed organic
matter, an excellent disinfectant, and the fifth or sixth time that
the same earth is passed through the closet it is fully as effective
in destroying odors as it was when used for the first time, and of
course each use adds to its value as manure, until it becomes as strong
as Peruvian guano, which is now worth seventy-five dollars per ton.
In fact, it may be made so rich that _one hundred pounds will be a
good dressing for an acre of land_.)

"If the closet is over a water-tight cesspool or pit, it will require
emptying at the end of three or six months. The produce, which will
be quite inodorous, should be thrown, together in a heap, sheltered
from wet, and occasionally turned over. At the end of a few weeks, it
will be dry and fit for use.

"If the receptacle be an iron trough or pail, the contents should be
thrown together, re-dried, and used over again, four or five times.
In a few weeks they will be dry and fit for use; the value being
increased by repeated action. The condition of the manure should be
much the same as that of guano, and fit for drilling."

The inventor of the earth-closet, Rev. Mr. Moule, says:

"It was to this point (the power of earth or clay to absorb the products
of the decomposition of manure) but particularly to the _repeated
action_, and consequently the repeated use of the same earth, that
I first directed the attention of the public. I then pointed out:
First. That a very small portion of dry and sifted earth (one and a
half pints) is sufficient by covering the deposit, to prevent
fermentation, (which so soon sets in whenever water is used,) and the
consequent generation and emission of noxious gases. Second. That if
within a few hours, or even a few days, the mass that would be formed
by the repeated layers of deposit, be intimately mixed by a coarse
rake or spade, or by a mixer made for the purpose, then, in five or
ten minutes, neither to the eye or sense of smell is any thing
perceptible but so much earth.... When about three cart-loads of sifted
earth had thus been used for my family, (which averaged fifteen
persons,) and left under a shed, I found that the material first
employed was sufficiently dried to be used again. This process of
alternate mixing and drying was renewed five times, the earth still
retaining its absorbent powers apparently unimpaired. Of the visitors
taken to the spot, none could guess the nature of the compost, though
in some cases the heap which they visited in the afternoon had been
turned over that same morning ...

"It is only in towns, where the delivery, stowage, and removal of earth
is attended with cost and difficulty, that any artificial aid for
drying the compost would be desirable. On premises not cramped for
space, the atmosphere, especially with a glass roof to the shed, will
act sufficiently fast.

"You may by means of it (the earth system) have a privy close to the
house and a closet up-stairs, from neither of which shall proceed any
offensive smell or any noxious gas. A projection from the back of the
cottage, eight feet long and six feet wide, would be amply sufficient
for this purpose. The nearer three or four feet down-stairs, would be
occupied by the privy, in which, by the seat, would be a receptacle
for dry earth. The 'soil' and earth would fall into the further five
or four feet, which would form the covered and closed shed for mixing
and drying. Up-stairs, the arrangement would be much the same, the
deposit being made to fall clear of every wall. Through, this closet
the removal of noxious and offensive matters in time of sickness, and
of slop-buckets, would be immediate and easy; and if the shed below
be kept well supplied with earth, all effluvium would be almost
immediately checked. As to the trouble which this will cause, a very
little experience will convince the cottager that it is less instead
of greater, than the women generally go through at present, while the
value of the manure will afford an inducement to exertion.

. . . . . . . . .

"The truth is, that the machinery is more simple, much less expensive,
and far less liable to injury than that of the water-closet. The
supply of earth to the house is as easy as that of coals. To the closet
it may be supplied more easily than water is supplied by a forcing-pump,
and to the commode it can be conveyed just as coal is carried to the
chamber. After use, it can be removed in either case by the bucket or
box placed under the seat, or from the fixed reservoir, with less
offense than that of the ordinary slop-bucket--indeed, (I speak after
four years' experience,) with as little offense as is found in the
removal of coal-ashes. So that, while servants and others will shrink
from novelty and at first imagine difficulties, yet many, to my
knowledge, would now vastly prefer the daily removal of the bucket or
the soil to either the daily working of a forcing-pump or to being
called upon once a year, or once in three years, to assist in emptying
a vault or cesspool."

To the above complete and convincingly apt arguments and statements
of fact, we do not care to add any thing. All that we desire is to
direct public attention to the admirable qualities of this Earth System,
and to suggest that, at least for those living in the country away
from the many conveniences of city life, great water power, and
mechanical assistance, the use of it will conduce largely to the economy
of families, the health of neighborhoods, and the increasing fertility
and prosperity of the country round about.




XXXVI.

WARMING AND VENTILATION


There is no department of science, as applied to practical matters,
which has so often baffled experimenters as the healthful mode of
warming and ventilating houses. The British nation spent over a million
on the House of Parliament for this end, and failed. Our own government
has spent half a million on the Capitol, with worse failure; and now
it is proposed to spend a million more. The reason is, that the old
open fireplace has been supplanted by less expensive modes of heating,
destructive to health; and science has but just begun experiments to
secure a remedy for the evil.

The open fire warms the person, the walls, the floors and the furniture
by radiation, and these, together with the fire, warm the air by
convection. For the air resting on the heated surfaces is warmed by
convection, rises and gives place to cooler particles, causing a
constant heating of its particles by movement. Thus in a room with an
open fire, the person is warmed in part by radiation from the fire and
the surrounding walls and furniture, and in part by the warm air
surrounding the body.

In regard to the warmth of air, the thermometer is not an exact index
of its temperature. For all bodies are constantly radiating their heat
to cooler adjacent surfaces until all come to the same temperature.
This being so, the thermometer is radiating its heat to walls and
surrounding objects, in addition to what is subtracted by the air that
surrounds it, and thus the air is really several degrees warmer than
the thermometer indicates. A room at 70 degrees by the thermometer is
usually filled with air five or more degrees warmer than this.

Now, the cold air is denser than warm, and therefore contains more
oxygen. Consequently, the cooler the air inspired, the larger the
supply of oxygen and of the vitality and vigor which it imparts. Thus,
the great problem for economy of health is to warm the person as much
as possible by radiated heat, and supply the lungs with cool air. For
when we breathe air at from 16 to 20 degrees, we take double the amount
of oxygen that we do when we inhale it at 80 to 90 degrees, and
consequently can do double the amount of muscle and brain work.

Warming by an open fire is nearest to the natural mode of the Creator,
who heats the earth and its furniture by the great central fire of
heaven, and sends cool breezes for our lungs. But open fires involve
great destruction of fuel and expenditure of money, and in consequence
economic methods have been introduced to the great destruction of
health and life.

Of these methods, the most popular is that by which radiated heat is
banished, and all warmth is gained by introducing heated air. This is
the method employed in our national Capitol, where both warming and
ventilation are attempted by means of _fans_ worked by steam, which
force in the heated air. This is an expensive mode, used only for large
establishments, and its entire failure at our capitol will probably
prevent in future any very extensive use of it.

But the most common mode of warming is by heated air introduced from
a furnace. The chief objection to this is the loss of all radiated
heat, and the consequent necessity of breathing air which is
debilitating both from its heat and also from being usually deprived
of the requisite moisture provided by the Creator in all out-door air.
Another objection is the fact that it is important to health to preserve
an equal circulation of the blood, and the greatest impediment to this
is a mode of heating which keeps the head in warmer air than the feet.
This is especially deleterious in an age and country where active
brains are constantly drawing blood from the extremities to the head.
All furnace-heated rooms have coldest air at the feet, and warmest
around the head. It is also rarely the case that furnace-heated houses
have proper arrangements for carrying off the vitiated air.

There are some recent scientific discoveries that relate to impure air
which may properly be introduced here. It is shown by the microscope
that _fermentation_ is a process which generates extremely minute
plants, that gradually increase till the whole mass is pervaded by
this vegetation. The microscope also has revealed the fact that, in
certain diseases, these microscopic plants are generated in the blood
and other fluids of the body, in a mode similar to the ordinary process
of fermentation.

And, what is very curious, each of these peculiar diseases generates
diverse kinds of plants. Thus in the typhoid fever, the microscope
reveals in the fluids of the patient a plant that resembles in form
some kinds of seaweed. In chills and fever, the microscopic plant has
another form, and in small-pox still another. A work has recently been
published in Europe, in which representations of these various
microscopic plants generated in the fluids of the diseased persons are
exhibited, enlarged several hundred times by the microscope. All
diseases that exhibit these microscopic plants are classed together,
and are called _Zymotic_, from a Greek word signifying _to ferment_.

These zymotic diseases sometimes have a _local_ origin, as in the case
of ague caused by miasma of swamps; and then they are named _endemic_.
In other cases, they are caused by personal contact with the diseased
body or its clothing, as the itch or small-pox; or else by effluvia from
the sick, as in measles. Such are called _contagious_ or _infectious_.
In other cases, diseases result from some unknown cause in the
atmosphere, and affect numbers of people at the same time, as in
influenza or scarlet fever, and these are called _epidemics_.

It is now regarded as probable that most of these diseases are generated
by the microscopic plants which float in an impure or miasmatic
atmosphere, and are taken into the blood by breathing.

Recent scientific investigations in Great Britain and other countries
prove that the _power of resisting_ these diseases depends upon the
purity of the air which has been _habitually_ inspired. The human body
gradually accommodates itself to unhealthful circumstances, so that
people can live a long time in bad air. But the "reserve power" of the
body, that is, the power of resisting disease, is under such
circumstances gradually destroyed, and then an epidemic easily sweeps
away those thus enfeebled. The plague of London, that destroyed
thousands every day, came immediately after a long period of damp,
warm days, when there was no wind to carry off the miasma thus
generated; while the people, by long breathing of bad air, were all
prepared, from having sunk into a low vitality, to fall before the
pestilence.

Multitudes of public documents show that the fatality of epidemics is
always proportioned to the degree in which impure air has previously
been respired. Sickness and death are therefore regulated by the degree
in which air is kept pure, especially in case of diseases in which
medical treatment is most uncertain, as in cholera and malignant fevers.

Investigations made by governmental authority, and by boards of health
in this country and in Great Britain, prove that zymotic diseases
ordinarily result from impure air generated by vegetable or animal
decay, and that in almost all cases they can be prevented by keeping
the air pure. The decayed animal matter sent off from the skin and
lungs in a close, unventilated bedroom is one thing that generates
these zymotic diseases. The decay of animal and vegetable matter in
cellars, sinks, drains, and marshy districts is another cause; and the
decayed vegetable matter thrown up by plowing up of decayed vegetable
matter in the rich soil in new countries is another.

In the investigations made in certain parts of Great Britain, it
appeared that in districts where the air is pure the deaths average
11 in 1000 each year; while in localities most exposed to impure miasma,
the mortality was 45 in every thousand. At this rate, thirty-four
persons in every thousand died from poisoned air, who would have
preserved health and life by well-ventilated homes in a pure atmosphere.
And, out of all who died, the proportion who owed their deaths to foul
air was more than three fourths. Similar facts have been obtained by
boards of health in our own country.

Mr. Leeds gives statistics showing, that in Philadelphia, by improved
modes of ventilation and other sanitary methods, there was a saving
of 3237 lives in two years; and a saving of three fourths of a million
of dollars, which would pay the whole expense of the public schools.
Philadelphia being previously an unusually cleanly and well-ventilated
city, what would be the saving of life, health, and wealth were such
a city as New-York perfectly cleansed and ventilated?

Here it is proper to state again that conflicting opinions are found
in many writers on ventilation, in regard to the position of ventilating
registers to carry off vitiated air. Most writers state that the impure
air is heavier, and falls to the bottom of a room. After consulting
scientific men extensively on this point, the writer finds the true
result to be as follows: Carbonic acid is heavier than common air,
and, unmixed, falls to the floor. But by the principle of _diffusion
of gases_, the air thrown from the lungs, though at first it sinks
a little, is gradually diffused, and in a heated room, in the majority
of cases, it is found more abundantly at the top than at the bottom
of the room, though in certain circumstances it is more at the bottom.
For this reason, registers to carry off impure air should be placed
at both the top and bottom of a room.

In arranging for pure air in dwellings, it is needful to proportion
the air admitted and discharged to the number of persons. As a guide
to this, we have the following calculation: On an average, every adult
vitiates about half a pint of air at each inspiration, and inspires
twenty times a minute. This would amount to one hogshead of air vitiated
every hour by every grown person. To keep the air pure, this amount
should enter and be carried out every hour for each person. If, then,
ten persons assemble in a dining-room, ten hogsheads of air should
enter and ten be discharged each hour. By the same rule, a gathering
of five hundred persons demands the entrance and discharge of five
hundred hogsheads of air every hour, and a thousand persons require
a thousand hogsheads of air every hour.

In calculating the size of registers and conductors, then, we must
have reference to the number of persons who are to abide in a dwelling;
while for rooms or halls intended for large gatherings, a far greater
allowance must be made.

The most successful mode before the public, both for warming and
ventilation, is that of Lewis Leeds, who was employed by government
to ventilate the military hospitals and also the treasury building at
Washington. This method has been adopted in various school-houses, and
also by A. T. Stewart in his hotel for women in New-York City. The
Leeds plan embraces the mode of heating both by radiation and
convection, very much resembling the open fireplace in operation, and
yet securing great economy. It is modeled strictly after the mode
adopted by the Creator in warming and ventilating the earth, the home
of his great earthly family. It aims to have a passage of pure air
through, every room, as the breezes pass over the hills, and to have
a method of warming chiefly by radiation, as the earth is warmed by
the sun. In addition to this, the air is to be provided with moisture,
as it is supplied out-doors by exhalations from the earth, and its
trees and plants.

The mode of accomplishing this is by placing coils of steam, or hot
water pipes, under windows, which warm the parlor walls and furniture,
partly by radiation, and partly by the air warmed on the heated surfaces
of the coils. At the same time, by regulating registers, or by simply
opening the lower part of the window, the pure air, guarded from
immediate entrance into the room, is admitted directly upon the coils,
so that it is partially warmed before it reaches the person: and thus
cold drafts are prevented. Then the vitiated air is drawn off through
registers both at the top and bottom of the room, opening into a heated
exhausting flue, through which the constantly ascending current of
warm air carries it off. These heated coils are often used for warming
houses without any arrangement for carrying off the vitiated air, when,
of course, their peculiar usefulness is gone.