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Show TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING 1 In a recent publication of the Sniith-! Sniith-! sonian Institution it is claimed that It is a fallacy to assume that a diminished dimin-ished amount of oxygen is harmful. At noted health resorts in the Alps the barometer stands at such a heicht that the concentartlnn of oxygen is far less than In the most ill-ventilated j room. One unfortunate result of this fallacy is that the laws regarding ventilation of mines insist on a high percentage of oxygen, and thereby in- i crease the danger of mine explosions j Finally, the widespread belief in the presence of an organic poison In expired ex-pired air is equally erroneous. The smells r.f crowded rooms and the like are no Indication that the air is deleterious. dele-terious. The deaths in the Black Hole of Calcutta, the depression, headache, etc , in close rooms, aro alike due to heat stagnation, the victims of the Black Hole died or heat stroke " This is rather more than is said that the chemical content of the air In crowded crowd-ed places has nothing to do with Its ill-effects, that, apart from the influence in-fluence of infecting bacteria, the ventilation ven-tilation problem Is one of temperature tempera-ture of relative humidity and of air movement. The percentage of carbon J dioxide in the worst ventilated room does not rise above .5, or, at mst. 1 ' per cent, whereas the normal concen- tran'on of carbon dioxide in the lungs ! is from 5 to fi per cent of an atmos- ' phere A great many experiments and observations are adducea to prove that percentages regarded as deleterious or deadly hy hygienists are quite harmless. American Machinist. |