Dr. Thomas Bateman, writing on the low fevers of London occurring among the poor, observes that he has often been surprised, after having seen a patient in the low muttering delirium of fever while in his own habitation, to find him with clear intellect and invigorated system after passing a night in the House of Recovery, although no medicine whatever had been given. We have ourselves observed the remarkable and decided effects on the pulse, caused by the removal of patients suffering from low typhus and other fevers;--their improvement has been general and decided, merely from the removal from a lower to an upper ward, where the ventilation has been more perfect. Of the many striking illustrations of the benefit resulting from the free access of pure air, the remarkable decrease of disease and death among the carnivora in the Zoological Gardens, as reported in 1845, since the improvement of the ventilation, may be instanced. The following statement, taken from the history of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, shows in an extraordinary degree the advantages resulting from free ventilation. In this hospital, 2944 infants out of 7650 died in the years 1782–83–84 and 1785, within the first fortnight after their birth,--that is to say, nearly one child out of every six died of convulsions, which were called nine days’ convulsions by the nurses. These children foamed at the mouth, the jaws became locked, the face swelled, and looked blue, as though they were choking. This last circumstance led the physician in attendance to attribute the disease and great mortality to the close and crowded state of the hospital, causing a deficiency of good air. Air-pipes, with other openings, were contrived,--the rooms were kept sweet and fresh by means of ventilation,--and the consequences observed were, that in the year 1786 out of 1372 children there died 51 1787 „ 1375 „ „ 59 1788 „ 1496 „ „ 55 ---- ---- 4243 165 So that, since ventilation has been properly effected, out of 4243 children there died 165; whereas the average number of deaths from the same numbers, previously to ventilation, was 1632! “And all proclaim Omnipotence Divine. * * * * * We view his kind, his life-preserving care, In all the wondrous properties of AIR. Were once the energy of _air_ denied, The heart would cease to pour its purple tide; The purple tide forget its wonted play, Nor back again pursue its curious way; Gross vapours would the springs of life pervade, And make the brightest human blossom fade.”