“Summer and winter, with or without the use of fires, it is well to have a free ingress for pure air. This should be the ventilator’s first concern. Foul air will find an exit if pure air is admitted in sufficient quantity, but it is not certain that pure air will not also be drawn away. So far as sleeping rooms are concerned it is wise to let in the air from without. The aim must be to accomplish the object without causing a great fall of temperature. The windows may be drawn down an inch or two at the top with advantage, and a fold of muslin will form a ‘ventilator’ to take off the feeling of draft. This with an open fireplace will generally suffice, and produce no unpleasant consequences, even when the weather is cold.” While the open fireplace, ’tis true, gives splendid ventilation, at the present price of fuel it is a luxury within the reach of few. Yet, taking into consideration how effectually it “slams the door on the doctor’s nose,” it is an economical investment. Recently there have been open stoves constructed on a new principle, that are very desirable. They are cheerful and decorative in appearance, equal to other stoves for cleanliness, economical of heat, and what is so needful in every dwelling, furnish a constant change of air--are in themselves ventilators. One building a new house can easily have ventilation by making a dry well of good dimensions in the yard and filling it with coarse charcoal. There should be an air-shaft leading to it and one from it into the house. The air from it must go directly to the furnace. It should be so constructed that water will drip slowly through the charcoal. In this way the moisture and charcoal purify the outside air, freeing it from dust and smoke, while the pit cools it in the summer, and modifies the temperature in the winter. Better air is obtained than if let in by windows and doors. The house should have flues for the escape of impure gases. Common grates will answer the purpose. An abundance of pure air constantly supplied. In regard to fresh air in sleeping rooms, Dr. James H. Jackson says: “There appears to be a want of a clear understanding of the difference between the terms cold air and pure air, and many persons do not seem to comprehend that the air of a room may be both pure and warm. They seem not to know that the temperature does not affect the purity of the air so long as there is opportunity for proper circulation. Pure air is not necessarily cold, nor is cold air always pure.