Thread by @Orla_Hegarty

Ventilation in schools, 1850:
‘Let is suppose the case of a schoolroom containing 10,000 cubic feet (50 x 20 x 10’)* of perfectly pure air with 200 pupils. To each of them will be allowed 10 cubic feet of air per minute...’. 1/
*283m3 (15 x 6 x 3m)

‘..there would be 50 [cubic] feet for each pupil & air of the room would be rendered unfit for respiration by carbonic acid [CO2] alone in ~just 5 minutes~.. at the end of 5 minutes pupils begin to inhale again & again the excrementitious matter from their own & others bodies’ 2/

‘..at end of one hour, 84 ounces (2.4kg) of this poison would be held in solution in the air..& be constantly going the round of the circulation, sowing the seeds of death’ ‘the oxygen would be entirely exhausted in 14 or 15 hours.. many pupils would not be living long before’ 3/

‘..the inmates are thus lulled into a false sense of security whose deceptiveness is only discovered, if it ever is, when the seeds of ~disease~ which have been thus sown germinate & ripen into full maturity’ 4/

‘..effect of remaining in an impure atmosphere is listlessness, languor & irritability’ ‘dullness of the intellect is unquestionably the result of a want of pure air’ & ‘whether the natural stimulation of oxygen would not be more easy than the artificial sedative of the strap’ 5/

‘Impure air is indeed one of the scourges of mankind.. this prime & ever operating cause of disease, depopulation & premature mortality has existed & produced its deleterious effects at all times, in all countries & all climates’ 6/

‘conditions which produce plagues & many diseases which up to present time (1850) have baffled human investigation may fully be shown as fact (at which influential & scientific men may well blush) that at least 1/2 of maladies arise from easily understood & preventable causes’ 7/

‘Many instances are on record where progress of an epidemic has been suddenly stopped by ventilation.. by making an opening at top of each room the disease disappeared altogether. The supply of pure air obtained was sufficient to dilute the disease so that it became powerless’ 8/

The Uses & Abuses of Air: Showing Its Influence in Sustaining Life & Producing Disease With Remarks on Ventilation of Houses & Best Methods of Securing a Pure & Wholesome Atmosphere Inside of Dwellings, Churches, Courtrooms, Workshops & Buildings of All Kinds-John Hoskins Griscom

Addendum: see how this knowledge was successfully used to suppress another pandemic

https://twitter.com/Orla_Hegarty/status/1373212120171610120