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49
"Since my own inspection I have had measure"ments
made of all the upper rooms in each
"house, and calculated their cubical contents, and
"the Vestry will find these calculations in tables
"which I now place before them. It will be seen
"from these tables that there are 19 bed rooms
"in all, containing accommodation for 74 persons.
"is not a very definite view entertained by the public as to tlie
"amount of space required indoors for healthy existence. In
"this parish I have held that the minimum each adult should
"have in a sleeping room is 300 cubic feet, and in a lodging or
"sitting room 500 cubic feet of air. Of course the advantages
"of even this space may be lost by want of ventilation, and a
"smaller space, with good ventilation, may be free from
"immediate bad effects. Unfortunately the most disastrous
"consequence of a want of fresh air, I mean Consumption,
"comes on so slowly that its presence is not felt until the victim
"of impure air is too far gone to be rescued from the grave.
"It is thus that workrooms are allowed to be overcrowded, to
"the certain injury, sooner or later, of those that occupy them.
"I know that in churches, schools, theatres, and other places of
"public resort, there is frequently much less space than that
"named above for breathing purposes ; but it must be re"collected
that the occupation of these places is but for a short
''time, and that the occupants change the air they breathe at
"intervals. Not so with the inhabitants of work-rooms and
"work-shops, such as those filled with dressmakers, tailors, and
"others. For many hours together they are obliged to breathe
"the same air; and it is to the fact of the long and often
"excessive hours of work to which I would attribute the
"principal evil effects of the atmosphere they are in. A con"dition
of things which may be borne without positive injury
"for a few hours daily, becomes absolutely destructive to life