out of a given number born, and the "expectation of life," or average num ber of years persons may expect to live at any period of life. The table was compiled by Dr. Wiggleworth, after many years of intelligent research, and has justly been regarded as authority by the courts in estimating the value of life estates:

Importance of a Healthful Location.—The healthiness of dwellings depends upon their faultless situation, construction, and management. It is, therefore, of primary importance that the foundation of houses be on dry ground free from decaying matters. Houses built upon a soil saturated with putrid moisture, or upon old swamps or cess-pools or similar filthy ground, are notoriously unhealthy, because such a soil, especially in the warm season, evolves deleterious exbalations, and vitiates the water of the ground and the

air. In the construction of buildings it is also necessary to protect their foundations against dampness from underground, by means either of drainage or of a damp-proof ground floor. A construction conducive to a free and ample supply of light and air is, then, the main condition for a healthy habitation; however large or small, elegant or plain, the house may be, its salubrious condition may be maintained and regulated by these two simple and cheap correctors, Light and Air.

Remove from a Foul District.-If you live in a district soddened with foulness, change. Shoe leather is cheaper than medicine. It will be better to get up at five "to go to work," than to get up at two "to lay somebody out; " besides, you will have better heart for every thing. Read Ruskin's "Athena," if you can; and bear in mind that when you bar out the goddess Athena, Queen of the Air, you bar in a serpent whose subtle poison will shorten the number of your days, lessen your strength, and undermine all the glory which should bless them. Have water that looks clean, tastes clean, and whenever you lift the lid from a kettle or saucepan, smells clean. If in doubt, catch some rain water and filter it. Then remove to another locality.

Location of Dwellings in Cities.-Dwellings which face on free and open streets, are to be preferred to those which open into courts, because the motion of the air is freer in the former. In a closely-built city the corner house, having the sweep of two streets is, in this respect, better located than others in the block. It is not well that high blocks of dwellings should so surround the rear court as to shut out the wind, nor that streets should terminate against the middle of a block at right angles to it.

In the country any open, dry portion of land will make a good building spot. A slight eminence is preferable.

Shade Trees Around Our Dwellings.-Farm-houses or other dwellings, whether for man or beast, should not be closely shaded, as such shade obstructs both sunlight and air currents. The aim should be to so arrange the trees in the lawn as to permit the ingress of the sun's rays, and of the free and healthful air.

High Ceilings and Health.-Lofty ceilings are regarded by some as a principal means of insuring a sufficient measure in cubic feet for each person. Unless ventilation is secured for the upper portion of a room, a lofty ceiling only makes that portion of space above the tops of the windows a receptacle for foul air which accumulates and remains to vitiate the stratum below.

Capacity of Bricks for "Dampness."-As to the capacity for absorption, three bricks from a building in process of erection, took up in twentyfour hours from eight to fifteen ounces. From a certain brick-yard, samples of face-brick and pressed brick absorbed ten and a half and eleven ounces;

and from another, pressed brick drank up twenty and a half and eighteen and a half ounces all in the same time. These results are startling. We cannot suppose that lateral or horizontal absorption, as, from driving rain, could be much different from that which proceeds upward from wet foundations. Cannot some process of brick making be found that will prevent this action?

Damp Walls and Their Relation to Health.-Porous walls in damp locations, absorbing moisture and water, give rise to various evils. Dr. Dean has made some tests as to the absorbent capacity of bricks.* He first examined in dry weather brick from an old one-story building upon high ground, dry, well-sewered, and well exposed to sunshine. A face-brick next above the foundation, contained one ounce of water; four feet higher, one half; and just under the roof, one twelfth. In a building differently circumstanced, notoriously damp and unwholsome, on high but “made " ground, a face-brick in the fourth row from the foundation was found to contain eighteen ounces of water!

Dampness of Other Walls.-Most kinds of sandstone are so porous that water and air easily pass through them. Solid or quarried limestones are scarcely permeable by air, but as they are of irregular shapes, and require much mortar, they are not much more air-tight than walls made of regular bricks and thin layers of mortar. Observations have been taken of the average quantity of mortar used with different building stones. We may suppose that taking the wall as a whole, it is equal to one third with quarried limestone, one fourth with tufaceous limestone, one fifth to one sixth with bricks, and one sixth to one eighth with cubes of sandstone. Thus, the quantity of the mortar used assists in keeping the walls pervious to air to a certain degree.

Why Damp Walls are Injurious.-Wet walls are air-tight, and consequently injurious:—

1. By impeding ventilation and diffusion of gases through their pores be. ing closed up or narrowed by water.

2. By disturbing the heat-economy of our bodies. Damp walls act as absorbents of heat by their evaporation and increase heat-loss by one-sided radiation. Diseases known to be often caused by cold are particularly frequent in damp dwellings: rheumatism, catarrh, and chronic lung disease, Bright's disease of the kidneys, etc.

In a house using one hundred thousand bricks of ten pounds weight each, which have absorbed the average quantity of water, one hundred thousand

* Damp brick walls are common, especially in houses in the country where they are exposed upon the north and east sides. So common is this that, in many places in the country, a strong prejudice exists against brick houses on account of their constant dampness.

pounds, or ten thousand gallons, or fifty tons of water, must leave the walls before they become habitable. How is this to got rid of? By full and perfect ventilation.

How to Dry Damp Walls.-The most effective method is by letting them evaporate the water into the air. This is best accomplished by heating all the chimneys and stoves, and the constant ventilation of all the rooms until the necessary degree of dryness is obtained.

Ventilation is also constantly necessary to maintain the proper degree of dryness to counteract their tendency to re-absorb the various gases, and the emanations resulting from inhabitation, and the vapors arising from the culinary department.

How to Prevent Walls from Becoming Damp-A Successful Experiment.-A gentleman having a brick house exposed on all sides, and suffering from dampness in the kitchen, which was in a wing upon the most exposed side, tried an experiment which has proved very satisfactory. A barrel of the best cement* was purchased, and a common tin wash-basin used for mixing it. The cement was mixed with water till about the consistency of cream, and then applied thickly with a large paint-brush. Of course the mixture had to be constantly stirred to prevent the cement from settling to the bottom. And on account of its very rapid settling it could only be mixed in very small quantities; half a gallon is about as large a quantity as can be readily handled at a time. When first dried it seemed somewhat of a failure, because it could be so easily brushed off, but after it had had twenty-four hours to harden it formed a strong, durable coating. The color is a neutral tint, somewhat like Ohio stone. The coating kept the wall perfectly dry, and as it is not expensive and does not need skilled labor in its application, ought to be extensively used. The coating should be brushed into all the crevices and openings of the work, and it may be found desirable to apply two coats in order that all the openings, etc., may be completely closed.

The covering of brick walls with several coats of good oil paint, also prevents them from imbibing moisture. The walls should be first covered with a thorough coat of sizing.

* Cement is much stronger than mortar, and can be used to great advantage in many places instead of lime, even in the face of the fact that it is much more costly than lime, except in a few favored localities where it is made. The usual proportions are one part of the cement to five of sand. In pointing, the proportion is sometimes as low as three parts sand to one of the cement. Coarse, clean sand-almost pebbles-can be used to the extent of three parts to one of the cement. Some advise mortar to be allowed to set, and then wet and worked again. This course will not answer with cement, which is greatly injured by such a method of working. The greatest enemy of both mortar and cement is the frost. The power with which water expands at the freezing point is practically unlimited, and where it penetrates into the crevices and pores of mortar and freezes, or when wet mortar is allowed to freeze, its strength is destroyed.

Damp Closets and Health.-All closets should be so constructed that they may be often thoroughly aired. Closets that are damp are dangerous enemies to health. If your closets are damp and engender a meld which encases not only boots and shoes, but also other articles of wearing apparel, obtain a half peck of unslacked lime and put in a shallow dish in the closet, and it will absorb the dampness. When it becomes quite damp it should be renewed.

Caution Against Damp Floors.-Floors of cellars and basements should not be made of brick or similar soft and porous material; apparently these can be easily kept clean, but they absorb and retain moisture, and not only remain cold and damp, but by their porosity expose the impurities of the absorbed moisture to evaporation, and thus pollute the air and render otherwise healthy cellars and basements damp and unwholesome. Floors of water-tight cement or of wood, well ventilated underneath, are therefore preferable.

How to Make Dry Cellar Floors.-For making floors, the following method is said to produce very desirable results: Four parts coarse gravel, or broken stone and sand, and one part each of lime and cement, are mixed in a shallow box, and well shovelled over from end to end. The sand, gravel, and cement are mixed together dry. The lime is slacked separately and mixed with just water enough to cement it well together. Six or eight inches of the mixture is then put on the bottom, and when well set, another coating is put on, consisting of one part cement and two of sand. This will also answer for making the bottom of a cistern that is to be cemented up directly upon the ground without a lining of bricks.

Danger from Vegetables in Cellars.-Most cellars contain a large amount of decomposing vegetable matter in the form of decaying fruits and vegetables, which give off their foul and poisonous gases during the process of decay. These gases give origin to diphtheria, typhoid and scarlet fever, and many other serious illnesses. Then, again, cellars are usually close, unventilated, and unsunned. Air which is kept confined and without the purifying influence of sunlight, soon becomes impure and unfit to breathe, and if to this we add the dampness and constantly-escaping gases of decomposing vegetation, we have the condition of the atmosphere of cellars. The cellar should be thoroughly cleansed, aired, and sunned as often as foul air becomes noticeable, and all accumulations of rubbish or vegetable matter should be removed as soon as they begin to decay.

Danger from Wetting Coal in Cellars.-The habit of wetting coal in bulk in the cellar, which is sometimes practiced, causes it to emit poisonous gases deleterious to health, and it should be carefully avoided.

Sitting-Rooms and Bed-Rooms and Health.-Dwellings, and particularly sitting-rooms and bed-rooms, should be so constructed as to allow, at all