I

96

DAMP HOUSES.

travellers than damp beds, which are very common in all placeswhere fuel is scarce. When a traveller, cold and wet, arrives atan inn, he may, by means of a good fire, warm diluting liquor, anda dry bed, have the perspiration restored ; but if he be put into acold room, and laid in a damp bed, it will be more obstructed, andthe worst consequences will ensue. Travellers should avoid innswhich are noted for damp beds, as they would a house infectedwith the plague, as no man, however robust, is proof against thedanger arising from them.

But inns are not the only places where damp beds are to be metwith. Beds kept in private families for the reception of strangersare often eqaally dangerous. All kinds of linen and bedding, whennot frequently used, become damp. How then is it possible thatbeds which are not slept in above two or three times a-year, shouldbe safe ? Nothing is more common than to hear people complainof having caught cold by changing their bed. The reason is ob-vious : were they careful never to sleep in a bed but what was fre-quently used, they would seldom find any ill consequences from achange.

Nothing is more to be dreaded by a delicate person when on avisit, than being laid in a bed which is kept on purpose for stran-gers. That ill-judged piece of complaisance becomes a real inju-ry. All the bad consequences from this quarter might easily beprevented in private families, by causing their servants to sleep inthe spare beds, and resign them to strangers when they come. Ininns, where the beds are used almost every night, nothing else isnecessary than to keep the rooms well seasoned by frequent fires,and the linen dry.

That baneful custom, said to be practised in many inns, ofdamping sheets, and pressing them, in order to save washing, andafterwards laying them on the beds, ought, when discovered, to bepunished with the utmost severity. It is really a species of mur-der, and will often prove as fatal as poison or gun-shot. Indeedno linen, especially if it has been washed in winter, ought to beused till it has been exposed for some time to the fire ; nor is thisoperation less necessary for linen washed in summer, provided ithas Iain for any length of time. This caution is the more needful,as gentlemen are often exceedingly attentive to what they eat ordrink at an inn, yet pay no regard to a circumstance of muchmore importance.*

DAMP HOUSES.

Damp houses frequently produce the like ill consequences : forthis reason those who build should be careful to choose a dry situa-tion. A house which stands on a damp marshy soil or deep clay,will never be thoroughly dry. All houses, unless where the groundis exceedingly dry, should have the first floor a little raised. Ser-vants and others, who are obliged to live in cellars and sunk sto-ries, seldom continue long in health : masters ought surely to pay

*If a person suspect that his bed is damp, the simple precaution of taking off thesheets and lying in the blanket*, with all, or most ofhis clothes on, will prevent all t'.i*danger. 1 have practised this for many years, and never have been hurt by damp be i«tbjuigh no constitution, without care, is proof against * v p : - hane f ul influence.