Sickened by red hot stoves

Sunday, 17 January 2010 00:00

January 17, 1840. Nineteenth century winter ills were not caused by cold weather but by the hot, ubiquitous, wood-burning stoves, which were difficult to regulate, claims the St. Catharines Journal, Upper Canada.

The air of a room in which a stove is used, becomes at length completely dry, unless care be taken to keep up the supply of moisture, by having constantly in the room a vessel filled with water. From the air becoming dry, the cells of the lungs become ultimately deprived of their necessary fluid, the skin of the face and hands become heated, and headache ensures.